Mellow Mushroom to Open Up in 'town Space??

[Kay]

I spoke with John Valentino yesterday and Friday at a weekend event. He was excited to see the progress so far, and he did point out that at the Beach, he is only granted 99 spots. So that location saw Salt Life move in after him, taking away spots, then the shops behind have thrived as well. Everywhere they go, the merchants end up with more traffic and more money. I would tend to agree with this.

The interesting thing I see will be when the restaurant is open, will Underwood's see that same increase? We did agree that Monty's West Inn has to be the next project taken over, although there are still spots open for space there in the SofA, but with MM coming in, I suspect that they will not stay vacant for long. Please, no more yogurt shops...

So where will he get 99 spots or even half of that in Avondale?

[Tacachale]

^Presumably this would be partly mitigated by alternative solutions such as bike racks. It would not come close to 90 spots but the Shoppes are much more pedestrian friendly than the strip mall where the Beaches restaurant is.

Correction- I meant *not* come close to 90.

[Know Growth]

      METRO AVONDALE

[Know Growth]

Please keep us posted on RAP, MM, and Benham. You seem to have your ear to the ground. What did you mean by "they can move the front of the shops to the sidewalk, yes, another RAP issue, but Benham has been there and done that and it would make the stores all look the same instead of the oddity there is there now."??

Ben Says -There are other issues going on, that need not be public on this board, but Benham is in the driver's seat and the space across the street from her, to the right of the Sushi is available and waiting for someone to expand it. The fact that it is recessed from the street, and that the space can be altered so that the storefront is moved closer to the street is the fact that I was trying to make. In the end, the city would prefer to have storefronts that are uniform along St. Johns. Peacock was only there for a month, no one knew she was open for business because no one can see the storefront unless you look right at it, is one argument I am sure Benham will use for her justification.

As far as ear to the floor"..............with real estate in the area too, I too want to make sure that there will be.......solutions for the cars coming into the area. ........ If you are in a hurry, take Park Street and run over someone's cat

Indeed,best to post less. MJ Light!

indeed.

I thought you said there was a glut, a giant oversupply of restaurants that was threatening to destroy riverside, north miami?  What gives?

This side track all 'ya got?

Don't recall Riverside focus.

I discovered this week the new SofA Sushi venture is still hoping for more customers,and from what I have observed during four visits during their stated peak times,there is plenty of seating available.

Hope it all works out,full seating,overflow parking and finally,the saving grace. Glad I didn't buy a house on Pine Street!

The physical space and influence of SofA has stood distinctly less compromised by seductions and attractions of the market.
We're dangling between past and future.

Perhaps we should look to MJ advertisement campaigns for hint to emerging divisive neighborhood episode.
(I'm telling 'ya now folks,we got Trouble right here in River City! Trouble....I mean Trouble!....that starts with "T" that rhymes with "G" & "P" and that stands for "GastroPub"!)

It's all interesting-glad you have more skin in this than I do.


Post les

Lol, Mike.  This is where you look like a tremendous ass.

Metrojacksonville doesn't run any paid advertisements from any of the businesses in the riverside avondale district. Nor have we over the past two years.  Much less any 'campaigns'.

I think this pretty much settles the issue of your credibility.

Although I wouldn't be surprised to find any in the future.  MetroJacksonville is an excellent source of public awareness and information.   Although in the case of many of your posts, misinformation can also be found here.  Luckily its dialogue journalism, and your mis statements are usually caught pretty quickly.

Any more bizarre theories you want to float?

There is a jog in the Outer Beltway as "credibility" testimony,not that any need be lodged here,MJ simply an experiment.

Avonale bizarre theory only after a period of time,awareness and information not typically gathered here.
Perhaps nothing!High Awareness.
If Avondale is damaged,Overlay as metaphor,follow up on Carl Hiaasen "Jacksonville Millionth Mania"/hard copy edition.

ONward

[mtraininjax]

So where will he get 99 spots or even half of that in Avondale?

Kay, John does not need to find 99 spots. RAP will cave as usual, and there will be posturing, but the deal will go through. Too much money involved for MM and the others there. So you have to park further away, no big deal.

[JeffreyS]

What are they going to say about not enough density for streetcar in Riverside now?  The longer the people of Riverside wait to start screaming for it the longer it will take to get there.

[Adam W]

What are they going to say about not enough density for streetcar in Riverside now?  The longer the people of Riverside wait to start screaming for it the longer it will take to get there.

But would people ride in a streetcar if given the option? I'm not saying they wouldn't (and I'm honestly curious), but Jacksonvillians (and Floridians, among others) love their cars and would need quite an incentive not to drive them. I think car ownership is a big deal to a lot of people. And there is a stigma attached to public transportation.

I think the stigma can be removed over time, but it will only die off when more and more people start riding public transportation. I can see people maybe jumping on a streetcar to go to a local bar or something, but I don't see there being enough ridership to make it feasible.

[tufsu1]

But would people ride in a streetcar if given the option? I'm not saying they wouldn't (and I'm honestly curious), but Jacksonvillians (and Floridians, among others) love their cars and would need quite an incentive not to drive them. I think car ownership is a big deal to a lot of people. And there is a stigma attached to public transportation.

and the same things were said about Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Charlotte....and all have shown that transit can work

[Tacachale]

^Streetcar, other forms of public transit, and the feasibility of them have been discussed all over this site for years. As far as it relates to this particular development, Riverside-Avondale is approaching a level of population and density that requires action before traffic congestion becomes a crippling problem. Improving public transit is one option. Others include demolishing structures for parking lots, and artificially restricting infill to stave off density. Which is preferable?

[thelakelander]

But would people ride in a streetcar if given the option? I'm not saying they wouldn't (and I'm honestly curious), but Jacksonvillians (and Floridians, among others) love their cars and would need quite an incentive not to drive them. I think car ownership is a big deal to a lot of people. And there is a stigma attached to public transportation.

and the same things were said about Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Charlotte....and all have shown that transit can work

and....Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Norfolk, San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami.....

Understanding how transit actually works is one of those areas of urban living where Jacksonville is truly a decade or two behind its peers.

[Adam W]

But would people ride in a streetcar if given the option? I'm not saying they wouldn't (and I'm honestly curious), but Jacksonvillians (and Floridians, among others) love their cars and would need quite an incentive not to drive them. I think car ownership is a big deal to a lot of people. And there is a stigma attached to public transportation.

and the same things were said about Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Charlotte....and all have shown that transit can work

and....Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Norfolk, San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami.....

Understanding how transit actually works is one of those areas of urban living where Jacksonville is truly a decade or two behind its peers.

I'll have to accept your word for it. (That's not a pissy statement, even if it reads that way online). But I am a cynic and I personally think downtown will need to grow its population (of residents or businesses) before people start riding public transport in worthwhile numbers.

I accept, though, that I am not qualified (so to speak) and I'm pretty sure you are. So I'm not saying you're wrong - just that I have doubts or reservations.

(I hope you're right though).

[JeffreyS]

Well that is the story rail critics have tried to sell you and I to keep the sprawl going.  I'll bet Charlotte is thankful they didn't wait for density to reach some magic number before they started manipulating their own future. To me that is what it is all about you can wait for the future and just try to figure out how to make the best of it. Or we can implement the type of policies and infrastructure to mastermind our own future.

We have great suburbs, rural areas, office parks, industrial areas, ports, beaches, the river, recreational areas and even great historical neighborhoods. What we don't have is a great or even mediocre urban area and this community deserves to have that as well.  We need the tax revenue boost a great urban area would give.  Behind a miracle upgrade to education transit is probably the biggest QOL improvement we could make.

[thelakelander]

You'll be hard pressed to find an American city that "grew" its way into density without a pedestrian scale transportation system to get them there.  The concept of a community needing a certain level of density for rail is just as false as the concept of downtown needing 10,000 residents for vibrancy.  Both are numbers plucked out of thin air.  In both cases, both rail and downtown vibrancy can become reality without hitting those imaginary benchmarks.

[JeffreyS]

I don't blame people for believing those figures though because politicians have been making a living selling those excuses for a long time.