St. John Tower On Hold

[Steve]

Flat market throws stone at 2nd tower

All-glass St. John joins Shipyards condos on hold

By LIZ FLAISIG, The Times-Union

Development of a second luxury condominium tower downtown has been put on hold until the real estate market recovers.

Private developer Hines announced late Tuesday The St. John would not be built next to the Aetna Building on the Southbank "until real estate conditions in Northeast Florida are more favorable."

Local developer the LandMar Group earlier this month said it would delay building its first condominium tower at the Shipyards and focus on the mixed-use components of its urban community.

Houston-based Hines issued a statement of its intention to "monitor the market and move forward" with its plans for the 640,000-square-foot high-rise "at a later date."

Walt O'Shea, a vice president in Hines' Jacksonville office, said the company still views the project as viable.

"It's a long-term plan to develop the project we've concepted," O'Shea said in response to the real estate market's uncertain time frame for recovery.

"For us it's a long-term commitment to the project and the site, whether that's 18 or 24 months. ... We'll relaunch marketing when the time is right."

Local real estate analyst Ray Rodriguez doesn't see the downtown market picking up anytime soon, especially since the city's plans for a new courthouse remain stalled.

"That's holding up downtown redevelopment," said Rodriguez, who owns the Real Estate Strategy Center of North Florida Inc. "Although it doesn't have anything to do with residential development it does have everything to do with momentum."

Consumer attitudes about spending and tougher standards for mortgage loans have affected the overall residential market, including downtown, Rodriguez said.

Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton agrees the market is on hold, but that's to be expected.

"Market cycles are market cycles," Barton said. "Jacksonville was into residential development much later than other cities, especially with the condo boom. ... We were late, so it's just a matter of how long this will last."

While O'Shea said it's hard to say exactly when the project will restart, the factors that led to its hold status are a little easier to identify.

Slow home sales throughout the real estate industry and excess inventory have put buyers looking to move from the suburbs to downtown in a difficult position.

"They have a house or other property to sell," O'Shea said. "That's clearly going to hinder them."

O'Shea declined to disclose the number of buyers or deposit amounts on The St. John, citing company policy.

Buyers will receive refunds on deposits, according to the news release.

Hines announced its plans for The St. John in 2005, with an unveiling last year of an all-glass design for the 300-unit tower. The company has a standing policy not to disclose the cost of its developments. The St. John was designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica International Corp. The project was scheduled to break ground in 2006, with construction finishing in 2008.

Its unique all-glass look and upscale style is something Barton is optimistic Jacksonville's skyline will still gain.

"Obviously, we're disappointed and would love to see that project go forward, and we think it will," Barton said.

"We won't get it immediately, but I'm optimistic we will."

liz.flaisig@jacksonville.com

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/103107/bus_213612256.shtml

[Steve]

Well, who didn't see this one coming?

[avonjax]

It wasn't that long ago that HInes insisted that they would build even with the real estate market downturn.
And all the publicity this project has gotten in major magazines.....
I had also read that sales were doing well for the project.
Oh well, there goes the last hope for some real first rate architecture in Jacksonville.
RiverWatch, Shipyards and St John....
Disappointing.....

[avonjax]

Oh and I hope Novare has not lost interest.

[Bostech]

Local real estate analyst Ray Rodriguez doesn't see the downtown market picking up anytime soon, especially since the city's plans for a new courthouse remain stalled.

"That's holding up downtown redevelopment," said Rodriguez, who owns the Real Estate Strategy Center of North Florida Inc. "Although it doesn't have anything to do with residential development it does have everything to do with momentum."

Now where are all those people who were sceptical when I said LONG TIME AGO that Payton and his team might scewed up courthouse development so it can prevent development of downtown and posible for benefiting either from suburban living or posible making money on Southbank.

[jeh1980]

It wasn't that long ago that HInes insisted that they would build even with the real estate market downturn.
And all the publicity this project has gotten in major magazines.....
I had also read that sales were doing well for the project.
Oh well, there goes the last hope for some real first rate architecture in Jacksonville.
RiverWatch, Shipyards and St John....
Disappointing.....

Don't believe the negative! I still believe the St. John will be built soon.

[thelakelander]

I agree with Barton, this place remains about ten years behind its peers in regards to urban development despite the killer natural location.  Unfortunately, we failed to take advantage of the Super Bowl the way other communities have (Houston-seven miles of light rail, Detroit-Revitalized downtown) and the housing boom and will now have to wait until the market improves in two years or so. 

Nevertheless, this isn't the time to sit back and wait things out.  This is the perfect opportunity for the city to take care of the little things that have routinely been ignored such as signage, lighting and improving existing park space.  It doesn't sound like much, but these things help create an environment for smaller businesses to open.

[fsujax]

Good luck getting the city to take care of those little things.  As long as we have the current administration, things will not change, Downtown will only stay the way it is. It is very sad to see this happen. To think at one time there was so much hope and momentum, all these developers promised great things and of course most of them fall through.  It makes me feel like throwing my hands up, and move to the suburbs.   Maybe our only hope is the small business owners who are willing to take chances.

[Jason]

Nevertheless, this isn't the time to sit back and wait things out.  This is the perfect opportunity for the city to take care of the little things that have routinely been ignored such as signage, lighting and improving existing park space.  It doesn't sound like much, but these things help create an environment for smaller businesses to open.

Well said Lake.  Since construction on many new structures is postponed there will be less of a headache for the downtown patrons and residents.  This would also pave the way for more investment once the market returns.  The courthouse is, of course, the long pole here and absolutely HAS to make some progress SOOOOOON!!!!

Come 'on Mr. Mayor, let's get this thing built!

[thelakelander]

Good luck getting the city to take care of those little things.  As long as we have the current administration, things will not change, Downtown will only stay the way it is. It is very sad to see this happen. To think at one time there was so much hope and momentum, all these developers promised great things and of course most of them fall through.  It makes me feel like throwing my hands up, and move to the suburbs.   Maybe our only hope is the small business owners who are willing to take chances.

The thing is that successful urban revitalization almost always begins with the small business owners and urban pioneers, not luxury overpriced towers on the waterfront.  Maybe now we can focus on getting back to the basics after failing by skipping them in the first place.

[Steve]

It wasn't that long ago that HInes insisted that they would build even with the real estate market downturn.
And all the publicity this project has gotten in major magazines.....
I had also read that sales were doing well for the project.
Oh well, there goes the last hope for some real first rate architecture in Jacksonville.
RiverWatch, Shipyards and St John....
Disappointing.....

Well, any sales agent is going to say that sales are doing well, even if they're not.  Think about it, if I go to Berkman, and they say sales are crap, I'm not going to buy, I'm going to wait for them to lower prices.  Economics 101 says that if supply is high and demand is low, price must be low to balance the equation.

In fact, the only reason that Berkman broke groud was because they had to, in order to be in compliance with the incentives package they got in 1999 for the first tower.

I think the only large scale residential we will see for a little while wil be stuff that is for rent, and can be converted fairly easily.

[thelakelander]

Small scale and affordable is where its at and its easier to get off the ground.  It also helps stimulate more vibrancy on the street.  I'd love to see some smaller projects bringing existing building stock back up to snuff.

[avonjax]

This announcement wouldn't be quite as disappointing if there were some smaller scale and affordable projects in the works....
But unless I'm unaware of them there aren't any....
And the few residental projects in some of the older buildings seem to be taking forever, or maybe they will never happen or be completed.

[thelakelander]

Churchwell Lofts and 20 West both appear to have picked up steam recently.  Brooklyn Park appears to be moving forward as well, although it can be argued that they are large scale as well.  Given the residential market (its bad in the suburbs too, we just don't here about the canceled projects in the news), its unrealistic to expect anything larger coming online anytime soon. 

This leaves residential redevelopment up to urban pioneers by taking on one building/one unit at a time (like the one next to Nicky G's...there's a loft up there and a clothing store going in on the ground level).  Springfield and many other urban neighborhoods across the country have come a long way by going this route.

[Steve]

This announcement wouldn't be quite as disappointing if there were some smaller scale and affordable projects in the works....
But unless I'm unaware of them there aren't any....
And the few residental projects in some of the older buildings seem to be taking forever, or maybe they will never happen or be completed.

lake hit it on the nose - it's not like the downtown real estate market is crappy.  It's crappy all over.  Perfect example, I stopped at the Deerwood Place Condos one Saturday afternoon about a year ago (the ones right across from Tinseltown).  No, I have no interest in buying there, I was just curious what they looked like, and I had 2 hours to kill.

Anyway, I looked at the floorplans, and they were pushing downtown prices (1,500 sq ft in the 400K's).  A year later (October 15th to be exact), I got an email from them featuring discounts of over 200,000 off of their prices.  Now, the same 1,500 sqft unit is going for 212,000.

Four days later, I gt another email.  The EXACT SAME UNIT is now 189,900.

It's just a crappy market, that's all.  Personally, I'd love to see some developments that are for rent, that can be converted later.  That may happen with the Barnett Bank Building, since the project is on hold.