JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Pieces of wood and other materials are getting torn off downtown Jacksonville’s Rise Doro building Monday and falling seven stories down. Now a week into demolition, First Coast News is learning what’s next and asking if the new building will have a wood frame again.
RISE Doro officials have said they plan to rebuild, but according to the Downtown Investment Authority’s CEO, whether they rebuild with wood again or another material is still up in the air. Some things have changed in the construction world since the building went up.
“If there's a concern that people are going to feel unsafe living in a building that burnt down then it's something that may cause them, from a business standpoint, to want to change it up,” said Barry Ansbacher, a Jacksonville construction attorney who is not affiliated with RISE Doro.
Construction costs are higher now than in 2020, when the Rise Doro was awarded a nearly $6 million tax incentive by the city. Florida building codes have also been updated. The state’s eighth edition just took effect this year.
“It may be a small change in the code but when you’re multiplying it by hundreds of units, it could change what it costs to build it one way versus another,” said Ansbacher.
Tim Conlan with the Northeast Florida Builders Association, who is also not affiliated with RISE Doro, says changes to the building code are usually about safety or due to advancing technology.
“Typically, they're very minor tweaks or adjustments,” said Conlan. “And it's typically based on something they learned over the previous period. So if something went catastrophically wrong, they evaluate what went wrong and would go back and they say, 'Okay, what do we need to adjust to make it better?' It's always about public safety.”
Conlan says construction costs across the board have increased up to 30 percent, something reports also reflect. As First Coast News has reported, using wood as a building frame is usually cheaper. Conlan says using wood also takes less time.
“I have built some steel, multifamily projects before and they're very complicated,” Conlan said. “There's a lot more engineering involved, there's a lot of prefabrication involved, it takes a longer time to get it set up to build. Wood construction just tends to go quicker. It's materials that we use every day, the details are a little more standardized. It's easier to use, easier to get.”
Ansbacher says what types of features are important to people will also be considered and it's an opportunity to redesign. But according to Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer, plans for what the rebuilt RISE Doro will look like are still under construction.
First Coast News called and emailed representatives for RISE Doro multiple times throughout the day Monday to ask what the materials and plans are for rebuilding. They did not respond for this story. When we learn more, that information will be posted on the First Coast News website and app.