JAX Chamber unveils $2M renovation plan

[thelakelander]

The chamber has made downtown redevelopment a top priority, saying business executives base their judgments of cities partly on their impressions of downtowns.

“In the national and global competition for new business, downtowns â€" not their suburbs â€" frequently serve to define the communities,” said Hugh Greene, outgoing chairman of the chamber.

The building will have space for meetings, training sessions, networking and areas where people can share workspace equipped with WiFi service.

An “international plaza” next to the building will have flags from 20 countries whose businesses have a presence in Jacksonville.

Content Design Group and Marquis Halback were picked in early 2011 to redesign the building.

full article: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-01-19/story/jax-chamber-unveils-2m-renovation-plan

[urbanlibertarian]

Perhaps they could make this a more pedestrian friendly oasis on the path from the Landing to the Bay Street district.

[cline]

They should remove those ramps while they are at it.

[Captain Zissou]

$2M for landscaping???  Geez.

Is there any change to the building itself??  I agree that they should have brought the building closer to the street.  That setback is terrible.  Even a single story bump out of 10 feet would have helped.

[fsujax]

The question is how long will it take them to raise $2 million? This could be years in the making.

[acme54321]

That building is just all around bad.

[CityLife]

Here are some renderings

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.331115183575500.76378.121489567871397&type=1

[Dashing Dan]

They should remove those ramps while they are at it.

I agree completely.  Those ramps are crazy and bad for downtown.

[duvaldude08]

Anything looks better than its current state so I have no complaints about the rendering. LOL

[tufsu1]

$2M for landscaping???  Geez.

Is there any change to the building itself??  I agree that they should have brought the building closer to the street.  That setback is terrible.  Even a single story bump out of 10 feet would have helped.

yes...there are exterior and interior changes to the building as well

[north miami]

The question is how long will it take them to raise $2 million? This could be years in the making.

That and a bit more is readily available.

[urbaknight]

Is there some reason why they don't go vertical? Are southerners afraid of heights or something? Joking aside, it should be at least as tall as the building next to it, but preferably taller and more of an urban layout. It looks like something found commonly on the southside.

[duvaldude08]

Is there some reason why they don't go vertical? Are southerners afraid of heights or something? Joking aside, it should be at least as tall as the building next to it, but preferably taller and more of an urban layout. It looks like something found commonly on the southside.

I am sure Major construction of that nature would add to that 2 million price tag significantly. I think they are just giving it a much needed face lift for the most part.

[I-10east]

It seems like everyone is for a two-way Main Street throughout; It seems like that would create too much traffic back up esp. Southbound it's already bad as it is (there's no room for a complete four-lane bridge to Main St. anyway). I vote no far as tearing down those ramps are concerned; It makes no sense tearing down infastructure that's already in place. Those ramps help drivers go down East Bay Street, Newnan Street, and Ocean Street. I'm not buying that 'those ramps are hindering the development of tall buildings in DT Jax' argument.

[tufsu1]

It seems like everyone is for a two-way Main Street throughout

actually no....Main St and Ocean St work quite well as they are....with the exception of the block between State and Union, which should be made two-way.

That said, the bridge side ramps to/from Independent Drive can and should go