The Jacksonville Landing

The Jacksonville Landing was a retail and entertainment marketplace on the Northbank Riverwalk in downtown Jacksonville, completed in June 1987.

The City of Jacksonville's Northbank Riverwalk page says that, completed in June 1987, the Jacksonville Landing, with its distinctive orange roof, retail stores, eateries and a courtyard, was the perfect entertainment venue, and that the riverwalk in front of it offers a view of the St. Johns River from Berkman Plaza to I-95 in Riverside. The State Archives of Florida holds a July 1987 aerial photograph of the new Landing taken from the CSX Building on the St. Johns River, catalogued under shopping centers in Jacksonville.

Ownership was split, and that split shaped what followed. A 2014 Downtown Investment Authority resolution states that the lands comprising the Jacksonville Landing are owned by the City and that the City had entered into a long-term lease agreement with Sleiman Enterprises for the Landing site. The same resolution called redevelopment of the site a priority for the DIA and the city and approved a request for qualifications to hire a land planning and design firm.

For about three decades the Landing stood on the Northbank as a downtown Jacksonville gathering place, and state photographs record its bandstand in use.

State photographs show that use. A September 1, 1995 photograph by the Florida Department of Commerce shows baton twirlers at the Landing's bandstand under a banner promoting the Jaguars and Miller Lite, catalogued with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a subject. The Northbank Riverwalk page describes the riverwalk outside it as the focus of many premier downtown events, and notes boat docks along the Northbank between the Main Street and Acosta bridges.

The riverwalk itself grew around the Landing. The same city page says Mayor Delaney oversaw an $8.2 million extension of the Northbank Riverwalk from the CSX Building to the Fuller Warren Bridge, bringing its total length to approximately 2 miles.

The City of Jacksonville ended the Landing lease by settling litigation with the leaseholder under Ordinance 2019-134, which the council's bill record lists as enacted.

The Jacksonville City Council bill record describes Ordinance 2019-134, filed at the request of the mayor, as authorizing the borrowing and appropriation of $18,000,000 from the city's commercial paper facility. It funds a settlement of litigation between the city and Jacksonville Landing Investments, LLC concerning the Disposition, Development and Lease agreement for the Landing, terminates the Landing lease and acquires title to the Landing building improvements and related personal property. It also amends the 2019-2023 Capital Improvement Plan to add a project titled JLI West Parcel Demolition/Site Preparation.

The ordinance therefore paid for three things at once in Jacksonville: ending the lease, moving out the Landing's tenants and clearing the building from the Northbank riverfront.

The City of Jacksonville dates the demolition of the Jacksonville Landing to early 2020.

The Northbank Riverwalk page states plainly that the Jacksonville Landing was demolished in early 2020. The official sources reviewed for this page do not give a day-by-day demolition schedule, so the page does not repeat one. The 2019 ordinance, by contrast, still described the Landing building improvements as standing and set aside money to demolish them.

Planning for the cleared site was already under way. In January 2021 the Downtown Investment Authority issued a request for proposals for design firms to enter a design competition for the site, which it described as now dubbed Riverfront Plaza, formerly The Jacksonville Landing, calling it the premier waterfront site in Downtown Jacksonville. The competition included presentations at a public workshop and ended in the selection of one design team.

Construction of Riverfront Plaza began on July 10, 2023, in two phases, starting with the west end along Independent Drive and Hogan Street.

The city release announcing construction said Phase I would begin by closing and removing a portion of Independent Drive, rerouting the road to Hogan Street, rebuilding the bulkhead and riverwalk along the entire plaza for resilience, and turning part of Hogan Street into a pedestrian plaza tied to the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts. Planned features included a multipurpose lawn, curving walkways, native plant gardens, a water play area and a cafe with a playground on its roof. Phase I was expected to take two years, with appropriated funding of $25 million expected to cover all first-phase costs.

The second phase, according to the same Jacksonville release, will include a rain garden, a water feature, civic stairs, a beer garden and a pedestrian ramp from the Main Street Bridge. The official sources reviewed here do not state a final cost for either phase.

The old Landing site is now Riverfront Plaza, a city park at 2 West Independent Drive whose first phase was completed in fall 2025.

The city's Riverfront Plaza park page says the park honors the legacy of the Jacksonville Landing, that Phase 1 was completed in Fall 2025, and that it is open from sunrise to sundown. Amenities include an elevated destination playground, restrooms, a splash pad, a large open green space for events and festivals, direct access to the Northbank Riverwalk and a plaza connecting to the performing arts center. A November 2025 Southeast Citizens Planning Advisory Committee summary noted that the Jacksonville Christmas tree lighting for the Holiday River Fest on November 29, 2025, would take place at Riverfront Plaza, previously known as the Jacksonville Landing.

A restaurant is the next piece. A January 2026 DIA resolution says the city owns approximately 7.75 acres of upland riverfront property known as Riverfront Plaza and that a roughly 19,000 square foot portion was set aside for a food and beverage concept, with the DIA building the restaurant shell. On July 6, 2026, the City of Jacksonville announced that European Street Cafe had been selected to operate the cafe at the new Riverfront Plaza.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, using the City of Jacksonville Northbank Riverwalk and Riverfront Plaza park pages, the council bill record for Ordinance 2019-134, DIA resolutions from 2014 and 2026 and its 2021 design request, the city's 2023 and 2026 Riverfront Plaza releases, a 2025 CPAC summary and two State Archives of Florida photographs.