Adaptive Reuse on the Southbank

[Metro Jacksonville]

Adaptive Reuse on the Southbank



From the exterior, the old Southside Hardware building may be the most modest building on this stretch of Kings Ave. Despite its humble exterior, this building has been given a new life by marketing firm Burdette Ketchum, which wanted a unique building that could suit their needs.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/766

[Jason]

Great article and a fantastic example of adaptive reuse.  Many would have thought that building was useless but just look at what a little creativity can produce.

BTW, what kind of company is Burdette Ketchum?  Architectural?

[JeffreyS]

I was just there with my wife and son admiring those buildings.  My wife is going to flip when she learns the JTA wanted to destroy them.  It is great area to walk and shop.  We have got to get past this BRT nonsense.

Mr. Miller I hate to keep telling you the same thing but use the rail right of way already built into Jacksonville and forget the purchase and destroy plan for BRT paths.

[Steve]

I love how they wanted to use this for part of the BRT Station.   This si part of the reason that busses don't work - since the busses don't have dedicated trackage (and most of the time doors are only on one side), their use as a method of transit is restricted, and going through these urban areas is tight.

[Steve]

Getting back to the building - what an awesome redo.  I like the way they made it modern but was able to keep the building architecturally true to the period when it was built

[thelakelander]

Great article and tour.  This is one of the main reasons I'm totally against ripping down older buildings for surface lots or hopes of building something new years down the line.  Little places like this are essential to the creation of a vibrant urban community because they allow those with limited budgets to use their creativity to be apart of the community.  Eliminating these small buildings erases this opportunity and makes the core rely on hard-to-pull off one trick ponies by major developers in an atmosphere where its hard to justify financing large projects.

[Lunican]

BTW, what kind of company is Burdette Ketchum?  Architectural?

Burdette Ketchum is a marketing/advertising consulting firm.
http://burdetteketchum.com

[avonjax]

In the mid-eighties I used to work for a friend who had an export business in a small building, now gone, a few doors down from Southside Hardware...
I think everyone did an amazing job with these old buildings....
I agree this great looking little piece of the Southbank is a shining example of what can be done with existing buildings.

[raheem942]

progress ...hum thats new