Downtown Jacksonville

[Jaxson]

Quick Question...

Does anyone know the building is that is going up next to the half completed overpass at the I10 I95 merger. It is next to the Parking Garage that is going up beside the BCBS building. It is still just a metal frame, but it looks like its about 4 stories. Anwyay, I pass there every day and was just curious what it was as it looked like it just showed up out of no where.

Cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I,m sad to say it is a only a self storage facility.

[jjoshjl]

you have got to be kidding... All the haggling they did over the Fidelity building design (i thinnk it was that one) and then the let a building like that go up less than a half a mile away?! Thats just what I want to see as I drive into JAX, A nice U-Store-It. Maybe they will be too engrossed in the Riverpoint tower to notice the self store as they drive down I95

anyway

Cheers

[vicupstate]

City hires Downtown promoter

Less than two months after the Super Bowl, the city has hired a full-time staffer to promote Downtown. Tony Allegretti will serve as a liaison to businesses and other Downtown stakeholders.

Allegretti was most recently the public art consultant for Downtown Vision Inc., where he worked on projects such as the First Wednesday Downtown Art Walk and 100 Windows of Art.

Allegretti is vice president of consulting for Venture Resources, a development and consulting firm, where he concentrates on marketing and public relations for converted use property in the urban core.

"The Super Bowl drew thousands of people Downtown and gave us a phenomenal opportunity to showcase a newly integrated downtown to locals," said Mayor John Peyton. "We want to capitalize on that as much as possible."

Congrats Tony!! Can't wait to see what unfolds!

[RiversideGator]

How that self-storage building got approved, I will never know. This illustrates the clueless leadership we have. I have been driving by that site for years and thought it would be a good place for reasonably priced midrise apartments or something similar, but a U-Store It?? A new McDonalds would be better than that. Here is hoping that the "developer" takes a bath on this one. I will never use it.

[Urban_Legend]

Congrats on the Promo Tony! I like that "Take Me to the River" thing. While visiting Jax this past week, I took my suburbanite cousin downtown and had a blast. I also took my grandma to JMOMA. But alas, I didn't get to go to Burrito Gallery!! Shucks.

BTW, I don't know if this was already posted:

Who owns Haverty

[Fruit Cove]

Brooklyn residents eager for renaissance to begin

Downtown neighborhood trying to become a thriving community

By RYAN GEDDES

The Times-Union

By the time Brooklyn's neighborhood association finished its Monday meeting at 8 p.m., the traffic lights at its ghostly intersections were already flashing red and yellow.

The downtown neighborhood is surrounded by busy roads -- Riverside Avenue is its eastern boundary, I-95 and I-10 converge on its fringe, and Forest and Park Streets form a skewed cross at its center. But despite the traffic zipping along its edges, Brooklyn has been still for decades.

As residents lingered after the meeting outside the J.S. Johnson Community Center, at the corner of Jackson and Chelsea streets, they talked about the way the neighborhood used to be, before people started moving out and crime began creeping in. Looking southwest down Chelsea street, longtime resident Thelma Levine remembered a scene different from today's dim tableau of vacant lots and industrial property.

"I remember when the whole street was lined with houses," she said, standing in the middle of the darkened intersection. "The whole street."

Now, Brooklyn is fading. Cut off from nearby Riverside to its south and west by the massive interstate highways, and disconnected from what has become a mostly commercial La Villa neighborhood to its north, the few remaining Brooklyn residents -- estimated at about 40 households -- are ready for change. They have seen progress in the areas surrounding their neighborhood, and many say they are eager for positive movement in Brooklyn.

The rest can be found here Jacksonville.com

This photograph shows the Brooklyn area of Jacksonville, looking south across the St. Johns River. Interstate 10 runs across the foreground of the photo with the Main Street, Acosta and Fuller Warren bridges spanning the river.

[Viper]

This photograph shows the Brooklyn area of Jacksonville, looking south across the St. Johns River. Interstate 10 runs across the foreground of the photo with the Main Street, Acosta and Fuller Warren bridges spanning the river.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jax.com goofed, that would be I-95 in the foreground. I-10 is not displayed.

It's great to see all this talk and work going into taking the urban district and filling in the empty places and making the most of what we have and then some.

[Fruit Cove]

Yea i noticed that too, youd think theyd know which interstate ran through downtown.

[Viper]

As an Executive Editor, mistakes of that magnitude drive me nuts. A word typed incorrectly, poor use of grammar and punctuation I can deal with. I rate these mistakes up there with bad facts in that their obviousness makes them an easy target for readers.

[Urban_Legend]

While I was in Jax, I visited the new Riverwalk, which I loved! I had an idea for two twin residential towers, with retail facing Riverside Ave. and facing the Riverwalk. It was located on the YMCA property, as well as the empty asphalt lot next to it. It was like Jackson Street or something, near the Riverwalk access point. There really is alot of potential for that area, but the FDOT's transformation of Forest Street and Riverside Avenue bothers me.

[vicupstate]

Demolition of three-story building, 139 Broad St. between Adams and Forsyth streets, 24,000 square feet, $70,000; contractor is Realco Wrecking Co.; agent is Clarence Stiefel, administrator; owner is Kaabe Family Property LLC.

Does anyone know what this building is? This was in the T-U business pipeline section.

[bobliocatt]

Its an old brick building on the SE corner of Adams and Broad. It currently has 1960's era stucco wall covering the top two floors and the words, "Newman's" written across the front facade. Its two bad that they're tearing this building down, because despite the modern alterations, its architectural style is actually Second Empire, which is pretty rare in Jacksonville. You can clearly see the roof and top windows from the surface parking lots, along Houston St, just to the south.

According to the property appraiser, it was built in 1901. Given the architectural style & location, this may very well be a pre-fire building. I wonder why we haven't heard anything about this? It sounds like something the Jax Historic Commission and local preservationist would speak up for?

[bobliocatt]

Well on the bright side, two parking gargages are getting underway. Normally this wouldn't be considered good news, but they will be replacing surface lots and street retail will be incorporated.

From FTU's "In the Pipeline Section"

Site clearing for Sports Complex parking garage, 500 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. between East Duval and East Ashley streets, on 2.61 acres, 89,138 square feet, $49,500; agent is Kris Krismanth, president; engineer is The Haskell Co.; developer is Metropolitan Parking Solutions; for 1,000 parking spaces.

Site clearing for Arena Parking Garage, 999 Adams St. between Lafayette Street and A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, on 0.83 acres, 34,800 square feet, $5,300; agent is Kris Krismanth, president; engineer is The Haskell Co.; developer is Metropolitan Parking Solutions; for 480 parking spaces.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stor..._18319355.shtml

[Urban_Legend]

Wait, so there's a Sports Complex garage AND an arena garage?

[asonj23]

The garages seen to fit the look of the area really well. Thankfully they are

incorporating some street level retail. The sports district is really seeing some

potential for substantial growth and action outside of gameday.

[RiversideGator]

I love the Second Empire style. I wasnt aware of this development. I am surprised that we have any old buildings left in town with the City of Jax's scorched earth preservation policy. Why allow this to be torn down? I dont think there is any new development going up there. The city should make these crummy absentee landowners maintain their structures or sell them. I know first-hand that it is difficult to rehab old bldgs, but it is worth it in the long run. I wish others (and the City govt.) held the same view.

[vicupstate]

I wonder why we haven't heard anything about this?  It sounds like something the Jax Historic Commission and local preservationist would speak up for?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As a member, I get the Historical Society newsletter, and there has been no mention of this building. It is strange that no one seems to have heard anything about this.

[vicupstate]

Urban residential sales doing well.

Villa Riva has sold 61 of it's 66 tower units and all 6 of it's townhouses.

San Marco Place has sold 126 of it's 141 units.

The Peninsula has sold 80% of it's 234 units

The Plaza at Berkman has closed on 144 of it's 206 units.

Article from the Business Journal is here

[Captain Obvious]

the historical society generally won't attempt to preserve buildings that have been significantly altered. the city has also made it absolutely clear that they don't mind it if altered historic structures are demolished. (In fact, the city actually owned and demolished probably the oldest existing structure downtown, about three years ago. the lanier building. it had EXTENSIVE 1950's midifications)

i think it's easy to throw stones, but no one is ever willing to actually pay for any preservation or restoration work. keep in mind, the historical society functionally consists of 2 paid emplyees and about 20 semi-active or non-active volunteer board members. It doesn't even have the funds to pay it's own rent, let alone purchase and restore property.

all their efforts principally revolve around lobbying the city for money - an endeavor in which they've been surprisingly sucessful for such a small organization. they've restored st. andrews, helped with the $7 million historic trust fund, and right now, they are restoring the Merrill house.

unless someone is willing to front the cash, i think it's unrealistic to expect the historical society to save the day. further, i'd contend that it's downright foolhardy to expect the current city govt. to give a damn about preservation. i mean, maybe councilors Jenkins and Brown, but that's about it.

----------------------

As for the Parking garages, glad to see them underway. Much better than surface lots. Though I'm a bit shocked by the stadium garage figure. Only 1,000 spaces for a 2.6 acre site??? uh oh ... i smell a 2-story garage. I hope it's more than that.

[Viper]

Urban residential sales doing well.

Villa Riva has sold 61 of it's 66 tower units and all 6 of it's townhouses.

San Marco Place has sold 126 of it's 141 units.

The Peninsula has sold 80% of it's 234 units

The Plaza at Berkman has closed on 144 of it's 206 units.

Article from the Business Journal is here

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great figures. As was stated in the article, one sale at one site is one less sale at another and to see all of these hitting between 70% and 92% is great. This raises my expectations for future developments as clearly the demand is strong.

Demand opens the supply door.

[bobliocatt]

the historical society generally won't attempt to preserve buildings that have been significantly altered. the city has also made it absolutely clear that they don't mind it if altered historic structures are demolished. (In fact, the city actually owned and demolished probably the oldest existing structure downtown, about three years ago. the lanier building. it had EXTENSIVE 1950's midifications)

i think it's easy to throw stones, but no one is ever willing to actually pay for any preservation or restoration work. keep in mind, the historical society functionally consists of 2 paid emplyees and about 20 semi-active or non-active volunteer board members. It doesn't even have the funds to pay it's own rent, let alone purchase and restore property.

all their efforts principally revolve around lobbying the city for money - an endeavor in which they've been surprisingly sucessful for such a small organization. they've restored st. andrews, helped with the $7 million historic trust fund, and right now, they are restoring the Merrill house.

unless someone is willing to front the cash, i think it's unrealistic to expect the historical society to save the day. further, i'd contend that it's downright foolhardy to expect the current city govt. to give a damn about preservation. i mean, maybe councilors Jenkins and Brown, but that's about it.

----------------------

As for the Parking garages, glad to see them underway. Much better than surface lots. Though I'm a bit shocked by the stadium garage figure. Only 1,000 spaces for a 2.6 acre site??? uh oh ... i smell a 2-story garage. I hope it's more than that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is unfortunate. You would think, by now, after lose of several historical significant districts (ex. The Row, LaVilla, East Jax, Main Street, etc.) and the newfound popularity of historic preservation and urban pedestrian friendly downtowns, that the city leaders would care a little more about things like this.

But on the other hand, this isn't suprising, seeing that the Rhodes Furniture, Southern Bell buildings, as well as a decent sized midrise building on Greyhound's property, were torn down less than three years ago. If it was that easy to go under public radar to get a unique historical significant building in downtown demolished, then its probably not to far off, to expect to see more go. Hopefully the building's owner is planning to do more with the property, then use it for surface parking.

[Captain Obvious]

I'm affraid that I'm even more pessimistic than you, lakelander. It's not really a matter of buildings getting demolished under the radar. The buildings are demolished with considerable public transparency; it's just that no one really happens to care. While private developers sometimes bring about these demolitions, more often than not, it's actually the city itself actively trying to destroy the buildings.

A big contributor to this problem is that all these old 2-3 story early 19th century buildings have essentially gone unrepaired and often even unoccupied for 40-50+ years. unmaintained buildings decay faster, to the point that no one wants to repair them. The cost would be too much. That's what happened to those two old warehouses on W. Bay last year. The old Arcade theater literally just fell down back in 2002! There are probably a dozen more similar structures awaiting the same eventual fate. Heck, if it weren't for the extremely hard work of a few key people, the city would have never given incentives to 11E and the Carling, and those two would still be empty and rotting.

Quite frankly, I think the appropriate rule of thumb is this: If an historic building is 1. unoccupied and 2. hasn't been designated as a "local landmark" (a process which can only be initiated by the owner) then it will most likely be torn down eventually, one way or another.

[vicupstate]

the historical society generally won't attempt to preserve buildings that have been significantly altered. the city has also made it absolutely clear that they don't mind it if altered historic structures are demolished. (In fact, the city actually owned and demolished probably the oldest existing structure downtown, about three years ago. the lanier building. it had EXTENSIVE 1950's midifications)

i think it's easy to throw stones, but no one is ever willing to actually pay for any preservation or restoration work. keep in mind, the historical society functionally consists of 2 paid emplyees and about 20 semi-active or non-active volunteer board members. It doesn't even have the funds to pay it's own rent, let alone purchase and restore property.

all their efforts principally revolve around lobbying the city for money - an endeavor in which they've been surprisingly sucessful for such a small organization. they've restored st. andrews, helped with the $7 million historic trust fund, and right now, they are restoring the Merrill house.

unless someone is willing to front the cash, i think it's unrealistic to expect the historical society to save the day. further, i'd contend that it's downright foolhardy to expect the current city govt. to give a damn about preservation. i mean, maybe councilors Jenkins and Brown, but that's about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't expect the society to buy the property. I would expect them to object to the demolition permit. Often by delaying demolition and publicizing the issue, they can get the owner to either 1) sell to someone who will save the structure 2) save the structure themselves 3) get the structure moved off the site, if feasible 4) maintain the structure until a suitable use of the structure can be found (as opposed to just clearing the lot) or 5) allow certain historical elements of the building to be salvaged before demolition.

In Charleston, and certain other cities that take historic preservation seriously, the owner would have to prove extreme financial hardship in order to demolish a structure with historic significance.

Great figures.  As was stated in the article, one sale at one site is one less sale at another and to see all of these hitting between 70% and 92% is great.  This raises my expectations for future developments as clearly the demand is strong.

Demand opens the supply door.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I remember a principal with the Peninsula saying that if by a certain point in the construction of the Strand, the Peninsula had sold 95% of it's units, the Strand would not be apartments, but would instead convert to condos before completion. That point would probably be just before flooring and finishes go in. A condo would typically have upgraded flooring and finishes as compared to an apartment. Seeing as how they are at 80% now, and the Strand steel structure is only a few floors above ground, I would say that is very likely to happen. The Strand units are smaller than the Peninsula, so that might be more affordable too.

[Captain Obvious]

I wouldn't expect the society to buy the property.  I would expect them to object to the demolition permit.  Often by delaying demolition and publicizing the issue, they can get the owner to either 1) sell to someone who will save the structure 2) save the structure themselves 3) get the structure moved off the site, if feasible 4) maintain the structure until a suitable use of the structure can be found (as opposed to just clearing the lot) or 5) allow certain historical elements of the building to be salvaged before demolition. 

In Charleston, and certain other cities that take historic preservation seriously, the owner would have to prove extreme financial hardship in order to demolish a structure with historic significance. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jacksonville generally won't delay demolition permits on building whose owner has not asked for historical landmark status, especially buildings with altered fascades.

If you actually care so much (and I'm happy that you do), maybe you should call the historical society? Heck, they might not actually know yet. Or frankly, petition your coucilman to delay demolition yourself. A group of random citizens probably has just as much, if not more, influence on city councilors than the historical society.

But regardless, it's not that I don't share your frustration. I'd rather not see any more demolitions downtown, (lest of all for parking lots, if that's the case). I guess I've just resigned myself to it. You contrasted the situation with Charleston, but that's sort of apples and oranges. Charleston's downtown is an historic district. Jacksonville's downtown is not. Historic buildings in downtown Jacksonville have zero special protection against demolition or alteration. I'm not kidding. zero. It sucks, but that's how it is.

You all might be interested in Mike Langdon's project (don't know how to spell his name properly). In addition to rennovating the Barnett tower, he's trying to turn downtown Jax into a Historic district like Springfield or Riverside. If that ever happened, then demolitions like these would have to be approved by a preservation committee and then signed off by the city council. That kind of delay would potentially allow groups to make a stink about demolitions.

Again, it's not that I don't agree that this building should be preserved. I've just become quite pessimistic about preservation downtown for non-major structures.

[RiversideGator]

Unfortunately, Captain Obvious is right. The City of Jacksonville has engaged in wholesale acts of vandalism without anyone saying anything. And, this is not just in the 60s and 70s. Just recently they destroyed the old Southern Bell Building which was an attractive brick midrise structure from the 20s or 30s which could have easily been adapted for reuse as residential or office. The reason was the building sat on the edge of the site of the now defunct Courthouse. And, they demolished the Rhodes Building which sat on Main Street to make way for the underwhelming (so far to me) new Library. They also tried to destroy the building in which the Amsterdam Cafe is located except the owner went to Court and won. And finally, they razed the entire Lavilla neighborhood. All of these actions were within the past 10-15 years - I am not even mentioning the years of abuses inflicted on Springfield and downtown in general before 1990. In historic preservation, the City gets a D-, in my opinion. And the current mini mayor is completely clueless, in the pocket of the slash and burn crowd, and will do nothing to improve the situation.