The core needs more people like this!

[thelakelander]

We can't expect the Cameron Kuhns of the world to bring downtown and our core neighborhoods back to life.  Its going to take more citizens like this to get things truly moving.

Urban fixer-upper becomes mixed-use development

John Ream also said it’s turning out to be a great place to raise a family and he hopes what they have been able to accomplish might inspire others to tackle similar projects Downtown.

“We can’t depend on people from out of town with deep pockets to come here and build more housing,” he said. “They want money from the City and tax incentives and when real estate gets soft, they pull out of the market.

“We feel local residents doing smaller-scale developments can really help revitalize Downtown.”

full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=49165

[Lunican]

Also a good example of why it is important to preserve buildings. With a bunch of parking lots most people can't do anything besides wait for someone to come in and build something.

[copperfiend]

Read it this morning. It is great.

[second_pancake]

~sighs~  That is so awesome and appeals to me on so many levels.  First of all, you just can't beat the all-brick construction of buildings in the 19th century (unless you look earlier of course), and the fact that this couple didn't succomb to the allure of the wood-frame, florida yucco, cookie-cutter, uber-neighborhoods that go up around here every other day is commendable to say the least!  I'm jealous.