Riverside Park Development Proposed For Brooklyn

[Metro Jacksonville]

Riverside Park Development Proposed For Brooklyn



This Thursday, the Downtown Development Review Board will consider a request for conceptual approval of Riverside Park by the Lincoln Property Company.  Bounded by Park, Leila, Jackson, and Magnolia Streets in Brooklyn, Riverside Park will be a 297 unit high density multi-family rental development adjacent to the JTA's skyway maintenance and operations center.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-feb-riverside-park-development-proposed-for-brooklyn

[Noone]

Very nice. Is there any street parking?

[cgaskins]

This is bullhonkey!  How can we protest the design?  Building in that area is a must, but these people are sticking a "nice suburban spread" in an urban space.  Those blocks deserve real buildings, not a bunch of prefarhsyiogdf!  I didn't want to curse so I pressed keys to create a pejorative, so you just read an angry spread of letters.  Decide what you want of it.
Seriously, this plan is total crap.  Do you think we can write them and change their mind?
If we get a couple thousand people to write snail mail, and we also write email, then maybe we can tell these ¢unts they need put up buildings of worth instead of shabby blah.
This is Jax, so we only except things that are strange and unusual or ahead of the times.  Right?!?!

[dougskiles]

They don't have to drive far to see an example of what would be a great product for this site - Tapestry Park.  And please leave the gates off.

[thelakelander]

For those who aren't familiar with Tapestry Park:



http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-sep-southsides-tapestry-park

[thelakelander]

Looking at the plan, I'd say Tapestry Park is identical to Riverside Park in regards to its layout.  While its mixed use and not completely gated, like Riverside Park, it focuses in on itself and does not create an urban street edge with Gate Parkway or Southside Boulevard north of its central entrance on Deer Lake.  I've always felt that the north of end of Tapestry (Deer Lake and Gate Parkway) is fairly suburban when it should be a major entry point.

[acme54321]

In the presentation most of the examples that they give for the proposed look and style of these apartments are on the street.  These are not good.  They could easily make these front the street (or at least appear to) and use the existing streets.  If they really want to gate the thing they could  put gated parking internal to the complex.

Lake you seem to have some connections with the DDRB, what do you think they will say about this?

[jcjohnpaint]

I think the original Brooklyn Park was so much better in use of the land.  Sad it didn't materialize.  As much as I want to be enthusiastic about this land being developed, I am really unhappy with this design.  Even if they flipped the buildings around it would be better.  It is closed off and PRIVATE/ suburban.  This plan takes nice urban fabric and turns it away from the community and locks it up behind gates.  Lets hope something better comes out of this meeting.   

[acme54321]

It think the first lines of this slide solidifies what is driving a lot of this.  They are scared of the area, so they are planning to build a fortress.  Fences and parking lots make a great barrier between the buildings and the "hood" (that no one lives in).

[Lucasjj]

^This is what caught my eye also. The line thats says "Develop a community with an Urban Look"...makes me worried.

[fieldafm]

This slide emphasizes a point I have been making for years.  It's exponentially cheaper to build large sprawling parking lots than it is to build to density.  Allow things to be built to the least common denominator, and they will get built that way.

I really don't think it would take much for this design to be much more urban friendly. 

The first phase of Tapestry Park is a great example locally.  And to Lake's point, they couldn't front Southside and couldnt get an entrance to Southside in the second part of the development (although it does empty on to another street that has access to Merril Lynch and BCBSF).  Tapestry Park was literally hard to build based on how zoning laws are set up on the Southside (which is a shame). 

I thought I had pictures of them on my camera from a trip a few weeks ago, but I don't... however the Row Houses of Soho in Tampa (across from a Greenworks Publix built at density with a parking garage built into the store) are a great example as well. 

[fieldafm]

^This is what caught my eye also. The line thats says "Develop a community with an Urban Look"...makes me worried.

No different than the two new apartment complexes being built at the Town Center (two of several projects I cited as reasons not to pass the Mobility Fee moratorium).  They are touted as having an 'urban feel', even though you physically can't walk from them to the Markets at Town Center phase... because there aren't even sidewalks to allow you to do so.

[tufsu1]

Post Properties learned this lesson....first they built Post Hyde Park in Tampa as a suburban apartment complex in an urban neighborhood (see below)...after that, the company made a nation-wide decision to only build urban-style properties....they then built Post Walk a few blocks away in the heart of Hyde Park....rental rates were higher and a few years ago that property was converted to condos at a nice profit for Post.

http://www.postproperties.com/myCommunity.aspx?community=203100

[dougskiles]

Looking at the plan, I'd say Tapestry Park is identical to Riverside Park in regards to its layout.  While its mixed use and not completely gated, like Riverside Park, it focuses in on itself and does not create an urban street edge with Gate Parkway or Southside Boulevard north of its central entrance on Deer Lake.  I've always felt that the north of end of Tapestry (Deer Lake and Gate Parkway) is fairly suburban when it should be a major entry point.

True.  Riverside Avenue and Park Street lend themselves to become more of a pedestrian oriented corridor than Southside Blvd.  I wonder why they are choosing to use Park Street as the front door for Phase I and not Riverside Avenue?  I would think the uses along Riverside (Haskell, FTU, YMCA) would be enough to support a lunch restaurant business and draw people in after work for retail/dining/bars.  And engaging the street similar to this sketch and then drawing people into the internal street would be superior.  This image shows their proposed Park Street side, but I would flip it around to bring it in from Riverside first and then let Phase II do the same thing on Park Street.

[JeffreyS]

Lake I think you need to bullet point your ideas in the article better. Are you advocating taking down the fences, not changing the grid and doors to the street ? Right now it looks like an apartment complex on SS or Baymeadows the thing is those are popular to rent in Jax. Gated is suburban no doubt. I want this to be more urban but I really want it to be successful in renting units.