Bay Street Station and Streetcars coming downtown?

March 20, 2008 80 comments Open printer friendly version of this article Print Article

Is Downtown ready for national chain retailers, hotels, a movie theater, and streetcars? The local development team for the proposed Bay Street Station development believes so. Today, Metro Jacksonville presents the conceptual renderings for what could become Downtown's largest transit oriented development.



 

Bay Street Station Development Team

LB Jax Development (developer of downtown's W.A. Knight Building Lofts)

Atlantic Coast Development (developer of Avenues Walk)

The Renaissance Group (developer of Gateway Town Center)

 

Bay Street Station Site Plan & Aerials

Bay Street Station would replace three blocks of surface parking in LaVilla and give Skyway riders a reason to stop at the Jefferson Street Station

 

 

Existing Site Plan

The existing site conditions serve as an obstacle to connectivity between the Jacksoville Terminal and the Northbank core.

 

 

Proposed Bay Street Station Site Plan

The proposed site plan fills the entire three block site with a mix of uses in a vertically oriented super structure.  Conceptual plans also show the two-way conversion of Bay Street and a potential narrow gauge light rail/streetcar line running down the middle of Water Street.

 

 

Proposed Street Level Layout

At street level, the majority of the building's footprint offers a massive selection of retail and restaurant space (red).  A pedestrian mall (yellow) will serve as a link between the Jefferson Street skyway station and the Water Street streetcar line.

 

 

Proposed Building Sections

The conceptual building section shows a vertical complex that includes three highrise towers.

 

Building  Uses:

Lobby/Vertical Circulation - 60,518 square feet

Full Service Hotel - 233,168 square feet (15 story/180' tower)

Limited Service Hotel - 92,910 square feet (16 story/190' tower)

Health Club - 86,648 square feet

Parking - 181,819 square feet

Retail - 115,200 square feet

Office - 229,130 square feet (11 story/170' tower)

Theatres / Gaming - 134,970 square feet

 

 

Proposed Bay Street Improvements

Bay Street would become a two lane road with parallel parking under the skyway.

 

 

Proposed Water Street Improvements

Water Street would go from a rarely used four lane road, to a landscaped two lane pedestrian friendly street with a streetcar line and parallel parking.

While the addition of a possible rail line between this development and the Landing is exciting, Metro Jacksonville encourages the development team, planners and JTA to work together to make this a part of a real streetcar plan that could incorporate Water Street line as a part of a much larger system, connecting areas like Five Points and Springfield with Downtown.  Successfully pulling this off would involve abandoning the narrow gauge tourist concept shown above for a common standard gauge based system.

 

Proposed Conceptual Building Elevations