New Waterfront Project Coming to Atlantic Boulevard

​A former shipyard along the Intracoastal Waterway at Atlantic Boulevard is set to transform into a vibrant mixed-use development. This project will include multifamily units, a hotel, a waterside restaurant, and a marina with public access. The rezoning request and land use map amendment were approved by a Jacksonville City Council committee on July 16.

The Land Use and Zoning Committee voted 7-0 in favor of the ordinances, which will rezone 43.8 acres of land at 13911 Atlantic Blvd. to Planned Unit Development (PUD). This approval sends the ordinances to the full Council for final consideration.

The project, called Moody Marine Harbor, was outlined in a conceptual site plan dated June 23, 2023. The property was previously zoned for a PUD that limited it to 590 residential units, 6,000 square feet of commercial space, and a marina with 250 wet slips and 400 dry slips.

The planning staff and the Jacksonville Planning Commission recommended approval of the new ordinance with conditions. These include limiting residential development to 560 units, capping nonresidential commercial use (excluding marina slips) at 106,000 square feet, and ensuring the total number of marina slips does not exceed 650. The Planning Commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval.

The site plans show a hotel and offices on the west side, apartments with two swimming pools on the north, a waterside restaurant on the southeast corner, a parking garage and public boat parking on the southern edge, and a boat ramp into the property’s Intracoastal basin.

Moody Marine Harbor will be located on 43.8 acres at 13911 Atlantic Blvd., once the site of the Bellinger Shipyards. It sits directly across from The Views at Harbortown apartments on the Intracoastal. Committee members praised the project, noting that it would enhance the area by providing dining, parking, and access for boaters and kayakers. Committee member Rory Diamond called it "a missing piece of the puzzle in development out at the Beaches."

City documents list the property owner as Jacksonville Intracoastal LLC, with Jeff Klotz as the registered agent. Klotz is the founder and CEO of The Klotz Group of Companies, a real estate investment company based in Atlantic Beach. The New Jersey-based KABR Group, which acquired the property with The Klotz Group, also features the project on its website.

Cyndy Trimmer, representing the developer, told committee members that the developer and city had agreed to share the $1.63 million cost of building the public boat ramp. She also mentioned that a previous condition to cede 45 acres of adjacent land for wetlands had been satisfied.