Jacksonville Adaptive-Reuse and Workforce Housing Project Targets Historic Springfield District

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 project involves 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.

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, within one of the largest historic districts in the southeastern United States.

The redevelopment plan preserves the building’s original brick shell and adds three new stories on top, bringing the total to five stories. This will introduce ground-floor commercial or creative office space and upper-floor residential units, revitalizing a corner that has sat largely dormant for decades. 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—a modular, kit-of-parts construction methodology 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. The redevelopment includes an estimated $40 million investment for the adaptive reuse, with a 24- to 30-month delivery timeline, and a $35 million investment for the workforce housing, with a 16- to 20-month delivery timeline.

“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 will result in 125,000 square feet total, including ground-floor retail and workspace, rooftop terraces, 80 residential loft units, and 50 workspace suites. The workforce housing will comprise 150 units across a six- to seven-story massing, using net zero-ready, cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction.

This project highlights a growing trend of combining historic preservation with innovative construction methods to address housing affordability. By restoring a landmark building and creating new workforce housing, the development aims to support the local community and set a precedent for future projects in historic districts.