Carlos Ott burst onto the international architecture scene 40 years ago when he designed the Opera Bastille in Paris and went on to see his designs in high-profile buildings around the world.
Over the next two years, observers will see his vision take shape in downtown Jacksonville during construction of a 25-story luxury apartment tower called Southbank Residences.
“Here we are, baby, and it’s going up,” Mayor Donna Deegan said this week at a long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony.
At a total project cost of nearly $203 million, the tower and an adjoining eight-story building will have 395 apartments on the riverfront where demolition took down the River City Brewing restaurant between the Acosta Bridge and Friendship Fountain.
The city is putting up its own hefty financial contributions. The city will pay out $39 million in cash to Related Group during the construction. After Southbank Residences opens, the city will provide property tax rebates worth almost $20 million spread over 15 years.
That economic development agreement is the second between the city and Related Group. After the first deal ended in January 2023 for constructing mid-rise apartment buildings, company Founding Chief Executive Chairman Jorge Perez called Ott and asked him to design a taller tower.
Carlos Ott Architects, based in Uruguay, has done projects in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America. Ott often uses sail-like designs and he brought that theme to Southbank Residences for its curving walls overlooking the St. Johns River.
“He did a building for us in Uruguay, of all places, and he’s a great guy in addition to being an architectural genius,” Perez said after joining city leaders for the May 20 groundbreaking. “We were talking about this waterfront site and I said, ‘You would be the perfect guy,’ and he said, ‘I don’t want to do a pedestrian building.'”
Going back to the drawing board for design of the apartment building contributed in part to the six-year gap between Related Group’s initial interest in building apartments on the site and the groundbreaking ceremony.
“There were a lot of people who thought this day wouldn’t come and this development was too big for Jacksonville,” City Council member Joe Carlucci said at the groundbreaking. “It was too ambitious, too good to be true.”
He said the “doubters voices got a little louder” the longer the site sat vacant, but with Related Group moving into construction, “the only question that matters going forward is this — is your project good enough for Jacksonville?”
Deegan said she hopes Southbank Residences will be the first of many developments by Miami-based Related Group.
“I’m just going to say from the jump there has been nobody I’ve been more excited to bring into the city than Jorge Perez and the Related Group. Nobody,” she said in her remarks at the ceremony. “Their reputation precedes them. They’re amazing and I just thought if we can entice them to Jacksonville with what they do, they’ll never leave.”
Related Group joins Four Seasons as luxury offerings downtown
The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences being built by Jaguars owner Shad Khan near the football stadium is a more widely known brand for luxury, but in the real estate development world, Related Group has built a reputation for high-end projects that create positive momentum for downtowns.
Perez said Related Group entered the Tampa market at the invitation of then-Mayor Bob Buckhorn who had seen the company’s impact on Miami.
“Now we’ve either finished or have under construction over 5,000 units in Tampa and that goes all the way from affordable housing, which is very important for cities, to the most expensive condominiums and everything in between,” he said.
Like the Four Seasons whose success will hinge on the downtown waterfront attracting people willing to pay the price for five-star hotel accommodations and luxury condominiums, Southbank Residences will need apartment tenants willing to pay rent rates for Related Group’s Icon brand.
Perez said he’s convinced the demand will be there when people see the design of the building, its riverfront location and the amenities that will make it “by far the most luxurious rental project in Jacksonville.”
“We’re going to have a building that’s going to be substantially different than anything that you’re seeing in the market,” he said. “I think we don’t need the whole world. We just need 400 people who really want that type of quality and are willing to pay for it.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: How architect with global reputation designed tower for Jacksonville
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
