Second story additions in Riverside & Avondale

Riverside and Avondale are boxed in on every side — by I-10 and I-95, by the St. Johns River, by Fishweir Creek — and the neighborhood filled in generations ago, most of it between the Great Fire of 1901 and the end of the 1920s land boom. That geography is exactly why second story additions make sense here: the lot lines were fixed a century ago, the streets from Five Points to the Shoppes of Avondale are among the most loved in Jacksonville, and there is nowhere left to build but up.

There is one thing every homeowner here needs to know before sketching anything: Riverside Avondale is one of Jacksonville's three locally designated historic districts, so exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before it starts — and an addition goes to the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission, which meets monthly. That is not a reason to give up on a second story; it is a reason to design one that belongs on the house. It does mean the massing, materials, and roofline have to be drawn to pass review, and the calendar has to allow for the commission cycle before the building permit.

Brackish Builders manages that whole sequence — design, the COA submittal, the City of Jacksonville building permit, and construction — as one process. The engineering is real regardless of the district: a Jacksonville second story is designed for a 130 mph ultimate wind speed with a continuous load path from the new roof down to the existing foundation. And the build itself uses the weatherproof-above-the-roof method: the new floor is framed and dried-in over your existing roof before the old roof comes out, so the family below stays home for the duration.

Neighborhoods we serve in Riverside & Avondale

ZIP codes served: 32204 · 32205