Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting, together with development partner Oldivai, has announced a two-site redevelopment in the heart of Jacksonville's Springfield Historic District. The plan calls for the adaptive reuse of a century-old brick industrial building at the northwest corner of Main and 12th streets, paired with a new modular workforce housing community immediately across West 12th Street. This project is poised to bring new housing and commercial space to one of the largest historic districts in the southeastern United States.
The two-story brick building, once home to Screen Process Printers Inc., was acquired in October 2019 by Springfield Community Development LLC, an entity managed by Daniel Kaufman, along with a companion 0.23-acre vacant commercial parcel across the street at 2124 N. Main St. The combined purchase totaled $515,000. The site sits in the Springfield Warehouse District, adjacent to Andrew A. Robinson Elementary School.
The redevelopment plan preserves the building's original brick shell and adds three new stories on top, bringing it to five stories in total. This will introduce ground-floor commercial and creative office space, with upper-floor residential lofts. The approach reflects Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting's broader adaptive-reuse philosophy: pairing historic character with new supply rather than choosing between preservation and growth.
On the companion parcel across West 12th Street, Oldivai will develop a new workforce housing community using an iteration of its Project Zero model — the modular, kit-of-parts construction methodology the company piloted and validated in Spokane, Washington. Modules are built off-site in a climate-controlled factory using LEAN/Six Sigma manufacturing methods, then delivered and set in place by crane, accelerating the development timeline and improving quality and cost control relative to conventional construction.
The community will target the “missing middle” — teachers, healthcare workers, first responders, and tradespeople earning approximately 80–120% of area median income who are increasingly priced out of the neighborhoods they serve. “Springfield is one of the best examples in the country of what adaptive reuse can do for a neighborhood. We've owned this corner since 2019 because we believed it deserved a plan that respected its history instead of erasing it. Restoring the building and building workforce housing across the street lets us do both at once,” said Daniel Kaufman, President of Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting.
“Project Zero proved that modular construction can deliver workforce housing faster and at higher quality than the conventional process allows. Jacksonville gives us the chance to bring that model to a neighborhood with real employment density and real need for attainable housing,” added Susan Gillespie, Chief Operating Officer of Oldivai.
The adaptive-reuse portion of the project involves an estimated $40 million investment and a 24- to 30-month delivery timeline. It will encompass 125,000 square feet total, including ground-floor retail and workspace, rooftop terraces, 80 residential loft units, and 50 workspace suites. The workforce housing site will feature 150 units across a six- to seven-story massing, with an estimated $35 million investment and a 16- to 20-month delivery timeline. The modular construction will be net zero-ready and utilize cross-laminated timber (CLT).
This development is significant because it addresses the critical shortage of attainable housing in Jacksonville while preserving the historic character of the Springfield district. By combining adaptive reuse with innovative modular construction, the project offers a replicable model for other cities facing similar challenges. The use of off-site manufacturing is expected to reduce construction time and costs, making workforce housing more feasible in high-demand areas.
