A look at Oakleaf Town Center

[Metro Jacksonville]

A look at Oakleaf Town Center



Although a few major big box stores have already opened, Oakleaf Town Center is not scheduled to be fully operational unil April 2008.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/676

[gatorback]

Where is the closest movie theater?  Which bus stops here?

[Jason]

The nearest theatre would be the AMC 24 at the OP Mall.

[copperfiend]

I went to the OLTC for the first time this past weekend. It is a perfect development for the area and should be a great addition for the people of Oak Leaf and Argyle. It is pretty standard stores for a development of this size but anything that keeps people from driving on Blanding Blvd is a plus. And is this the first Panda Express in Jax?

[dowtown-entrepreneur]

I think there is a Panda Express in the area malls.

This is a smart development for this community. OakLeaf is a master-planned community done by the Hutson company. It has a total of about 3,000 to 4,000 households comprised of single-family homes, condos and townhomes. Most of the residents have lived there within the past 3 years and have waited for this development to be completed. The community isn't close to being completely built-out and has plans for more homes and business development in the "better-housing-market" future.

This master-planned community is remniscient of the Nocatee, Julington Creek, Fleming Island Plantation and Bartram Park developments. Each one of these have, or will have, "town centers" as well as homes and condos. Some may call it urban sprawl others may call progress. They have an advantage over downtown Jacksonville in that they all started with trees and were built during the housing boom. They just needed someone with a checkbook and a little vision.

[DemocraticNole]

As one who lives exactly one mile from the Oakleaf TownCenter, I can say it has been a nice addition. It is pleasant to be able to do some shopping and dining without going to Blanding and Wells Rd. I often walk down there, although I don't think many people do. I will say that they should have widened Argyle from 4 to 6 lanes from Old Middleburg to SR 23. I don't think it will take long before traffic on that stretch becomes unbareable.

[gatorback]

How's the Starbucks there?  Did you buy the new coffee at Starbucks?  It's 24.00 a lb!  Dian said it's our 1st effort to move up market!  The box must be a huge part of that cost.  It's designer in nature.

[second_pancake]

I agree with keeping as many people as possible off of Blanding.  That place is a mad-house and I truly have no idea how anyone can live down there and not try and slit their wrists every waking hour.

While I don't agree with the urban-sprawl mentality and I don't think there's much, if any, creativity in these cookie-cutter town-centers (btw, there's one or more of these in every city in America now including Murfreesboro, TN), it would be a welcome answer to all the traffic issues to actually be able to create a work-live-play environment.  And who knows, maybe each of these "towns" can split from Jacksonville entirely and have their own city and city council.  Now, THAT would be interesting.

[gatorback]

And who knows, maybe each of these "towns" can split from Jacksonville entirely and have their own city and city council.  Now, THAT would be interesting.

Sounds expensive but I'm listening.  Let's see, we'd have at least 7 new municipalities?  How would you pay for all that?

[thelakelander]

I don't think these strip shopping centers will ever become actual urban cores.  The suburban layout of the surrounding areas, the big box components and surface parking lots kill any true chance of them forming enough compact connectivity without tearing them down and completely rebuilding them.  Nevertheless, they are still an improvement from their suburban counterparts developed a few decades ago. 

[gatorback]

I'm thinking the one good thing developments do is relieve congestion which is an activity that is truly needed.   

[thelakelander]

In the short term.  Depending on how growth is regulated in the future, it could become a larger negative by bringing Blanding type congestion to the Oakleaf area.

[gatorback]

So sprawl isn't so much growth as it is cancer in Jacksonville?

[thelakelander]

At this point, most of the sprawl locally is still a cancer because we haven't successfully developed the infrastructure to support it or changed the zoning to heavily regulate it.  However, we aren't alone in our struggles for good growth management.  Most US metropolitan areas are in the same boat.

[gatorback]

If it wasn't for sprawl we would have never left the garden of eve; however, with all that sinning going on you can't blame us.  How do you develop the infrastructure to support the sprawl given the taxpayers don't want what's needed to facilitated.  They don't want busses, BRT, LRT or increased fuel prices.  They probably just want more bowling alleys.