One month after RISE Doro fire, neighborhood businesses, sports district still feeling impact

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It has been one month since the RISE Doro apartment complex first caught fire, and neighborhood businesses and the sports district are still feeling the impact.

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The Doro was slated to open earlier this month, but it’s now being demolished due to being structurally unsound.

Fire crews had to battle the fire from outside because of the dangerous conditions inside.

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Now, one month later, the building is being taken apart piece by piece. Roads are still closed surrounding the demolition for safety in the middle of a bustling part of downtown, and it’s directly across from 121 Financial Ball Park preparing for opening day and Vystar Memorial Area prepping for 2 hockey games this weekend.

“We’re all invested in the future of the sports complex, and it was a setback,” said Jumbo Shrimp owner Ken Babby. “I think that everybody wants to see that space rebuilt.”

Read: ‘Come out of the building now:’ JFRD releases video of its response to the RISE Doro apartment fire

As one building is being torn down, the ballpark is adding on. Construction is already underway on the back part of the ballpark with a new multi-level building and center field plaza coming in 2025.

Action News Jax’s Meghan Moriarty spoke with Ken Babby, the owner of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, whose season starts on March 29.

“It’s so tragic what happened with the Doro fire,” he said. “We hope that they rebuild. [We] haven’t heard much about the future of it”

Read: ‘Emergency demolition:’ RISE Doro coming down quickly because of public safety danger, officials say

Nearby, Intuition Ale Works and Manifest Distillery are back open after temporary closures as well, and some sidewalk scaffolding is still above to protect customers heading inside.

The hope is that the Doro demolition won’t deter families from heading downtown.

“We want people to come downtown to Jacksonville, and we think about the incredible growth of this region and how quickly people have moved here,” Babby said.

Read: Intuition Ale Works, Manifest Distilling thank JFRD for fighting fire at neighboring RISE Doro

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