JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Concerts and events near the Florida Theatre often bring crowds through downtown Jacksonville and into nearby restaurants like Dorothy’s.
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But business owners said the bigger goal is creating that same kind of activity on an ordinary weekday.
At Dorothy’s, a Louisiana-inspired restaurant near the Florida Theatre named after Executive Chef Marvin Barnes’ grandmother, her Creole recipes helped inspire the menu. Barnes said downtown businesses survive by giving people more reasons to stay.
“I think we all work together downtown,” Barnes said while working in the kitchen. “You’ve got to work together if you plan on surviving.”
Dorothy’s opened nearly a year ago as part of downtown Jacksonville’s ongoing wave of development, which includes billions of dollars in projects planned, under construction, or proposed throughout the urban core.
But business owners said downtown still needs more consistent day-to-day activity.
“It could be better. We need more people,” Kyle Goings said, the lead bartender at Dorothy’s. “It’s getting the facelift that’s much needed in a long time.”
Downtown Vision CEO Jake Gordon told News4JAX’s Reporter Briana Brownlee and Jesse Hanson downtown Jacksonville is still in a transition period as it adjusts to changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts in the traditional office work environment.
Gordon said downtown leaders are now focused on creating more “walk traffic,” the kind of consistent foot traffic that supports smaller businesses and encourages people to spend more time downtown outside of destination events.
“It’s the smaller places that you just have to walk by and get your coffee from,” Gordon said. “It’s really the walk traffic that we are really trying to increase.”
Goings said another way to build that consistency is by adding more family-friendly attractions and daytime destinations downtown.
“What I think we are lacking is more museums, more art, even an aquarium,” Goings said. “We need more family-friendly.”
Despite some storefronts still sitting empty downtown, Gordon said the long-term momentum is moving in the right direction.
“There are all of these cranes you are seeing and these things being built,” Gordon said. “I think you can be cynical of the street-level experience, but the future of downtown is bright.”
For many downtown businesses, the hope is that Jacksonville’s ongoing growth eventually translates into more people spending time downtown not just during major events, but throughout the week.