Print Article
1. Overlooking the importance of urban design
Everbank's recent move to downtown illustrates the importance of urban design with every downtown deal. While landing the company represents a major coup for the area, the failure to highlight or address the exposure of retail on the tower's ground level restricts the relocation's overall potential on the immediate surrounding area.
Take a visit to the Jacksonville Public Library's Special Collections Department and you'll find several downtown redevelopment documents and vision plans collecting dust. Pick up a recently released Metro Jacksonville produced Cohen Brothers, The Big Store book, and you'll find that many of the same topics involving downtown revitalization today were alive and well forty years ago. In the meantime, billions of dollars have been invested on riverwalks, sports facilities, streetscapes, convention centers, parks, etc. and the parachute slowing downtown's fall from grace still hasn't fully opened.
Upon closer inspection, you'll discover that we tend to focus too much time on big ticket items, like a new courthouse or convention center, and not enough time or energy on making sure every project, large and small, properly interacts with the pedestrian scale environment around it. Needless to say, this is how we end up with Parador garage projects, retail in office towers that can't been seen from the street, and $350 million courthouses without sidewalks. All represent millions of dollars invested, but lost opportunities to stimulate pedestrian scale vibrancy. The ultimate success of the DIA will hinge on its ability to understand, stress, and simply demand all downtown development to integrate and add to the pedestrian scale environment surrounding it.
This Arlington, VA office building represents how integrating street level retail with the pedestrian environment surrounding it can add life to the street. Such a concept can be easily applied to the streets and buildings of downtown Jacksonville by better utilizing the businesses already operating in the area.
2. Developing an implementable and incremental downtown "plan"
The Downtown Master Plan of 1971 (above) is one of a long list of redevelopment strategies that were not based on or adaptable to market rate reality. With no idea of what to ultimately do with the failed Shipyards development site (below), it continues to only offer waterfront access to the homeless.
Let's face it. Thousands of new residents and businesses aren't going to fall out of the sky and into downtown's streets tomorrow. Downtown has steadily declined for decades and it will most likely take decades to fully restore the area to the ultimate atmosphere and environment everyone would like to see. Nevertheless, we still have several businesses operating right now that are struggling on a month-to-month basis.
In the past, a major failure of many publicly endorsed downtown redevelopment schemes has been the over-reliance of long term dreams at the expense of market rate short term reality. This is how we've ended up with the Main Street Pocket Park and the still abandoned and inaccessible patch of riverfront grass, known as the Shipyards.
While most redevelopment specialists will claim increasing downtown's immediate residential population base should be the highest priority, it should be understood and accepted that such an effort will take years to materialize in the attraction of retail and entertainment uses that many envision. That's not to speak poorly of downtown. Instead, this is just simple market, demographic, and development related reality.
However, this doesn't mean all is lost short term. It just means that we should not look at or treat downtown as a self contained bubble and gated community. Luckily, downtown is surrounded by neighborhoods like Riverside/Avondale, Springfield, San Marco, Durkeeville, etc. where 100,000 residents and additional popular walkable destinations, employers, institutions, and attractions already exist.
Share this article
RSS
dougskiles
October 16, 2012, 05:55:27 AMGood article. The DIA has its first meeting tomorrow (Wednesday), 2 pm at City Hall.
Florida Times-Union had an article this morning about the DIA and focused on a topic that those of us living in the In Town Neighborhoods have been saying for a while:
Carmen Godwin summed it up perfectly:
Three transit connections that are continually discussed on this forum could have a significant effect on Downtown:
1. Riverside streetcar
2. S-line commuter rail (Springfield)
3. Skyway extension to Atlantic Blvd (San Marco)
All three could be accomplished for the cost of the overpasses built by the BJP.
Charles Hunter
October 16, 2012, 06:45:49 AMWhich is why it is critical to let the Mobility Fee Moratorium expire.
thelakelander
October 16, 2012, 06:48:33 AMDid you guys catch the news about FDOT preparing to replace the Sisters Creek drawbridge on Heckscher Drive with a fixed structure? The cost is $52 million and FDOT estimates 3,600 drivers use the road each day.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=537749
$52 million would fund both a streetcar between Five Points and downtown and a skyway extension to Atlantic Boulevard. Such an investment would generate more everyday use and encourage hundreds of millions of infill in Brooklyn, LaVilla, Downtown, and the Kings Avenue area of San Marco.
Bill Hoff
October 16, 2012, 07:17:58 AMGreat piece. I suppose we'll find out "now what?" pretty soon....
thelakelander
October 16, 2012, 07:47:11 AMOne thing we never mention about downtown (the Northbank) is, it hasn't had 5,000 or 10,000 residents living in it the majority of the previous 100 years. In the first two decades after the Great Fire, it rapidly redeveloped as a logistical hub, industrial and commercial center. On the other hand, your dense residential areas were LaVilla, Brooklyn and the ring of urban core neighborhoods like Springfield, Sugar Hill, New Town, Riverside, San Marco/South Jacksonville, Eastside, etc. that were probably twice as dense than they are today.
However, they were connected to downtown with a 60-mile streetcar network. As a result, downtown greatly benefited as being a commercialized epicenter for this urban population. When that population declined and connectivity was severed, so did the commercial prospects of downtown. The reestablishment of transit, bicycle, and pedestrian connectivity between downtown and the surrounding ring of neighborhoods is an easily first step in resolving many of the ills impacting downtown.
With that said, you can use fixed transit connectivity, just like we use highway construction, as a tool to attract market rate development along the selected corridor. This method of rapidly growing a supportive population base has worked well for Charlotte, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Denver, Dallas, San Diego, etc. This is something should definitely be looked at in greater detail because its much easier to tap into an existing resource than the grow one from scratch in an environment where it has never really existed.
Noone
October 16, 2012, 07:52:30 AMUrban tactical connectivity of our St. Johns River our American Heritage River a Federal Innitiative under a new Downtown Authority will soon tell the world if we really are a Great River or if it's Shipyards III. Pick and choose the winners and losers.
simms3
October 16, 2012, 08:05:26 AMWho are the 9 members of the DIA?
thelakelander
October 16, 2012, 08:07:36 AMMayor Brown’s selections for the DIA board are:
Melody S. Bishop – An architect with Akel, Logan & Shafer who serves on the AIA Florida Board of Directors and the Florida Foundation for Architecture Board of Trustees. Her firm is located in the Downtown area.
Robert M. Clements – Chairman and CEO of EverBank, which recently relocated 1,500 employees to the new EverBank Center in Downtown.
Kamaria (Kay) Harper – A practicing attorney with the Harper Law Firm and a Downtown resident.
Paul Perez – Former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida and current Chief Compliance Officer for Fidelity National Financial, which is located in the Downtown area.
Donald Harris – General Manager of the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk Hotel, which is located on the Southbank.
Council President Bill Bishop’s selections for the DIA board are:
Antonio Allegretti – Southbank resident with business management experience as the founding director of the Riverside Arts Market and a partner in Downtown’s Burrito Gallery restaurant. Currently serving as the Director of Downtown Engagement for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
James F. Bailey Jr. – Downtown business and property owner as the President of Bailey Publishing and Communications and Publisher of The Financial News & Daily Record.
Oliver Barakat – A senior vice president for CBRE who represented EverBank in the company’s recent move of 1,500 employees Downtown to the former AT&T Tower.
Donald A. Shea – Urban planner who serves as the executive director of the nonpartisan Jacksonville Civic Council and has extensive experience in economic development, including service as the executive director of the Shreveport Downtown Development Authority and President and CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership.
spuwho
October 16, 2012, 08:49:00 AMLake, I would see any Heckscher improvements as an offset to a future discontinued Mayport Ferry.
Would you agree?
Reducing Heckscher transit times eventually takes pressure off the ferry.
However, I do agree with you that money seems to be in everyone's budget for road upgrades, but not for transit related activities. Clearly a sign of a lack of a strategic plan and political will.
thelakelander
October 16, 2012, 08:56:59 AMspuwho, I believe the bridge is structurally deficient, so some type of replacement is needed. So I'm not claiming that it should be allowed to fall into the creek. I was making the comment to point out the associated dollar figure and compare that cost to what you could get with fixed mass transit.
For some reason, we don't blink an eye with every overpass project that routinely costs more than $50 million. However, if you mentioned spending $50 million on mass transit around this place, opposition would fly out of the woodworks, despite being able to improve that it would return more ROI and generate more usage.
Spence
February 06, 2013, 06:01:53 AMCan anyone explain exactly WHY the opening photograph to this essay and statistics is of the Timuquana Golf and Country Club view of the downtown skyline from the pool deck?
Charles Hunter
February 06, 2013, 06:41:19 AMBecause it is a nice view of all of downtown? Just guessing.
thelakelander
February 06, 2013, 06:47:33 AMIt's a story about downtown, which the photo has a skyline view of.
Captain Zissou
February 06, 2013, 09:34:40 AMWHY is that such a big deal to you?
Cheshire Cat
April 22, 2013, 08:36:35 PMSeveral month's into the process of finding a CEO for the DIA there are apparently 61 applications on file with no cut off date.
thelakelander
April 23, 2013, 09:19:01 AMHere is a link to the list of DIA CEO applicants:
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=539287
carpnter
April 23, 2013, 09:41:05 AMMaybe I should apply, I am more qualified than some of those applying for the job and I know I don't have the qualifications or experience for the position.
CityLife
April 23, 2013, 10:30:33 AMChris Flagg looks like the only local with a shot. Would like to be able to see more info about the candidates, but there are some good titles there:
Odis Jones-Director of Economic Development-Cincinnati
Kevin Hanna-Director of Real Estate-New Orleans Redevelopment Authority
Abigail Rider-Associate VP and Director of Campus properties-Yale-which is located in an urban area
Javier Betancourt-Deputy Director-Miami Downtown Development Authority
James Edwards-Charleston Urban Renewal Authority
Hard to really tell about the private sector folks without their bios.
CityLife
April 23, 2013, 01:15:21 PMAs we've seen before, there are probably some very good candidates that haven't yet submitted due to Sunshine Laws and want to ensure they are serious candidates before going public. Looks like we already have some viable candidates and hopefully there are even more behind the curtain.
thelakelander
April 23, 2013, 04:53:58 PMEdwards was over Lakeland's DDA when they first started implementing their revitalization plans in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Growing up in the area back then, I remember downtown Lakeland was in pretty bad shape. It even had a few long abandoned 1920s highrises like the Trio that were full of homeless that many wanted demolished. Still following that plan, here's what downtown Lakeland looks like today:
Link to downtown Lakeland photo tour: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jul-elements-of-urbanism-lakeland
At some point in the 1990s, he left Lakeland to take a similar position in Hollywood, FL. I was down in Hollywood two years ago for a wedding and spent some time exploring that downtown.
link to downtown Hollywood photo tour: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-mar-elements-of-urbanism-hollywood
My casual observation from the redevelopment of those two downtowns is that today both seem to be a lot more lively, cleaner, pedestrian friendly, and better maintained than downtown Jacksonville. Also, for all the excuses we come up with why our downtown looks the way it does, those city's downtowns had more to overcome.
Tacachale
April 23, 2013, 05:03:59 PMThat Hollywood Boulevard strip is pretty cool. We were there a few years ago, also for a wedding in the area. I forget why we even stopped in Hollywood, but we stumbled on that strip. Something like that in Downtown Jax would be awesome.
tufsu1
April 23, 2013, 10:03:04 PMThaddeus Cohen is the last name on the list....he was previously Secretary of DCA under Gov. Bush....and then moved on to the City of Pensacola as its CRA director
Noone
April 24, 2013, 05:14:22 AMOdis, Gets my vote.
thelakelander
April 24, 2013, 06:14:24 AM^The Daily Record says Odis Jones is currently the Director of Economic Development in Cincinnati. Here's a brief press release of him taking the Cincinnati job last April. Before then, he was the Director of Urban Development for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
http://www.choosecincy.com/news/odis_jones_named_new_city_of_cincinnati_economic_development_director
video: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/crystal-faulkner-interviews-otis-jones
thelakelander
April 26, 2013, 07:09:09 PMEight finalists named for CEO of Downtown Investment Authority
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2013/04/26/seven-finalists-named-for-ceo-of.html
urbaknight
May 01, 2013, 03:55:29 PMI bet they give the job to Cohen. They certainly won't give the job to an urban-oriented Yankee like they should!
JeffreyS
May 01, 2013, 06:53:31 PMPerhaps the DIA could throw some money at the Brooklyn retail for some pedestrian concessions.
Cheshire Cat
May 01, 2013, 08:12:16 PMurbaknight
May 03, 2013, 02:20:10 PMAny one of them. We have some of the biggest cities in the world up there. Urban projects are constantly going on without any effort and without people like us trying to tell them what they're doing wrong; and what would be an easy fix. As far as urban planning and urban living goes, they got it! And I just think that we'd be smart to transplant some of that down here.
I really mean no disrespect, it's just that here in Florida all of the decision makers all know each other and are all friends. They are also friends with the special interests. (just look at the whole mobility fee moratorium crap) We need a complete outsider and maybe even someone who doesn't like us very much, but is willing to show everyone that things can be turned around.
fieldafm
May 03, 2013, 02:26:02 PMThat is definately not accurate. I can tell you from experience that no matter what city you go to or how solid a city's built environment is, you always have neighborhood advocates that give input into land use issues.
urbaknight
May 03, 2013, 03:09:58 PMI guess the authorities actually listen to them then. I haven't noticed, I just remember things being built and not many complained.
tufsu1
May 03, 2013, 10:44:27 PMyou do realize the one guy has spent his entire career, except for the last 2 years, in Florida right?