By Earl Daniels
Times-Union business writer

As Berkman Plaza takes its place in the Jacksonville skyline, the developer of the high-end apartment and townhouse project will have to find a place in the downtown real estate market.

That's because the riverfront project will be a first of sorts for downtown. Office buildings and the stores and restaurants located at The Jacksonville Landing, a festival marketplace, have been the places that call downtown home. It has not been the home for new apartments, townhouses or condominiums.

"The dynamics of downtown is changing downtown and it will continue to change," said Alan Travis, president of Harbor Contracting Co. based in Atlanta.

The Berkman Plaza, which is located at 113 E. Bay St., is among several such projects being built or planned for downtown. Downtown living appears to appeal to young professionals, people who work downtown and those seeking a maintenance-free lifestyle. Berkman Plaza is expected to create a chain reaction of other real estate activity. And that is something city officials have been trying to get to happen.

"We will see more activity in the Bay Street area, and you will see more developer interest in the Bay Street corridor," said Paul Krutko, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority.

So far, 30 of the 206 luxury apartments, or 15 percent, have been pre-leased and $1,000 deposits have been received for all 20 townhouses priced at $400,000, according to Travis.

He said he is pleased with the initial interest to rent apartments.

Construction work has progressed to the 22nd floor of what will be a 23-story apartment tower.

In November, the first tenants are expected to move into apartments on lower floors of the tower. Rents range from $850 for a one-bedroom apartment to $4,500 for one of the eight penthouse apartments.

William and Mary Ellen Ludeking, who moved to Jacksonville from New Jersey eight years ago, expect to trade their suburban lifestyle in Deercreek, a gated community on the Southside, for life at Berkman Plaza.

They expect to rent a 1,100-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bath apartment on the10th floor in December.

"We believe downtown is going through a renaissance," said Mary Ellen Ludeking, who is president of Ludeking & Associates, a small business located on Forsyth Street.

Ludeking said she plans to walk to work. Her husband, William, who works as a computer programmer at CitiBank in Baymeadows won't be that close to work.

"But he will be driving in the opposite direction of the rush-hour traffic. We both love sports. We go to the Jaguars and Suns games, as well as the theater."