Veterinary & Commercial Architect Serving Jacksonville, FL
HDA Architects is a commercial architecture firm with headquarters in Rome, Georgia, and a second office in Dawsonville. We don't keep a Jacksonville office. Instead, we bring nearly 30 years of veterinary, multifamily, and restaurant design across Florida and the Southeast, and a project team that comes to you. From Riverside and San Marco to Mandarin, the Southside, and the Beaches, we visit your site for the initial assessment and throughout construction. Between visits, we hold regular virtual meetings and coordinate with your local engineers and contractors. Our specialty is veterinary and animal care design, backed by proven work in multifamily, senior living, restaurant, and hospitality architecture.
Fear-Free Veterinary Architect in Jacksonville
HDA has completed more than 500 animal health projects nationwide, including veterinary hospitals in Florida. Our Florida portfolio includes the 21,000-square-foot Kind Animal Care hospital and boarding campus in Spring Hill, the
Critter Care animal hospital
in Panama City, and the
Veterinary Emergency & Referral Center in Pensacola, designed with roll-away shutters and backup generators to stay open through a hurricane. That last point matters in Duval County: Jacksonville's coastal and riverfront sites bring wind-load, flood-zone, and Florida Building Code requirements that a veterinary hospital has to be designed around from day one, not retrofitted for later.
Our fear-free veterinary design philosophy balances the needs of your patients with the operational demands of your practice. Fluent in the equipment and workflow of general practice, specialty, emergency, and boarding facilities, we translate your goals into a hospital that works as well at 2 a.m. as it does at 2 p.m.
Multifamily Housing Design and Senior Housing Architect
Our multifamily housing design experience runs the gamut, from affordable student housing to market-rate apartment complexes and luxury condo communities, and we bring that experience to developers building in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida.
Our senior housing architects design advanced, safe, well-equipped assisted-living facilities, and we welcome the opportunity to serve Jacksonville's growing retirement community.
Restaurant and Brewery Architect
In the food and beverage industry, it’s all about presentation, and that philosophy holds true from the moment your customers walk through the door. We help build your brand, and create memorable experiences for your customers. The HDA Architects restaurant design team serving Jacksonville includes highly qualified brewery architects, as well as planners and engineers, and contractors, for a collaborative approach to project success.
From site assessment to construction management and final permitting, together we can design a profitable, successful brewery or restaurant in Jacksonville.
Working in Jacksonville & Northeast Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States, and its consolidated city-county government means most of Duval County permits through a single Building Inspection Division, a simpler path than many metros, but one with its own plan-review timelines. Coastal and St. Johns River sites frequently fall in FEMA flood zones and wind-borne debris regions under the Florida Building Code, which drives structural design, opening protection, and mechanical placement.
Growth runs strongest to the south and east, in St. Johns County (including Nocatee) and along the Southside and Baymeadows corridor, where much of the new veterinary, multifamily, and restaurant demand sits. We also serve the surrounding communities of Orange Park, Fleming Island, Ponte Vedra Beach, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, and Yulee.
Proudly Serving
Jacksonville · Jacksonville Beach · Atlantic Beach · Neptune Beach · Ponte Vedra Beach · Orange Park · Fleming Island · St. Augustine · Fernandina Beach · Yulee · Nocatee · St. Johns County · Clay County · Nassau County
A Note from Peter Hill, Sr.
"People ask why a Rome, Georgia firm has so much work in Florida. The answer: veterinarians talk to each other. Our first Florida clients found us through colleagues, and nearly every project since has followed. We don't need a Jacksonville office, because we design hospitals on your site and in your exam rooms, not from an office.
Our team works from Rome and Dawsonville, an hour from one of the nation's top international airports, so we can be wherever you need us within a day. We'll be on your Jacksonville site for the initial assessment and throughout construction, and we've answered our clients' calls promptly for nearly 30 years. Between visits, we coordinate with your civil engineer, contractor, and the City of Jacksonville's Building Inspection Division so nothing waits on us.
If you can conceive it, we can create it. Call or email, and we'll take it from there."
HDA Architects is a full-service architectural firm committed to technical excellence from planning to completion.
Schedule a consultation to learn how we can move your Jacksonville commercial design project forward. Call 888.221.9232
Our portfolio speaks for itself, with visually appealing, state-of-the-art design that improves care quality, optimizes efficiency, and boosts profitability. It’s a full-service approach to architecture with best-in-class results.
Schedule a consultation to learn more, or explore our portfolio of work.
Jacksonville Architectural Service FAQs
Does HDA Architects have an office in Jacksonville?
No. HDA Architects is headquartered at 401 Broad Street, Rome, GA, with a satellite office in Dawsonville, GA. Our project teams travel to Jacksonville for site assessment and construction administration, and hold design meetings virtually. We coordinate with your local contractor and engineers both virtually and in-person.
Why hire a Georgia architect for a Jacksonville veterinary hospital?
Because veterinary architecture is a specialty, and most markets don't have a firm that has completed more than 500 animal health projects. HDA has designed veterinary hospitals in Spring Hill, Panama City, and Pensacola, Florida, and the medical planning, fear-free design, and equipment coordination transfer directly to Jacksonville. Your local civil engineer and contractor handle the site-specific work alongside us.
Are you licensed to practice architecture in Florida?
Yes. Peter J. Hill, Sr., AIA, HDA's President and Principal Architect, holds an active Florida architect license (AR102667) and has completed permitted projects in the state.
How do you handle Jacksonville's hurricane and flood requirements?
We design to the Florida Building Code's wind-load and flood-zone provisions from the start of schematic design. Our Pensacola emergency hospital, for example, was designed with roll-away shutters and backup generators so it can shelter animals and staff through a storm. In Jacksonville, we evaluate FEMA flood mapping and wind-borne debris requirements during site assessment so they inform the building's layout, not just its details.
How many site visits should we expect?
Peter visits your site in person for the initial assessment. He returns with the Project Manager for a second on-site visit when the project calls for it. Throughout design, we hold regular virtual progress meetings to keep decisions moving. During construction administration, Jim, our Vice President, visits the site monthly, and more often when the project requires it.
