1534 Oak Street Breaks Ground

[Jaxson]

Tufsu1, look on the bright side.  Chew won't be within walking distance but you'll soon be within a good buggy's push of downtown's new "department store"......Family Dollar.   While its a couple of notches below Macy's and TJ Maxx, it shouldn't take them long to plop their metal shed on the corner of State & Liberty.  Even though construction hasn't started, it will probably be open before Chew flips on their lights in Five Points.

This reminds me of an Onion article about TJ Maxx stores giving the impression that they are going out of business, not because of any real 'Going out of business' sales but because they are so shabby.  I have never been to a Macy's outside of New York City, so I have been spared the sight of a skanky Macy's store.

[downtownjag]

Has anyone else heard that Langton already has someone that is going to backfill the space that Chew was in?

[Steve]

^No. And based on Mike Langton's previous public statements, I'll believe it when I can have dinner there.

[acme54321]

Has anyone else heard that Langton already has someone that is going to backfill the space that Chew was in?

Yes, someone else posted the same thing a few weeks ago.

[ChriswUfGator]

Has anyone else heard that Langton already has someone that is going to backfill the space that Chew was in?

When Elvis died, a reporter tracked Colonel Tom Parker down at a diner while he was having coffee to break the news.

Parker being the consummate self-promoter, and whose penchant for denying the obvious had by this time long since become legend, responded at first being informed of the death; "Nothing has changed. This won't change anything."

Mike Langton; Go have another cup of coffee, your space is worth a million bucks. Obviously. Don't sweat the small stuff.

I'm with Lake on this one, when I can sit down and eat dinner there I'll believe it.

[tufsu1]

I'm with Lake on this one, when I can sit down and eat dinner there I'll believe it.

umm..that was Steve

[ChriswUfGator]

I'm with Lake on this one, when I can sit down and eat dinner there I'll believe it.

umm..that was Steve

You're right, my bad! I'd imagine both of them knew it was a typo, I know em both personally.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I met the King of Prussia once....

[tufsu1]

and I've been to King of Prussia Mall 

[Jaxson]

^No. And based on Mike Langton's previous public statements, I'll believe it when I can have dinner there.

Only if it was that easy to backfill vacant downtown spaces.

[Captain Zissou]

In the past two days this has gone vertical in a major way.  About 30 I beams were placed consuming about 30 feet of height and about a third of the land area of the site.  I'm guessing this will be the structural core of the building and the housing for the elevator shaft.  I'm guessing they will be placing more beams through the end of the week.

[downtownjag]

Has anyone else heard that Langton already has someone that is going to backfill the space that Chew was in?

Yes, someone else posted the same thing a few weeks ago.

The restaurant that is going in there, as I am told by someone other than Langton, has already been discussed on MJ   However, maybe the person that named the restaurant to me was told by Langton...

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

One of Us: Before the chef, a restaurant needs a designer
 
Submitted by Charlie Patton on December 6, 2011 - 4:28am
 
Charlie Patton's Blog
 


BOB SELF/The Times-Union
Milan Malinovic of Design/Cooperative stands at the construction site of the new Five Points restaurant that he designed.Milan Malinovic says he likes challenging projects.

He’s got one in the 1534 Oak St. project.

He and his partners at D Coop (short for Design Cooperative) have designed and are involved in the construction of a mixed-use building that will house a ground-floor restaurant, two floors of offices and a rooftop bar on a small, triangular lot near Five Points.

The space is tight and the neighborhood is even tighter, a mixture of residential, retail, bustling restaurants and a crowded neighborhood grocery.

“It’s a very big inconvenience to build a building,” the affable Malinovic said, noting that a big part of his job on a project like 1534 Oak is “crisis management.”

Malinovic is used to adjusting.

He spent the first 33 years of his life in what was then Yugoslavia and is now Bosnia, mostly in Sarajevo. At the University of Sarajevo he got a degree in fine art and then another in architecture and went to work as an architect at the largest firm in the city. But in 1992, with violence escalating as various sections of Yugoslavia broke away into separate countries (six countries would eventually emerge from the breakup), Malinovic left.

He moved to Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean. He could continue to practice architecture there and he met his wife, marrying her in 1993.

But Malta, he said, “is a really tiny country, while the United States was one of the biggest countries.”

So he came to Jacksonville because a partner of his knew William Morgan, one of Jacksonville finest architects.

Milanovic liked the climate in Jacksonville and Morgan, who was designing a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, had work for him.

Technically, Milanovic is no longer an architect since his European license isn’t recognized here. He said he plans to do the necessary course work to obtain his license here soon.

But working without a license hasn’t been a problem since he moved here since he’s always worked for other architects who are licensed. He’s worked with Morgan, worked for Reynolds, Smith and Hills and was with Rink, Reynolds, Diamond, Fisher, later renamed Rink Design, from 2002 until it closed in 2010.

Meanwhile, he and some other associates from Rink Design started D Coop, an architecture and interior design firm, in 2008.

“We’re all very different but somehow we jell together,” he said.

Any great project needs three elements, he said: a great client, a great contractor and a good designer.

The client on 1534 Oak is Black Sheep Restaurant Group, the team behind Chew and Orsay. They’ve placed a high priority on trying to minimize inconvenience from the construction, Milanovic said.

“We knocked on every door in the neighborhood and gave phone numbers for people to call,” he said. “They’ve been very sensitive, which is a very good thing. We want to be a good neighbor.”

The contractor is D.W. Myers, which is dealing with the challenge of not having much storage space on site, he said. As a result, the project is taking time. Ground broke last June. Construction probably won’t end until next June.

When it’s finished, Milanovic said, he hopes it’s a building which everyone looks at and says, those guys are good.

“We really want to make the best we can.”

charlie.patton@jacksonville, (904) 359-4413

[jerry cornwell]

zgrada dobro izgleda!

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

From the blog, it appears that finishes are headed our way...

Monday, March 5, 2012Busy week and the anatomy of a wall
This week there will be a lot going on at the site. Thursday and Friday will have the light weight concrete (they make a "light" version) pour on the roof in preparation of the paver system that will bring the finished floor up 15". That said - there will be a lot of activity on property and a water hose crossing Margaret Street at the end of the week to help mix the concrete.

More significant to us is what will be happening on the Northeast corner of the building involving the skin of the building - the Arriscraft Stone. Originally, the building was designed to have architectural precast panels on the outside. Smooth, clean, modern and quick - these panels would be put up as huge moduals by enormous cranes - all in the same week. After some local and regional research, all the groups involved with the project couldn't find precast panels that made everyone happy. During those discussions a year ago, the building redesign dictated by the Overlay was in process and a win-win solution was found - the Arriscraft Stone.

Installed like brick, the 1 foot by 2 foot stone will take about 2 months to finish as the weight limits it to 2-3 courses per day maximum. The finished product will be better long term for the building at the same time fit the neighborhood a bit better. Each one weighs about 60 pounds.



Below is the beginning of the wall with the Prosoco R-Guard waterproofing system that includes several layers of liquid, fiberglass and copper membranes finished with a stainless steel edge.