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Kings Avenue Station will be located, just south of I-95, directly adjacent to the Kings Avenue Garage and skyway station. It will be JTA's first planned transit oriented development (TOD), bringing in an additional ridership base for the Skyway Express.
The commercial complex will consist of two 8-story adjoining hotels, facing Kings Avenue, along with a mid-rise apartment building between the hotels and I-95. Both the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton will have 110 rooms each.
The $60 million dollar development will also include up to six restaurants at street level. The project is intended to present itself to the street in a more urban classical sense, rather than making an attempt at a "Mediterranean" theme, which many of other local projects tend to do.
Consuming about two city blocks, this project, with it's heavy focus on providing a quality pedestrian experience at street level, should become a catalyst for additional development in the Hendricks Avenue corridor between San Marco Square and the Southbank.
Originally announced a few years ago, the project's design has changed tremendously. The original design anticipated the project containing only retail and office space.
Along with this mixed-use hotel project, Chase Properties is also proposing an aerial cable car system that could connect the Southbank with the Northbank, near the Stadium District. Estimated to cost $8 million per mile, this cable system would use gondolas (as shown above) to carry passengers 150' above the St. Johns River. If successful, a second link could be built to connect the stadium area with the Jacksonville Landing and the central skyway station along Bay Street, completing a transit loop in the central business district.
The developer intends to put together a committee to study the feasibility of such a transit system within the next month or so.
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Brian Braswell
March 20, 2007, 08:08:33 AMWhy Why Why NOT extend the Skyway instead? Bring it down to street level to cut cost & run it to the sports complex! I parked at the King St. garage for the FL GA game last year & rode it as far as the Omni. Then I took a cab to Alltel. Repeated the process after the game & still saved $$ & saved valuable time/traffic. I'd be willing to wager that revenue from 1 football/baseball season in addition to concert events would surpass all other ridership combined..........Ho much more cost effective would a cable car system be? Seems almost gimmicky.
Lunican
March 20, 2007, 09:00:32 AMThe cable cars are a gimmick, and that is why they would be privately funded. Unfortunately, JTA has no plans to extend the Skyway, and a private developer wouldn't be able to pay for it.
Also, extending the Skyway along the ground is not possible, but building a much lighter structure definitely is.
thelakelander
March 20, 2007, 09:17:44 AMImo, it probably is gimmicky. I'd also bet that a skyway extension to the Stadium district, via Bay Street, with support infrastructure that isn't over built such as ours was, would cost less/mile than our planned BRT system, as well as spur additional infill development along it's path.
Nevertheless, if the developer is willing to privately finance the cable car idea, so be it.
RG
March 20, 2007, 01:55:17 PMI really like the new rendering. The old one looked cheap and cartoonish. The new look is more restrained and dignified. I am impressed. I cant wait to see this start construction.
dj
March 20, 2007, 03:14:07 PMThis will turn out to be a nice project and will surely add some riders the Skyway.
Jeremiah
March 21, 2007, 03:09:24 PMI've argued this point before and I'll argue it again. Jacksonville is the perfect city for a mass transit/skyway loop. With developments still going up all over the perimeter of Jacksonville (much like Northern Virginia and the Metro DC area), the traffic situation is only going to get worse. But it also provides an awesome opportunity for the city to design the transit system with those developments in mind, creating a beltway through the city. The pending commuter rail is an excellent starting point for that. Awareness does need to be raised with city officials however before any real change can be made. I'll get off my soap box now.
thelakelander
July 12, 2007, 11:57:33 AMHere's a link to the floor plans for phase 1. It includes space for two restaurants/dining areas on the ground floor.
http://internetjobsite.net/drawings/HiltonGardenInnA01toA111frmJaxSouth.pdf