Main Street Bridge goes down to one lane south
Also: Florida will refund up to $500 of sales tax on impact windows and doors.
Southbound traffic on the Main Street Bridge drops to a single lane on Aug. 24, and it could stay that way into the winter. Florida also owes some homeowners a refund of up to $500.
The Main Street Bridge is about to get tight. Starting Aug. 24, the southbound side drops to one lane while crews build Riverfront Plaza. That setup could last up to five months. Five months is the whole fall, so this is not a weekend of orange cones you can wait out. If the bridge sits on your commute, the drive home is going to cost you more time. The payoff is a new plaza on the riverfront. The price is a season of traffic pinched down to a single southbound lane.
Florida will refund sales tax on impact windows and doors
Florida is handing back sales tax on storm hardening upgrades, and the window is open now. Impact resistant windows, doors, and garage doors bought between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2029 can qualify. The catch is in how you get the money. There is no discount at the register. You pay the tax first, then file for a refund with the required forms and receipts. The home has to be a site built house with a homestead exemption and a just value of $700,000 or less. One property per owner, and the refund caps out at $500. Claims are accepted through September 30, 2029.
Nearly 500 families showed up on New Kings Road
Duval County classes started Monday, and Saint Paul A.M.E. Church spent the weekend before getting kids ready for it. The church on New Kings Road drew nearly 500 families to its annual Back-to-School Bash on Saturday. Backpacks and school supplies went out free. So did haircuts, which is not a small thing in the week before a first day. Nearly 500 families is a big turnout for one church. It also says plenty about what August costs a household with school-age kids.
Harris Teeter wants a gas station on Atlantic Boulevard
Harris Teeter wants to sell gas as well as groceries. The chain has a fuel center in permitting near the Jacksonville store it is already building along Atlantic Boulevard. Neither one is open yet. The store is still under construction, and the gas station is still in the paperwork stage, which is where plans tend to sit for a while. If both land, that stretch of Atlantic Boulevard gets a full size grocery store and a pump island in the same trip. Fair warning to anyone who already thinks that road has enough to slow down for.
A 245-unit senior community sold for $30.94 million
Wyndham Lakes Senior Living changed hands on Aug. 6 for $30.94 million. The community has 245 units, and this is its first sale in nearly a decade. Ten years is a long hold, which makes the price a useful marker for what senior housing in Jacksonville is worth today. The record does not say what the buyer plans. For families with someone living there, that is the part that matters, and it is the part nobody has answered yet.
The council's own lawyer is making the council nervous
The City Council has its own lawyer, and he has turned into a story of his own. Jacksonville Today reports that Jason Teal has grown into the role of the council's prosecutor. His clients are the council members, and some of them are uneasy about how hard he has pushed. That matters past City Hall gossip. The council's attorney shapes what members believe they are allowed to do, and those beliefs turn into votes on zoning, spending, and whatever gets proposed for your street.