Berkman Getting Close....Again

[downtownbrown]

Workers in Berkman 2 this morning.  Looks like this implosion might actually happen!

[thelakelander]

No more implosion but Curry will get him a crane in the sky for the demolition.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/berkman-plaza-ii-headed-for-conventional-demolition-not-implosion

[Peter Griffin]

I was wondering when action would be taken on this. It struck me the other day when I was crossing the river to see the Berkman II skeleton hanging in the skyline that it would be odd to stump for the construction of a new district with a never-finished structure just a mile away, within line-of-sight of the new project.

[BridgeTroll]

The new section of the Riverwalk there from the hotel and around Berkman is nice...

[tufsu1]

The new section of the Riverwalk there from the hotel and around Berkman is nice...

umm no - try sitting down at a bench and let me know what you see

[thelakelander]

LOL....concrete and a missed opportunity to tie the Hyatt's ground floor bars and restaurants into the space.

[heights unknown]

LOL....concrete and a missed opportunity to tie the Hyatt's ground floor bars and restaurants into the space.

LOL...someone is from MacClenny if they think that's nice.

[BridgeTroll]

Wow...I certainly wasn't commenting on the building.   The Riverwalk extension from Hyatt to Berkman around the former bridge/parking lot is a huge improvement.  Great view of the river... not sure what Maclenny has to do with anything... if not the Riverwalk then what lakelander... tufsu... and heights???

[tufsu1]

^ problem is there's no view of the river when sitting down. The whole thing seems to have been over-engineered and sterile. That's fine for the "under-carriage" infrastructure, but its a missed opportunity at street level. Maybe that will change over time, but IMO what was there before was better.

oh, and the City seems to have decided to leave the connecting block incomplete - and wait on the proposed development (which may never come).

[fieldafm]

Wow...I certainly wasn't commenting on the building.   The Riverwalk extension from Hyatt to Berkman around the former bridge/parking lot is a huge improvement.  Great view of the river... not sure what Maclenny has to do with anything... if not the Riverwalk then what lakelander... tufsu... and heights???

There are large concrete barricades along the Riverwalk in front of the Hyatt and Berkman, pictured here:

 



If you are sitting in the outdoor dining section at Morton's inside the Hyatt, you stare into a concrete wall. You used to stare into transparent fencing like the rest of the Riverwalk.

If the Ford on Bay project ever moves forward, the developer would be required to complete their portion of the Riverwalk. Due to massive cost overruns on the Liberty Street project that shored up the failing bulkhead and also removed the overwater parking deck, the City chose to not complete the Riverwalk between the Hyatt and Berkman, and chose to instead wait on whatever developer would build on the old Courthouse/City Hall site.  Whether the Ford on Bay project moves forward, appears to still be in limbo... so we're stuck with a gap in the Riverwalk for the foreseeable future, seen here:



I guess you could criticize the City for the Riverwalk extension... however I understand the logic behind it. On the Chamber trip to Toronto a few years back, public officials there talked quite a bit about how requiring developers to pay for the public access portion of their waterfront development was a key piece missing from their waterfront revitalization plan/  The City, and specifically then-Councilwoman and now-DIA head Lori Boyer... decided to adopt that policy.  I agree with that reasoning, and so I won't get too bent out of shape about the gap in the Riverwalk.

However, putting up concrete barriers along with Riverwalk has nothing to do with that aforementioned policy procedure.  Those concrete walls along the Riverwalk are inexcusable.

To tufsu1's point, the new streetscape along Coastline and Market Street is way overengineered.

[Peter Griffin]

Better to have a concrete wall than someone drowning in the river because they accidentally drove off the side of the bulkhead

[fieldafm]

Better to have a concrete wall than someone drowning in the river because they accidentally drove off the side of the bulkhead

I guess the fencing that had been installed when the Riverwalk was built in the 1980's was somehow inviting motorists to drive into the river?  Never once saw that happen, but then again its not like that area hadn't been a large parking lot since the 1960's or anything.. so the sample size for motorists driving into the river is not very large.

[Peter Griffin]

Better to have a concrete wall than someone drowning in the river because they accidentally drove off the side of the bulkhead

I guess the fencing that had been installed when the Riverwalk was built in the 1980's was somehow inviting motorists to drive into the river?  Never once saw that happen, but then again its not like that area hadn't been a large parking lot since the 1960's or anything.. so the sample size for motorists driving into the river is not very large.

Well, then, since you never saw it it never happened! Guess they built an expensive concrete wall for absolutely no reason at all, they just wanted to really mess up those precious sight lines to the river. Couldn't possibly be that safety standards have improved since the fencing was installed in the 1980's, or that it is a valid concern considering this is a public street abutting the river and not a private access-controlled parking lot as it was. Plus, as you noted, lack of fatalities in a particular location gives us carte blanche to design unsafe public spaces so long as nobody has been killed by it yet!

[fieldafm]

Better to have a concrete wall than someone drowning in the river because they accidentally drove off the side of the bulkhead

I guess the fencing that had been installed when the Riverwalk was built in the 1980's was somehow inviting motorists to drive into the river?  Never once saw that happen, but then again its not like that area hadn't been a large parking lot since the 1960's or anything.. so the sample size for motorists driving into the river is not very large.

Well, then, since you never saw it it never happened! Guess they built an expensive concrete wall for absolutely no reason at all, they just wanted to really mess up those precious sight lines to the river. Couldn't possibly be that safety standards have improved since the fencing was installed in the 1980's, or that it is a valid concern considering this is a public street abutting the river and not a private access-controlled parking lot as it was. Plus, as you noted, lack of fatalities in a particular location gives us carte blanche to design unsafe public spaces so long as nobody has been killed by it yet!

You must work for GAI?

As far as 'private access-controlled parking lot as it was', sorry no. Coastline Drive has been in existence since before my father was born.

[Peter Griffin]

Better to have a concrete wall than someone drowning in the river because they accidentally drove off the side of the bulkhead

I guess the fencing that had been installed when the Riverwalk was built in the 1980's was somehow inviting motorists to drive into the river?  Never once saw that happen, but then again its not like that area hadn't been a large parking lot since the 1960's or anything.. so the sample size for motorists driving into the river is not very large.

Well, then, since you never saw it it never happened! Guess they built an expensive concrete wall for absolutely no reason at all, they just wanted to really mess up those precious sight lines to the river. Couldn't possibly be that safety standards have improved since the fencing was installed in the 1980's, or that it is a valid concern considering this is a public street abutting the river and not a private access-controlled parking lot as it was. Plus, as you noted, lack of fatalities in a particular location gives us carte blanche to design unsafe public spaces so long as nobody has been killed by it yet!

You must work for GAI?

Nope, but nice try. I just know a potential safety issue when I see one.