Urban Construction Update - March 2022

[thelakelander]

A brief look at the status of various developments under construction in and around Downtown Jacksonville.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/urban-construction-update-march-2022/

[jaxjaguar]

I watched the Friendship Fountain rendering video and saw someone recently post a video of them testing the fountain... Call me crazy, but it didn't seem any different than what it used to do after the renovation 12 years ago. Am I missing something?

[Steve]

A lot of the restoration around the fountain itself was plumbing - they wanted to make the thing able to sustain if a pump failed, keep pumps from failing, etc.

[thelakelander]

I was under the impression that kids would be able to play in this latest version of the fountain.

[Charles Hunter]

Which building is the Blue Orchid going into at Riverside Village (#26)?

[thelakelander]

The building in this image at 1551 Riverside Avenue is where Blue Orchid is going in.

[Charles Hunter]

Thanks - so, #1 on the plan view?

[tufsu1]

I watched the Friendship Fountain rendering video and saw someone recently post a video of them testing the fountain... Call me crazy, but it didn't seem any different than what it used to do after the renovation 12 years ago. Am I missing something?

I saw the fountain running yesterday - and it did look different but still quite impressive. It the fountain is accessible to people, that will need to be areas that have low pressure.

[Steve]

I'm still trying to figure out the logic on the "teardrop" roundabout at Herschel/St. Johns/Geraldine. Can anyone explain that?

Are we really expecting people on Herschel Southbound or Geraldine Eastbound that need to go East on St. John's to go down to the other roundabout? Wouldn't the Herschel drivers just cut through the strip mall there?

[tufsu1]

^ teardrop, dogbone, peanut, and dumbbell are all types of elongated roundabouts - and yes, people will often go through one and around the other to make "a left turn"

[Steve]

That doesn't answer my question - why do this vs. a regular roundabout? Why inconvenience those drivers?

[Josh]

That doesn't answer my question - why do this vs. a regular roundabout? Why inconvenience those drivers?

Good question.

If you think the ones there are gonna have people cutting over the median, wait until you see what's next for Edgewood/Roosevelt .If you think going across a bridge to double-back and make a turn has issues, perhaps I can interest you in some railroads.


That truck apron is gonna take some punishment.

Ultimately, I think both of these projects improve the area, despite their issues. "Roundabout all the things" I say.

[Ken_FSU]

I watched the Friendship Fountain rendering video and saw someone recently post a video of them testing the fountain... Call me crazy, but it didn't seem any different than what it used to do after the renovation 12 years ago. Am I missing something?

Here’s the video of the fountain being tested:

https://www.news4jax.com/features/2022/03/25/vegas-or-jacksonville-friendship-fountain-shows-off-new-bells-and-whistles/

Here’s the video of the renders that you probably saw:

https://youtu.be/l-ccs9LFUvo

Main differences between the new fountain and old fountain seems to be that the Bellagio-lite swirling effects, more finesse and power for the non-central spouts, and supposedly a lot more redundancy to prevent the thing from breaking down (lots and lots of individual pumps instead of just three major pumps controlling the whole thing).

Lake, hard to tell in the testing video, but there is supposed to be a splash pad for the kids to play in on the periphery, and there might be a splash zone surrounding the fountain as well.

The main element I don’t see in the video and I haven’t heard much about is the projection system. Original plan was to have the fountain capable of producing a wall of mist that effectively turned the fountain into a video wall that could be projected on like this:

https://youtu.be/-kCUILKYu2Q

Moment Factory is/was the partner for that aspect, and the plan was to have the projection show synched with the new node at the Times-Union Center (with a projection on the side of the CSX building).

That Related restaurant is going to be a cool spot when it opens.

[Ken_FSU]

Couple of interesting things to see when driving around today

The Fire Museum being moved:



The T-U on its last legs:

[thelakelander]

The USS Orleck should arrive tomorrow between 11:30am and 2:30pm.