DIA wants the Landing to start with a park

[simms3]

Depressing reading y'alls comments!  Truth hurts.

To add salt to the wound, here's a link from Visit Omaha on their "Billion Dollar Makeover", which includes parks ($75M parks in one case for a park the size of the Landing site).

I looked into each of these projects a few months ago to share with a group I am a part of, and I am sad to report (but happy for Omaha) that basically all of these projects already got built or are being built (such as in the case of their new tallest skyscraper...a HQ downtown).

https://www.visitomaha.com/about-omaha/development/

Omaha (and basically most cities) run laps around us.  And we are booming...on paper in some areas.  We can't seem to translate that into anything, but it's not for lack of trying from private citizens who care and are organizing.

Not to further mention that metro Omaha is only half the size of metro Jacksonville.  You would think it would be the reverse based on these projects.

[fsu813]

Marcus,

Frustrations re: progress and capacity have been there for quite a while.

[tufsu1]

Depressing reading y'alls comments!  Truth hurts.

To add salt to the wound, here's a link from Visit Omaha on their "Billion Dollar Makeover", which includes parks ($75M parks in one case for a park the size of the Landing site).

I looked into each of these projects a few months ago to share with a group I am a part of, and I am sad to report (but happy for Omaha) that basically all of these projects already got built or are being built (such as in the case of their new tallest skyscraper...a HQ downtown).

https://www.visitomaha.com/about-omaha/development/

Omaha (and basically most cities) run laps around us.  And we are booming...on paper in some areas.  We can't seem to translate that into anything, but it's not for lack of trying from private citizens who care and are organizing.

Not to further mention that metro Omaha is only half the size of metro Jacksonville.  You would think it would be the reverse based on these projects.

I was just in Omaha a few weeks ago - their downtown parks system will be very impressive when complete. The central park that comes into downtown itself has an amazing playground, an amphitheater, a sculpture garden, and much more!

[Jdog]

What is the next milestone and date for the American Lions building?  Might not mean a thing but would like to  have an idea so I can look for updates at that time…. Thanks,

[Ken_FSU]

^DIA plans to have the development agreement in front of City Council for approval by September 2022.

Work on the building will begin alongside the park last week.

From my understanding, they’re using the same invisible construction team as Friendship Fountain and the Ambassador Hotel.

[marcuscnelson]

Jokes aside, the last mention we heard of it (here) is that they're dealing with capital issues. I wouldn't expect a timeline unless something special happens.

[Ken_FSU]

^On the bright side, at least we’re not delaying construction of 50 percent of our new signature riverfront park to accommodate such a pie-in-the-sky mega tower, with a best-case completion date of 2028, that doesn’t yet have a development agreement, City Council approval, or financing, despite being offered a $40 million incentive package by the DIA.

That’d just be silly.

[thelakelander]

May as well build the park independently of this project. I seriously doubt this tower materializes any time soon. It was a stretch when the market was better and construction costs were lower. There are a lot of basic things we need to take care of first before worrying about more tower cranes.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ I would be happy if they take the building pad back and incorporate it into the park.  The renderings made the tower look like it was an unnatural/crammed-in fit between the park, bridge and Wells Fargo tower.  Just trying to do too much in the wrong spot.
 
Again, City chasing every dream proposed by developers without any standards or discipline to say "great project, wrong spot or design."

I am watching the project on the old Times Union site.  The height of the parking garage is ridiculous, to me.  Will take all day to drive from top to bottom and it, even surrounded by apartments, makes it clear this project will be imposing upon the ambiance of the riverfront.  Again, no discipline on setbacks. 

[Ken_FSU]

I wonder what the (dis)economies of scale are on essentially doing three separate park projects (Phase 1 - the central portion; Phase 2 - the right portion with civic stairs, art, beer garden; Music Heritage/Times-Union park to the left) versus knocking the whole thing out at once?

Sure feels like we'd save a lot of money doing the whole thing properly in one fell swoop, rather than staggering construction across multiple projects and 5-10 years.

I also kind of fear an OG Skyway situation where we do 40% of the project, it's not the immediate silver bullet that some hope for, and the rest ends up gathering dust in a drawer for years to come.

[fsu813]

Tom Lee Park recently re-opened along the Memphis riverfront, a fantastic comp to what is hoped for (and expected) in Jax's nodes of Downtown riverfront parks.

https://vimeo.com/863257402

The list of "less than Jax" cities which have fantastic destination high profile parks is long, even just in the southeast.

[thelakelander]

Tom Lee Park looks better than it did ago. Transformational, if done in the 1990s and/or early 2000s. However, it doesn't look anymore special than the average urban park today. I mention that last sentence not to take away from what Memphis has done, but to suggest that this is a dime a dozen these days. Whatever, the cost was to upgrade Tom Lee Park (pre-park renovation pictures below), Jax should expect to spend just as much to bring Riverfront Plaza up to "average" category.

[heights unknown]

American Lion's Tower 44 story scraper seems to be all but dead; however, I laud Mayor Deegan on being honest about the whole Riverfront Plaza debacle (sigh). Hope they come up with something soon on the commercial NE corner of the Park, and get the construction moving on the park soonest.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=mayor+deegan+wants+accelerated+park+construction+at+jacksonville+landing+site&cvid=f8e641153c8c439d837466f4115abe44&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTIzMTcxajBqOagCALACAA&FORM=ANAB01&PC=U531

[Jax_Developer]

I think a Youtuber ought to do a video on the sheer decline of DT from 1990-2023. In 33 years, downtown went from a viable market for a 40-story office tower, to now not being able to pencil free market (for the trolls) low-rise apartment buildings.

Yes it's happened elsewhere I'm sure. But that fast, and that dramatic? IDK. If anyone thinks these parks will save the day, I have land in the Everglades that is going to be very valuable in a few years. Parks are nice, but parks everywhere are a massive public burden, something we love to boast about online. Other cities are just frankly smarter about not taking on unnecessary burden, while still requiring green space. Such a shocker to the local population here.

BTW, have had several conversation with people about the anticipated maintenance costs of several thousand feet of bulkhead. The city knows it's a potential problem, and isn't planning for it. Just a makes it even better. Next generations problem.