Mixed -Use Development Coming To Brooklyn?

[thelakelander]

In this week's Jax Biz Journal:

JACKSONVILLE — Bank-owned vacant land along Riverside Avenue in Brooklyn was sold Nov. 30, sparking expectations that a major development is on tap for a location that has been vacant since prior development plans collapsed in the recession.

Pope & Land Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta real estate company that specializes in mixed-use developments in the Southeast, paid $2 million to buy 3.25 acres from BBVA Compass and is pursuing a nonperforming note held by Bank of America Corp.    for the remainder of the land.

“We’re planning to develop a mixed-use development,” said Tom Barranco, vice president of Pope & Land.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2011/12/09/atlanta-developer-buys-riverside-land.html

[thelakelander]

This is the old Miles Development property boxed by Riverside Avenue, Jackson, Park, and Leila Streets.  Evidently, the property is attractive to retailers looking to tap into Riverside's success.  If you don't have a biz journal account, you can't access the rest of the article.  However, the info posted above pretty much covers the entire story.

[acme54321]

Wow, could be really good news. 

Lake, the article says 3.25 acres, but the area bounded by those streets is more like 20 acres.  Is that a misprint or is it something more complicated with the transaction?  $2M for 3.25 acres seems rather steep

[JeffreyS]

love to see that connector from Riverside to Downtown become vibrant.

[L.P. Hovercraft]

love to see that connector from Riverside to Downtown become vibrant.

With a couple of streetcar stops along the way.

[downtownjag]

This is the land across from Haskell, St. Joe, etc?

[blizz01]

That stretch is just begging for vibrancy - The streetscape is already in place, etc.; sounds really exciting.

[futurejax]

This sounds awesome.  This area could really do well with such close proximity to the Fidelity, BCBS, and LPS offices.

Very excting news.

[Tacachale]

Sounds great. This is one of those areas absolutely ripe for development. It's good to see some movement.

[tufsu1]

I belive there will be some news on the 200 Riverside site in the coming weeks/months as well

[acme54321]

This is the land across from Haskell, St. Joe, etc?

Yes

[fsujax]

Another Atlanta developer proposing something big for Jacksonville. It will probably never happen.

[MusicMan]

Especially after spending over $2 million on the land.

[JeffreyS]

While many never materialize some of the proposals get done.  So lets be happy lots of developers try to get things started.

[simms3]

Wow, could be really good news. 

Lake, the article says 3.25 acres, but the area bounded by those streets is more like 20 acres.  Is that a misprint or is it something more complicated with the transaction?  $2M for 3.25 acres seems rather steep

That's $23/land foot my friend.  I bet Pope & Land thought it super cheap, considering prime parcels in Miami and Atlanta go for $300-400++ (especially in Miami)/land foot.

Pope & Land is about as real as it gets.  Whether that translates into immediate development or not remains to be seen, but since Hines never actually got a tower out of the ground there, no other downtown developer approaches the reputation of Pope & Land.  This is a developer with better access to debt and equity than anyone else in the city right now.  They have developed millions of square feet of suburban office campuses/towers, infill mixed-use towers, A & B apartments, and they sit on a lot of land.  They are not known for core/CBD properties, but that market is competitive to penetrate where they operate (Atlanta).  In Jacksonville they will be about the only game in town if they are serious, and so I wouldn't know whether to expect something that would go in a more vibrant city center or something that's a cross between urban and suburban (like 3630 in Buckhead, a tower in which they partnered with Novare and Duke Realty).

AJ Land is an alum of both Georgia Tech and Emory and was this year's recipient of the coveted ULI Atlanta Frank Carter award for community achievement.  His namesake firm is one of the city's most prestigious development firms, right along with Ben Carter Properties, Carter USA, Seven Oaks, Legacy, Cousins, Novare, Post, Gables, Kim King & Associates, Dewberry Capital, Ackerman & Co, Selig Enterprises, Portman Associates, Barry Real Estate, and Jacoby.  When any of these names come to town, be excited.