The Great Skyscraper Extortion Scheme of 1911

[Metro Jacksonville]

The Great Skyscraper Extortion Scheme of 1911



Not all development announcements are made with the intention of actually constructing a real building. Here is a short tale of a Jaxson who bankrolled a profit without applying for a building permit.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-nov-the-great-skyscraper-extortion-scheme-of-1911

[dougskiles]

Fascinating story.  Thanks.

[Noone]

Thanks for continuing to tell the history of Jacksonville.

[KenFSU]

"Heard's bank was forced to close in 1917.  However, this small town businessman drew on his personal fortune to repay 100% of the money owed to each depositor."

What a guy.

Thanks so much for yet another fantastic piece.

I've seen that column dozens of times and never realized where it came from.

[fsujax]

great story. I remember seeing the old facade left standing downtown as a kid. It always intrigued me. I think it is neat that the columns were saved and installed at the TU Performing Arts Center.

[duvaldude08]

Another good read! Its just a shame how we razed downtown in the 80's. I dont see how they ever thought this was a solution.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Another good read! Its just a shame how we razed downtown in the 80's. I dont see how they ever thought this was a solution.

The Heard building, the G.D. Jackson building featured in the article, and the Ritz-Woller building (a Fire survivor and the oldest in downtown) were all razed in 1981 for a surface lot for Barnett Bank's HQ one block to the north.

In 1986, Barnett was planning to build a new HQ on the riverfront that would involve tearing down what was then the civic auditorium.  The city, possibly in conjunction with the Rouse Co. as it was constructing the Landing, planned to replace the auditorium with a performing arts center and an art museum somewhere else nearby along the riverfront.  The intent was that Barnett would trade its surface lot to the city for the auditorium lot in a tax-deferred like-kind exchange.  There was rampant criticism of Barnett for 1) building directly on the riverfront and 2) the like-kind exchange, which is perfectly legitimate but was publicly described as a "land grab."  Thus, Barnett built the Barnett Center on the former Heard site and eventually the civic auditorium was converted to the T-U center.

So in this case at least the destroyed building was replaced with another building, but that wasn't the original intent.

Thanks very much for this article and for the photo of the free-standing facade remnant.  I knew that the facade remnant stood for a number of years but never actually saw it - just saw the columns outside the T-U center.

[coredumped]

You guys should write a book, even if it's just these articles printed out (each sub-forum a chapter). I'm on this site all the time and I still learn something frequently.

[Tacachale]

What a very fascinating story. Thank you muchly, Lake.

[duvaldude08]

Another good read! Its just a shame how we razed downtown in the 80's. I dont see how they ever thought this was a solution.

The Heard building, the G.D. Jackson building featured in the article, and the Ritz-Woller building (a Fire survivor and the oldest in downtown) were all razed in 1981 for a surface lot for Barnett Bank's HQ one block to the north.

In 1986, Barnett was planning to build a new HQ on the riverfront that would involve tearing down what was then the civic auditorium.  The city, possibly in conjunction with the Rouse Co. as it was constructing the Landing, planned to replace the auditorium with a performing arts center and an art museum somewhere else nearby along the riverfront.  The intent was that Barnett would trade its surface lot to the city for the auditorium lot in a tax-deferred like-kind exchange.  There was rampant criticism of Barnett for 1) building directly on the riverfront and 2) the like-kind exchange, which is perfectly legitimate but was publicly described as a "land grab."  Thus, Barnett built the Barnett Center on the former Heard site and eventually the civic auditorium was converted to the T-U center.

So in this case at least the destroyed building was replaced with another building, but that wasn't the original intent.

Thanks very much for this article and for the photo of the free-standing facade remnant.  I knew that the facade remnant stood for a number of years but never actually saw it - just saw the columns outside the T-U center.

Ahh another history lesson. Thanks Wacca

[Tacachale]

Another good read! Its just a shame how we razed downtown in the 80's. I dont see how they ever thought this was a solution.

The Heard building, the G.D. Jackson building featured in the article, and the Ritz-Woller building (a Fire survivor and the oldest in downtown) were all razed in 1981 for a surface lot for Barnett Bank's HQ one block to the north.

In 1986, Barnett was planning to build a new HQ on the riverfront that would involve tearing down what was then the civic auditorium.  The city, possibly in conjunction with the Rouse Co. as it was constructing the Landing, planned to replace the auditorium with a performing arts center and an art museum somewhere else nearby along the riverfront.  The intent was that Barnett would trade its surface lot to the city for the auditorium lot in a tax-deferred like-kind exchange.  There was rampant criticism of Barnett for 1) building directly on the riverfront and 2) the like-kind exchange, which is perfectly legitimate but was publicly described as a "land grab."  Thus, Barnett built the Barnett Center on the former Heard site and eventually the civic auditorium was converted to the T-U center.

So in this case at least the destroyed building was replaced with another building, but that wasn't the original intent.

Thanks very much for this article and for the photo of the free-standing facade remnant.  I knew that the facade remnant stood for a number of years but never actually saw it - just saw the columns outside the T-U center.

It's funny how our views of the riverfront have evolved over time. It used to be a place for work, building and loading/unloading ships. Then it was the place we put public buildings, up to and including the jail. And over the last few decades we've been trying like hell to get our public buildings out, and private sector in. I wonder what the next phase will be.

[fieldafm]

Barnett also considered building their new HQ on top of the Omni as well.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Barnett also considered building their new HQ on top of the Omni as well.

Just as part of the Enterprise Center project, or literally above the Omni in the same structure?

[fieldafm]

It's my recollection that it would have been built on top of the Omni... I believe the engineering was cost prohibitive due to how much structural support was required to be driven into the bedrock/river and the plans were abandoned.

Can't remember if it's the BofA Building or the current Wells Fargo building, but under one of those structures... the support beams actually were placed in such a way to surround a locomotive engine found buried in the muck that could not be dug up.

While on the subject, the construction of the present-day Acosta Bridge unearthed ships that had sunk in the river bottom many years prior.

It's amazing what all is actually buried underneath the northern core of downtown today. 

[thelakelander]

The engine was/is under the Wells Fargo Center.