Peytons Pocket Park Disaster

[big ben]

i think the city could somehow divert disaster with these parkets if they could get retail and/or housing surrounding them.  there's still lots of surface parking on the east side of them, from what i remember.  perhaps retail that fronts the parkets with a large pedestrian walkway instead of a road.  it would create more of a parking problem, but it'd be nice to have a row of shops, restaurants and bars with outdoor seating that has a small buffer between the road instead of the usual 3-ft walkway and curb.  throw in some residential units above and more retail/residential facing oceanand you would definitely need a parking garage, but i think in the long run it would be better than unused parkets and surface parking lots.

[RiversideGator]

I drive by the park pretty much every day also and I have seen exactly two people "using" the park since it was finished.  One was a clearly deranged homeless woman similar to the photos above and another was some guy I saw sitting in the park today who was staring into space.  There is just no reason for the park and nothing to do there except sit on the bench and stare at the back of the library or the traffic whizzing by on Main Street (which needs to be significantly slowed and curtailed also BTW).  It has also been a trash magnet for vagrants and for passing motorists who toss litter out of their windows.  Finally, I saw today a number of weeds popping up through the expensive looking sod the City laid there.

TUFSU:  Perhaps no developers would have wanted to build at this site.  But, we will never know if, given a proper RFP at a reasonable price, a developer could have been brought in.  We already know that a market rate housing firm (I cant remember the name now) was scouting downtown for sites.  Perhaps if we had proactive intelligent leadership they could have approached these people and cut a deal to develop the site.  Now, since no efforts of any kind were made, we will never know.  The bottom line is this site will now sit fallow until we have better leadership in City Hall.

[downtownparks]

Yeah, what builder in his right mind would want a Main St Address three blocks from the river...

[Jason]

Novarre is the developer you're thinking about Riverside.

[tufsu1]

perhaps you all should do some research on Novare is planning for Jax....maybe then you can find out what parcels they are considering....I think you'll find that Main Street would not be on the top of their list.

[Jason]

Novarre has not announced any plans to develop a property in Jacksonville, yet.  I'm keeping a close eye on them.  When/if something is announced you will here about it here first.

[JWW]

This Park looks great compare to what was there. The mayor didn't beat back developers to build this park. As much as you all hate surface parking lots, I would think this a welcomed band-aid. The lot is still there and when it becomes valuable to a developer - sell it. Build something great.
As to the litter, scumbags will litter regardless.   

[thelakelander]

This Park looks great compare to what was there. The mayor didn't beat back developers to build this park. As much as you all hate surface parking lots, I would think this a welcomed band-aid. The lot is still there and when it becomes valuable to a developer - sell it. Build something great.
As to the litter, scumbags will litter regardless.  

We're pinching pennies to balance the city's budget, yet its okay to blow $700k on a feel good temporary band aid?  Being wasteful of funds is never a good thing, parking lots, elevated grass or not.

[vicupstate]

This Park looks great compare to what was there. The mayor didn't beat back developers to build this park. As much as you all hate surface parking lots, I would think this a welcomed band-aid. The lot is still there and when it becomes valuable to a developer - sell it. Build something great.
As to the litter, scumbags will litter regardless.   

The land was never offered, so for all anyone knows, there might have been numerous developers interested in it.  As Gator says, we will never know.  What would have been lost by putting an RFP out there and seeing what bites?  If no one came forward with a proposal, at least you would have had some EVIDENCE to back up the assertion.

What we do know is that the administration was willing to sell the old library for a fraction of it's worth ($1mm) to Peterbrooke when not ONE but TWO proposals for major, mixed-use projects were on the table.  As bad as that was, they even considered keeping the building for SOE storage.

My belief is that the administration does not believe that the middle class wants to live DT (off the river).   That explains why they cannot visualize this site as anything other than landscaping, why the mixed use proposals for the old library were not taken seriously (until there was only one option remaining), why the words 'LaVilla' and 'residential' never come out of their mouths, why it doesn't bother them that Hemming Plaza is returning to 9-5 again, why street-level retail is not even considered for the Haverty/City Hall annex building, why upgrading the parking meters was quickly dismissed  as too expensive(wouldn't $700,000 have covered that cost, BTW?), etc.   

They are suburban folks with a suburban mindset, who only pay lip service to being in favor of DT redevelopment.  Actions speak louder than words. 

I'm not satisfied with the fact that the parcel is visiually more appealing (at least when it is clean).  Minor, marginal improvements is not sufficient for a city that is already a decade plus behind the curve.               

[Oh my]

If one looked closely with the COJ comprehensive plan you would see that we had a State requirement to build 18 fields by the year 2005,and an additional 29 by the year 2020. I can't for the life of me understand why ever dime doen't go towards this goal. The athletic community is screaming for more facilities or just for minor improvements to our existing parks. It is time for the citizens to stop this misguided mayor for he was the one to put the unqualified directors on his staff. We need to impeach him before any more damage is done to the citizens of Jacksonville. This is the worst Mayor I've ever seen for the citizens. We need leadership to step upso the process of removal can begin!

[I-10east]

Boy people really do hate this pocket park. Maybe as time goes on it will gradually get better; Who knows, overtime it can sorta be our NY Central park here in Jax; Maybe not.

[tufsu1]

Novarre has not announced any plans to develop a property in Jacksonville, yet.  I'm keeping a close eye on them.  When/if something is announced you will here about it here first.

they haven't announced yet....but they are doing due diligence...I'm sure if you look hard enough, you can find out what site(s) they are considering

[tufsu1]

This Park looks great compare to what was there. The mayor didn't beat back developers to build this park. As much as you all hate surface parking lots, I would think this a welcomed band-aid. The lot is still there and when it becomes valuable to a developer - sell it. Build something great.
As to the litter, scumbags will litter regardless.   

My belief is that the administration does not believe that the middle class wants to live DT (off the river).   

some of us "middle class" folks already do live downtown (off the river)...fo example, there is The Parks @ Cathedral townhomes....a development partially subsidized by the City.

There goes that theory.....next?

[brooklyn-ite]

they haven't announced yet....but they are doing due diligence...I'm sure if you look hard enough, you can find out what site(s) they are considering

ok tufsu1 , for those inquiring minds that haven't been able to find out where Novarre is looking at - please tell us... !!! 

[downtownparks]

Boy people really do hate this pocket park. Maybe as time goes on it will gradually get better; Who knows, overtime it can sorta be our NY Central park here in Jax; Maybe not.

Yeah, minus another 828 some odd acres :-) That park is smaller than Strawberry Fields or the land required for Cleopatras Needle.. or any one of the 10 some odd baseball fields... :-)

It wouldnt be as bad if they made it interesting. Art work, sculptures, statues, history markers... there would be ways to make it more beautiful and permanent, and used.