Curry's Plan for the Landing Revealed

[KenFSU]

As has been the rumor, wrecking ball it is.

Details below, but give the clicks/ad views to the Record:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/citys-vision-for-jacksonville-landing-space

City’s vision for Jacksonville Landing space

If the city gets full control of the Jacksonville Landing, Mayor Lenny Curry plans to demolish the aging riverfront mall to make room for a sprawling urban park.

That’s the idea behind new design renderings obtained this week from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The conceptual art for the almost 6-acre site depicts an expansive mix of greenspace and pedestrian paths where the Landing stands.

It comes two weeks after the Office of General Counsel sent Jacksonville Landing Investments Inc. an eviction letter for allegedly breaching terms of the company’s lease agreement with the city.

JLI, part of Sleiman Enterprises Inc., owns the three buildings comprising the Landing. The city owns the ground underneath and leases that to Sleiman’s company.

JLI assumed the lease from Rouse-Jacksonville Inc. in 2003 and extended it to 2041.

Brian Hughes, Curry’s chief of staff, said Wednesday the rendering came after “a series of conceptual discussions with Mayor Curry” and the executive leadership team. 

“The design concept you have is the result of those discussions and was created by a city staff member,” Hughes said. He did not identify that staff member.

The renderings obtained Tuesday show pedestrian walkways through formal gardens, water features and vegetation, along with expanses of greenspace.

“Mayor Curry’s idea would utilize centrally located property that is on the river and in the heart of Downtown as a riverfront plaza,” said Hughes, who called the idea “a front lawn for the core of Downtown.”

The docks along the St. Johns River, which remain closed after sustaining damage from hurricanes Irma in 2017 and Matthew in 2016, also would be repaired — another sore spot for Sleiman’s company.

Flanked on either side by the Main Street Bridge and the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, the park would be along the existing Northbank Riverwalk.

The renderings show an entrance ramp for traffic coming from Independent Drive East onto the Main Street Bridge would be removed. A pedestrian and bike path would connect to the bridge from the park.

Away from the river, the design shows symmetrical buildings closer to the streets on either side of the park.

Hughes said the city would “invite economic development that utilizes proximity to natural, public space,” and that the move beyond concept would require collaboration between public and private partners.

Love how the City and Sleiman spend millions over the years bringing in leading planners and outside developers to conduct studies of the area and recommend best uses and design for the Landing, and at the end of the day, Curry and his aids just jot down some sketches on the back of a napkin and call it best use.

I'll take Sleiman and the DIA's latest plan 100 times out of 100 over nuking the entire property.

Love the idea of a riverfront park, but the CBD is absolutely retail-starved without the Landing, and we've got 70-acres of badly contaminated land to the east that is much cheaper to fill for parkland than it is to fully remediate for mixed use.

Shocking hubris from the city in their handling of this Landing situation.

Not one for conspiracy theories, but it certainly is starting to feel like they're trying to stack the decks for Cordish.

[Steve]

This reminds me of the "Big Ideas" plan. Not ideal.

This one is better....but....

[Captain Zissou]

This is EXACTLY what I was afraid of.  Adding another expensive, poorly maintained, under utilized park to the Park Department's budget while the parks we already have languish due to lack of funding.

[BridgeTroll]

Wait!  Do I see tables and chairs and benches?  We all know what happens next...

[thelakelander]

Yawn. Definitely seems like someone who was involved with the Big Ideas stuff years ago has a seat at the table again. I'd pass. Take the money needed for that space and invest in improving and maintaining the spaces we already have.

[Tacachale]

Egads.

[heights unknown]

Didn't know COJ or Curry had any plans at all; wow. Truth be known huh? Wrecking ball it is huh? again...WOW. Here we go. So they had this planned all along or so it seems; so the reason for the hard ball, thug and underhanded tactics against Sleiman by COJ and Curry.

[sanmarcomatt]

So, riverfront park wise...the plan is to spend millions on the Friendship fountain park......some "exciting changes" are coming for the riverfront in front of the Times Union Ctr....and move Metropolitan park....and get more public river front parks as part of the District deal. I am probably missing something.

I would expect all to be worth the investment, heavily utilized and maintained. What could go wrong?

[copperfiend]

Where are the hot dog carts?

[heights unknown]

After reading the article, I can't help but think that Sleiman will probably give in and leave. But doesn't the city still owe him that money? (4.7 mil). I don't particularly like the idea of a park. I think commercial/business along with retail is a better offing. We need something there, on that riverfront parcel, that has some muscle. We have a large park a few blocks north of where the landing is, and Metro Park to the east which is not being used to its fullest potential in my opinion. We don't need anymore parks. As aforementioned, put something there that will boost not only business downtown, but also the image of the city core, and which would add to the population of the city core (maybe residential in the way of a low rise tower with retail at ground level), and I think something of a mixed use nature might do the trick if carefully and properly planned.

[BridgeTroll]

Where are the hot dog carts?

Add a zipline and we have... a game changer... 

[KenFSU]

After reading the article, I can't help but think that Sleiman will probably give in and leave. But doesn't the city still owe him that money? (4.7 mil).

We owe Sleiman $4.7 million just for the east parking lot, which the city hilariously sold to Sleiman, refused to close on even after Sleiman began using it, and is now trying to refund him for so they can build the above. This would be on top of anything else we'd have to pay him to buy back the physical Landing. And what we'd have to pay to then demolish said asset. And what we'd have to pay to buy out the existing leases. And what we'd have to pay to remove the Main Street Bridge ramp. And what we'd have to pay to repair and reconfigure the riverwalk and docks. And what we'd have to pay to execute on Curry's vision.

Plus legal fees.

For a f*cking lawn.

Off the tax rolls.

I hope Sleiman doesn't give up. If you read the articles that have come out in the last couple of weeks, the guy clearly wants to put all this nonsense to rest and get to work on the Landing. His lease long outlasts any single mayoral tenure, and in my opinion, legally, any perceived failures at the Landing can be reasonably chalked up to failures on the city's behalf to uphold its end of the contract in terms of access (parking and docks) and security (which has really hurt the Landing's perception).

So much public and private investment is going into adding residential, hotel, and student housing along Laura Street. And the city has talked for years about wanting downtown to be a vibrant 24/7 district. In what universe does it make sense then to anchor Laura with a dusk-to-dawn park, rather than maintain or improve upon the existing complex of retail, restaurants, and bars.

Even more strangely, it sounds like the two structures that Curry has in his sketch on the periphery would be largely residential, overlooking the park that he'd work with a private developer on. It's basically a worse, more pubicly-expensive version of the plan that Sleiman and the DIA already spent years hammering out.

[pierre]

The Landing needs to go.

I am not sure more greenspace (likely to be undermaintained) is the answer.

I like the idea of residential, with restaurants and bars.

The Landing serves it's purpose as sort of the meeting place of downtown. But there is nothing there to do. The idea above looks like the same thing you get with the Landing just without the empty storefronts.

[thelakelander]

The Florida National Bank served its purpose. It doesn't exist anymore. However, that's not a good reason to blow up the historic Laura Trio. This city tends to be very clueless when it comes to being cost effective with DT revitalization. You can't blame people like Mike Hogan for not wanting to invest more money into it after decades of poor expensive concepts like this.

The structure should stay. COJ should not spend one dime on this site. Sell it, take the profit and new annual property tax revenue and use it as a new dedicated funding source to gix up and maintain the DT parks and public spaces we already have.

[acme54321]

I kind of like the open lawn at the end of Laura out to the river.  I think that would be pretty cool bookend by some buildings sinilar to what's shown but maybe a little larger. 

I do agree that the best solution here would be for the city to sell the land and be done with it.