The first taste of Jacksonville's $500M new creative district arrives this week
- Jake Nicholas
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Future of Cities, the Miami-based regenerative real estate developer led by founder and CEO Tony Cho, has officially partnered with Jacksonville-based Live Oak Contracting to advance the next phase of the Phoenix Arts & Innovation District (PHXJAX), an 8.5-acre, $500 million mixed-use campus — with the district's first food and beverage tenant, Naked Kitchen, officially opening this Wednesday, May 20.
PHXJAX is being shaped as one of the most layered urban districts in Florida. The full $500 million project will combine adaptive reuse of 120,000 square feet of historic industrial buildings with new vertical construction, eventually delivering up to 830 multifamily units, a deliberate mix of affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing. The campus sits just north of downtown Jacksonville along the 30-mile Emerald Trail, with the developer team positioning the district as the trail's northern trailhead. The City of Jacksonville approved a $5.5 million incentive package and PUD rezoning for the district in 2024, alongside a $7 million LISC loan that funded the first phase of adaptive reuse work.
Naked Kitchen, the plant-based, organic, and protein-focused concept from chef Brian Nelson, managing partner Alexandra Bowles, and chef Matt Johnson, operating under the motto "Cooking with Conscience," marks the first food and beverage tenant inside the district. The restaurant's VIP soft opening takes place at the PHXJAX Liberty Building on Wednesday, May 20, from 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by Tony Cho alongside Brian Nelson, Alexandra Bowles, Yanira Cardona, and Michael Weil. Guests will get a first taste of the menu, guided tours of the Liberty Building, and an insider look at the district's broader vision.
"PHXJAX has always been about creating spaces where community, creativity, and opportunity intersect," said Tony Cho, CEO of PHXJAX. "Naked Kitchen represents the kind of thoughtful, experience-led destination we want to cultivate within the district — one that nourishes people while helping activate the neighborhood in meaningful ways."
The Liberty Building itself is one of five renovated buildings now leasing across the district. The 17,850-square-foot Liberty Building houses affordable artist studios, galleries, small-format retail, and restaurant space — including Naked Kitchen's 2,750-square-foot footprint. It joins the 17,000-square-foot Emerald Station, which opened in October 2024 with a 10,000-square-foot event space, creative offices, conference rooms, a catering kitchen, and a city of Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business incubator. Future of Cities has also opened the Legacy Building — an adaptively repurposed industrial shell with more than a dozen tenants already in place — alongside the Phoenix Building and the upcoming Bunker Building.
The Bunker Building is up next. The 14,079-square-foot, two-story structure at 2402 N. Market Street is currently being renovated by Spencer Construction & Engineering with JAA Architecture leading design. Future of Cities has flagged the building as suited for food and beverage tenants — possibly a brewery — though Weil has also floated medical offices and urgent care as possible uses. The broader Phase 1 team includes JAA Architecture and Hota Design on architecture, Prosser Inc. on civil engineering, and Avant Construction as general contractor on the Emerald Station adaptive reuse.
Where the Live Oak Contracting partnership comes in is the next major chapter. Announced in March 2026, the partnership marks the launch of new vertical construction across the campus. The first vertical project is an 80-unit affordable housing development adjacent to the Bunker Building, with state assistance and city tax credits already secured — a groundbreaking expected to be announced soon. Live Oak Estates Group, the development arm of Live Oak Contracting, will support development strategy and planning, while Live Oak Contracting itself will provide pre-development and pre-construction services across the broader district.
"This partnership reflects the strength of Jacksonville's growth trajectory and the confidence we have in the Phoenix Arts & Innovation District as a catalytic project for the city," said Tony Cho.
"PHXJAX represents an opportunity to create a new kind of district for Jacksonville — one centered around creativity, community, and forward-looking development," said Michael Weil, Project Executive and COO of Future of Cities. "It's 80 units of affordable housing adjacent to the Bunker Building, and it's going to be our first vertical site. Starting with affordable housing and then moving to workforce is just a natural progression. We want to do and continue to build places for people to be able to afford so they can work, live, eat, play, all within the district. We've always talked about this district being mixed-income along with mixed-use."
Beyond the first vertical project, the longer-range plan is even more ambitious. Future of Cities and Live Oak are now in design on Development Sites A and B, proposed locations for a multifamily residential building, a parking structure, and potentially a skyway connecting the district to the Emerald Trail. A future 290-unit mixed-income apartment building is planned for Main Street as a separate vertical, with workforce housing also in the pipeline behind the initial affordable housing tranche. The full master plan calls for the 8.5-acre district to evolve through four estimated phases.
"We are excited to partner with the PHXJAX team to help bring this vision to life," said Paul Bertozzi, CEO of Live Oak Contracting and Live Oak Estates Group. "Projects like this have the potential to create lasting impact for a city by blending housing, culture, and innovation into a vibrant urban environment."
The district's leadership has also evolved alongside its physical growth. PHXJAX recently named Yanira "Yaya" Cardona — previously the project's Hispanic outreach coordinator — as general manager, where she now serves as the lead contact for leasing across the district. The transition followed Emily Moody's move to Gateway Jax to lead placemaking on its $750 million Pearl Square mixed-use district, part of a broader $2 billion downtown Jacksonville investment. Future of Cities itself, founded by Tony Cho, brings a regenerative-real-estate philosophy to the project: a platform built around adaptive reuse, mixed-income housing, cultural programming, and long-term community-driven value creation.
