The small buildings along Kings Avenue (lower left corner) once housed many businesses and industries adjacent to South Jacksonville's shipyards. Today, many of these buildings have been preserved and restored into new uses.
Buildings tell stories, and when you remove the buildings, you remove a chapter from the history and character of the community. Kings Avenue proves when buildings are preserved they can combine to create a distinct district with its own unique sense of place that can't be duplicated in the suburbs.
Article by Ennis Davis
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Sigma
December 02, 2008, 02:51:41 PMSpeaking of the importance of re-habbing old buildings, check out this link (pg 54-57).
http://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=325511596
I know the CEO and remember when downtown Greenwood was very sad. This area deserves one of your "Learning from" segments. It has truly been a remarkable turnaround.
Jason
December 02, 2008, 04:10:29 PMWelcome Sigma. Thanks for the link.
deathstar
December 02, 2008, 05:46:55 PMK, COJ, take note of your accomplishments there, and spread that throughout the city!
thelakelander
December 02, 2008, 10:16:22 PMThe number one accomplishment here is that public agencies did not get in the way. Redevelopment was driven by private sector market rate investment and creativity.
GatorShane
December 03, 2008, 11:08:57 AMGreat Pics! This area is really coming along. I do wish we had one huge district like Ybor City, but I do think it is cool that we have several smaller ones around town. This will add another distint street to our cityscape.