Group wants Theme Park Downtown

[cgaskins]

I would assume that he would require a drive through?

I live in Brooklyn.  There are lots of McDonalds, Taco Bells, Burger Kings, and Wendy's that are in standard commercial areas at the ground floor of a building.  No need for a drive through.



In other news... a theme park, huh?
If these dudes want to build a theme park in the north bank then they need to make it like Coney Island in Brooklyn or Luna Park in Sydney.  And have attractions that will bring people year round.  Shit like laser tag, bowling, and roller rink will insure year round use.  A small ballroom, holds less than 500 people, that can be used for live music and parties would work well.  Facing the riverwalk there could be vendors like this:

A lot of you were saying that most people would visit once a year, or visit once and then maybe a few years later.
If there are monthly events that take place there and non-ride attractions that could be used year round, I don't see why this area wouldn't become a major destination.  On any weekend you could head down to the park and grab some food at a river side seafood café, catch the freak show, go bowling, see a band play, grab a beer at a bar, look at useless crap in shops...
As long as it's not just, "here's a Ferris wheel, here's a roller coaster," then I think a theme park/entertainment compound could work well and attract a lot of people.  Will it detour people from having their vacation in Orlando?  No, but it will definitely bring some extra life to downtown.  Is it the smartest idea?  No, but it's better than a parking garage or a church.

[Fallen Buckeye]

What about putting some year round attractions at the fairgrounds?

[Ocklawaha]

A pier coaster might be one of the things to set such a small park apart. The one in SANTA MONICA at the other end of I-10 is very popular. If you've never seen such an animal in action check out this video.

BTW, Coney Island AND Luna were both "Trolley Parks."

http://www.youtube.com/v/mkUEhqd_o3s?fs=1&hl=en_US

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Again, why would we want to put something like this on one of our last pieces of riverfront property and pay up to $40mm for it?  Is that really the best ROI for that property and for public tax dollars? Why not on a surface parking lot in the Sports District somewhere?

[Timkin]

.....or in one of the blighted , razed and pretty much vacant areas adjacent to downtown... Like La Villa or Brooklyn... what are they? 3-4 minutes from the heart of downtown?

[cgaskins]

What's the story with this area?

[Mattius92]

That is the site of the former Southside Generating Station that was razed a couple years ago. No idea if any development is ever gonna go there, but it certainly is a good sized chunk of land.

[JeffreyS]

They have some contamination issues to deal with as I understand it.  Nothing dire just some cost involved to development.

[Ocklawaha]

Again, why would we want to put something like this on one of our last pieces of riverfront property and pay up to $40mm for it?  Is that really the best ROI for that property and for public tax dollars? Why not on a surface parking lot in the Sports District somewhere?

Actually my favorite place for it would be along Hogan's Creek, and have ALL OF THE LAND along the creek cleaned up and themed, with hotels trolley park, and NOONES BOAT TOURS... Al la Oklahoma City, Reno or San Antonio. Actually I think Hogan's creek is prettier and it really could be a old style, laid back, park with some scattered rides... The worst part of ANY of these locations is the damn JAIL and POLICE HQ and all the sundry slime that collects nearby.

"If I were King..."

Maxwell House would anchor the South end of the Hogans Creek Trolley Park...

It would have actual pavilion's in the style of Dixieland or Klutho...

There would be southern rock and blues, negro league, and AP Randolph museums and educational venues along both sides of the creek with little arched bridges connecting them... while a world class naval museum might spring from something like Berkman II.

There would be a Fairy Forest for the really little ones where they could crawl through the old woman's shoe, or Sing a Song of Six Pence and head for the Black Pearl...

Pirates of the Caribbean designers would be coming up here to learn how to do it...

Hotels in the style of old inns would be fighting for location along with restaurants, and the whole creek side would be busier then St. George Street on Mardi Gras.

Noone would have the killer Canoe and Kayak outfitter of the Southeast with shuttle vans taking visitors beyond to Pottsburg, Julington, and Pumpkin Hill Creeks, and he'd be busy as hell.

Vintage Streetcars would circulate into and out of the park along the Beaver Street Alignment and on Duval...

The Pier would be the Jacksonville Quay... crab boats and charter fishing boats would leave and arrive daily with sea and river treasures, and we'd even figure out how to use a tin roof and keep it cool.

Marineland-Georgia Aquarium would be ready to announce new digs in the hole Peyton Created from Kids Place.

A couple of glass and steel higher rise hotels would be perched on the riverfront.... and they might have some condos to rent.

Those who think a roller coaster on the Quay would be cool, might get their wish.

The Riverwalk would be connected from east of the Landing to Metropolitan Park with a Schweeb Monorail, and below the track people would jog and walk among life size bronzes of locals like: Tom Mix, Doc Holliday, Babe Hardy and Billie Burke...and a ugly creature would be affixed to the railing crawling out of the dark "lagoon," as a family Kodak moment.

Within the hotel-quay-pier development there might be anything from a CVS store and urban Publix, to an IKEA and BASS PRO.

The Skyway to the Stadium District would be a reality and the Jaguars and TV networks would vie for a shot of that one-of-a-kind-stadium with a monorail train rolling in, they would be it's biggest cheerleaders.

Naw, LAKELANDER, I wouldn't put a roller coaster on the pier, I'd change the shape of East Jacksonville and write it's name high enough that people would include it in sentences with terms like DISNEY, UNIVERSAL, BUSCH and ST AUGUSTINE.

IF ONLY I WERE KING!

OCKLAWAHA

[Duuuvalboy]

SMH.. Nobody wants none of that you guys talking about.. Stop making Jacksonville so boring.. People are looking for fun and learning about a fish in an aquarium is not one of them.. Make attractions with theme park rides, roller coaster and other fun things to do.. it could even a lil learning thing too but at the same time you got libraries and schools for learning

[cgaskins]

SMH.. Nobody wants none of that you guys talking about.. Stop making Jacksonville so boring.. People are looking for fun and learning about a fish in an aquarium is not one of them.. Make attractions with theme park rides, roller coaster and other fun things to do.. it could even a lil learning thing too but at the same time you got libraries and schools for learning

I can't tell if this is serious or not.

[thelakelander]

OCk, great pics but to be honest, you would need a lot more than $40 million to pull that vision off.

[strider]

It seems to me that in the past a lot of successful (at the time) cities had their own amusement parks.  I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio when the local amusement parks were beginning to struggle.  There were like four or five we could get to from Youngstown in a few hours.  The ones that had the space and were located in areas that drew tourists seemed to survive pretty well. Like perhaps Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.  Most, like Idora Park in Youngstown, disappeared in the eighties, certainly by the nineties.  Jacksonville has a very small one left, how is it doing?

In my mind, it was the traveling mentality of the public, the need to get away by car rather than the original trolley ride to the park, that killed the smaller local amusement parks as much as anything.  What is different today that would make anyone think a small local park would be successful?

[comncense]

Whatever the city happens to do with the Shipyards site, I hope it's something that people will want to use at all times of the day. Be it retail, residential.. whatever. I would hate to have something built there that people only visit during the daytime and then doesn't help contribute to Downtown being active after 5pm. IMO, that's one of the main things wrong with Downtown. It's geared towards the daytime work mass and after they leave their jobs at 5pm, downtown is dead. Give people a reason to choose to go downtown over going to SJTC or the Beach for happy hours or nightlife, or just to spend the day in general. Yeah, maybe a theme park isn't the greatest idea for the Shipyards area. Maybe we should repurpose Metro Park for something like that. Seems like it would get more use than what it does outside of the occasional outdoor concerts and World of Nations types of events. It does seem that Jacksonville residents clamor for those types of things. Even when there's a bootleg version of the fair setup in Regency Mall's parking lot, there always seems to be people over there with their kids. IF I had kids, I would consider that a better option that going to something like Adventure Landing...

[PeeJayEss]

IF ONLY I WERE KING!

I think you mean "If I had a genie and unlimited wishes."

The skyway going into Everbank (right behind the Bud Zone) would be great. Hell, I'd run it through Maxwell House to get it from Bay to Adams, then out Adams with stops connected to the arena, the baseball field, and Everbank. It would only need to stop at the places when an event was happening. And employees at those places (+ First Coast News and everything between there and Hemming Park).

Does Maxwell House do tours?