Town Center Construction

comncense · May 09, 2012, 01:01:00 PM

^ You lived in NYC and Jersey and the homeless people in downtown Jax freak you out?

I'm from NYC and the homeless population downtown don't bother me one bit. I have no problem just ignoring them as I pass by or if they even ask for something.

tufsu1 · May 09, 2012, 02:03:20 PM

Quote from: JayBird on May 09, 2012, 12:08:37 PM
I cringed when writing it ... but seriously, it seems to me that the time for commuter rail is now because that will allow DT to grow and other areas around commuter rail stations to grow as well.

I agree...commuter rail should be the top regional transportation priority....but don't get disillusioned.....even if its implemented, it surely won't be running at 2am to take drunk people home from downtown.

Captain Zissou · July 25, 2012, 09:45:52 AM

Anyone have any info on the development behind Mitchell's Fish market.? The way they are building that site seems so strange to me. They have one area of a huge raised platform, what looks like the base of a parking structure, and then what looks like the plumbing hook ups for a bunch of units. 5000 town is coming along nicely. It's nice to see some good ole' concrete construction for residential, and it's not even tilt up!!! Haven't seen that in a while around here. Too many stick built suburban complexes for me to take lately.

Captain Zissou · July 25, 2012, 09:53:24 AM

An article about some of the developments in the area, but not the one I was looking for: http://www.morgangroup.com/sites/default/files/construction-st-Johns-Town-Center.pdf

fieldafm · July 25, 2012, 09:55:32 AM

Quote from: Captain Zissou on July 25, 2012, 09:45:52 AM
Anyone have any info on the development behind Mitchell's Fish market.? The way they are building that site seems so strange to me. They have one area of a huge raised platform, what looks like the base of a parking structure, and then what looks like the plumbing hook ups for a bunch of units. 5000 town is coming along nicely. It's nice to see some good ole' concrete construction for residential, and it's not even tilt up!!! Haven't seen that in a while around here. Too many stick built suburban complexes for me to take lately.

There are three multi-family starts going up on the Town Center land. That's one of them.
There is also a restaurant that is being constructed on the Markets property (still no sidewalk to connect to)
And a rezoning application for traffic circulation was just approved for the PUD on the Costco site. (was basically the best of three bad options, the street grid originally planned should have never have been discarded and a million curb cuts been allowed to be constructed with virtually no pedestrian connectivity)

cline · July 25, 2012, 09:57:44 AM

Quote from: fieldafm on July 25, 2012, 09:55:32 AM
Quote from: Captain Zissou on July 25, 2012, 09:45:52 AM
Anyone have any info on the development behind Mitchell's Fish market.? The way they are building that site seems so strange to me. They have one area of a huge raised platform, what looks like the base of a parking structure, and then what looks like the plumbing hook ups for a bunch of units. 5000 town is coming along nicely. It's nice to see some good ole' concrete construction for residential, and it's not even tilt up!!! Haven't seen that in a while around here. Too many stick built suburban complexes for me to take lately.

There are three multi-family starts going up on the Town Center land. That's one of them.
There is also a restaurant that is being constructed on the Markets property (still no sidewalk to connect to)
And a rezoning application for traffic circulation was just approved for the PUD on the Costco site. (was basically the best of three bad options, the street grid originally planned should have never have been discarded and a million curb cuts been allowed to be constructed with virtually no pedestrian connectivity)

Do you have the plans for the traffic circulation at Costco. I'd like to see them. I still think that entrance to Costco needs to be closed.

Captain Zissou · July 25, 2012, 10:02:06 AM

So..... 5000 Town, which there is plenty of coverage about, the mystery property that is under construction that there is no real info about, and a third property?

Brio is the restaurant you are referencing here.

Thank goodness for the traffic circulation. They seem to try a new traffic pattern every quarter, so maybe in 2 years we will have something good.

Also, they are building out a big box tenant in the Markets area with no signage or anything. It will open up onto that avenue between Whiskey River and Suite. This isn't typical of SJTC to not have signs and advertisements months out. Any knowledge on the tenant?

fsujax · July 25, 2012, 10:09:45 AM

no traffic circulation plan is going to correct the mess around Costco.

JUGrad · July 25, 2012, 10:10:38 AM

Quote from: Captain Zissou on July 25, 2012, 10:02:06 AM
Also, they are building out a big box tenant in the Markets area with no signage or anything. It will open up onto that avenue between Whiskey River and Suite. This isn't typical of SJTC to not have signs and advertisements months out. Any knowledge on the tenant?

I believe that might be REI's spot.

fieldafm · July 25, 2012, 10:20:21 AM

QuoteDo you have the plans for the traffic circulation at Costco. I'd like to see them. I still think that entrance to Costco needs to be closed.

Not on my computer. The Planning Dept though has them, they had a public hearing on the matter. I agree with you, like I said it was the best of three horrible options. This is where planning matters. Allowing Town Center to become what it is now, with virtually every prudent planning component stepped over, is really ashame. It could have been such a better product.

QuoteAlso, they are building out a big box tenant in the Markets area with no signage or anything.

That's a sporting goods store.

wsansewjs · July 25, 2012, 10:30:44 AM

Quote from: tufsu1 on May 09, 2012, 02:03:20 PM
Quote from: JayBird on May 09, 2012, 12:08:37 PM
I cringed when writing it ... but seriously, it seems to me that the time for commuter rail is now because that will allow DT to grow and other areas around commuter rail stations to grow as well.

I agree...commuter rail should be the top regional transportation priority....but don't get disillusioned.....even if its implemented, it surely won't be running at 2am to take drunk people home from downtown.

That defeats the whole purpose of public transportation. I get so SCARED that I might miss the last bus of the day, that I wouldn't be able to get home due to different situation, not getting shitfaced somewhere in downtown, but honest and legitimate reasons. Having a public transportation that runs 24 hours even in the wee hours, it would be a longer interval, brings peace and calm to my worries.

-Josh

JayBird · July 26, 2012, 04:30:15 PM

I agree ... after all, how much more can it cost to run one bus to Orange Park 24 hrs? It would have a two hour wait between buses because of only one running the route, but I am sure they would have ridership ... heck WalMart has people in it at 3am so obviously people need to go somewhere in middle of night. And I think they would only need four ... WS2 to OP, A continuous line to the beaches, the S1 OR L7 to Avenues and the L8 to Lem Turner and I-295 for the Northside. And does anyone know why, when you have entertainment on the northbank with residential apartments and condos on the southbank, with more to come ... why an unmanned SkyRail closes at sundown or shortly after ... if it is open at all?

Also, on another topic ... in Jersey when a contractor buys land and says I am building a shopping mall here. The town says "no problem, you may build your mall as long as you build this fire station in the corner of the property or build a roadway or improve this intersection". So how come, when these grand plans come into the city of Jacksonville for a place called St Johns Town Center ... why didn't someone say okay, build us a light rail to southside blvd and gate parkway establishments for people who work and live there. Or something to alleviate the need for car traffic and parking. After all, if you buildings with businesses make more money than parking spaces right? I know there is a name for those types of deals, but not that knowledgeable.

carpnter · July 26, 2012, 04:43:54 PM

Quote from: JayBird on July 26, 2012, 04:30:15 PM
I agree ... after all, how much more can it cost to run one bus to Orange Park 24 hrs? It would have a two hour wait between buses because of only one running the route, but I am sure they would have ridership ... heck WalMart has people in it at 3am so obviously people need to go somewhere in middle of night. And I think they would only need four ... WS2 to OP, A continuous line to the beaches, the S1 OR L7 to Avenues and the L8 to Lem Turner and I-295 for the Northside. And does anyone know why, when you have entertainment on the northbank with residential apartments and condos on the southbank, with more to come ... why an unmanned SkyRail closes at sundown or shortly after ... if it is open at all?

Also, on another topic ... in Jersey when a contractor buys land and says I am building a shopping mall here. The town says "no problem, you may build your mall as long as you build this fire station in the corner of the property or build a roadway or improve this intersection". So how come, when these grand plans come into the city of Jacksonville for a place called St Johns Town Center ... why didn't someone say okay, build us a light rail to southside blvd and gate parkway establishments for people who work and live there. Or something to alleviate the need for car traffic and parking. After all, if you buildings with businesses make more money than parking spaces right? I know there is a name for those types of deals, but not that knowledgeable.

You cannot make a developer build a public light rail system to allow them to build on their property. You can make them pay to run water/sewer lines to the project if none exist as well as any necessary road improvements(traffic lights/road widening) at the project to accommodate the additional traffic load. Those are part of the impact fees that a developer pays to the city. You could even require them to pay for a station for an existing light rail system if there was light rail already there (if there was light rail already there, they would probably want to build one to drive more traffic into the businesses at the center), but you cannot make them build a light rail system for public use and on top of that they most likely don't own any portion of the necessary right of way required to build that system.

JayBird · July 26, 2012, 04:53:28 PM

Aaah thank you Carpntr, that makes sense. And yes, the projects I am aware of did build everything on their own property so that is logical.

cline · July 26, 2012, 05:00:39 PM

Quote from: carpnter on July 26, 2012, 04:43:54 PM
Quote from: JayBird on July 26, 2012, 04:30:15 PM
I agree ... after all, how much more can it cost to run one bus to Orange Park 24 hrs? It would have a two hour wait between buses because of only one running the route, but I am sure they would have ridership ... heck WalMart has people in it at 3am so obviously people need to go somewhere in middle of night. And I think they would only need four ... WS2 to OP, A continuous line to the beaches, the S1 OR L7 to Avenues and the L8 to Lem Turner and I-295 for the Northside. And does anyone know why, when you have entertainment on the northbank with residential apartments and condos on the southbank, with more to come ... why an unmanned SkyRail closes at sundown or shortly after ... if it is open at all?

Also, on another topic ... in Jersey when a contractor buys land and says I am building a shopping mall here. The town says "no problem, you may build your mall as long as you build this fire station in the corner of the property or build a roadway or improve this intersection". So how come, when these grand plans come into the city of Jacksonville for a place called St Johns Town Center ... why didn't someone say okay, build us a light rail to southside blvd and gate parkway establishments for people who work and live there. Or something to alleviate the need for car traffic and parking. After all, if you buildings with businesses make more money than parking spaces right? I know there is a name for those types of deals, but not that knowledgeable.

You cannot make a developer build a public light rail system to allow them to build on their property. You can make them pay to run water/sewer lines to the project if none exist as well as any necessary road improvements(traffic lights/road widening) at the project to accommodate the additional traffic load. Those are part of the impact fees that a developer pays to the city. You could even require them to pay for a station for an existing light rail system if there was light rail already there (if there was light rail already there, they would probably want to build one to drive more traffic into the businesses at the center), but you cannot make them build a light rail system for public use and on top of that they most likely don't own any portion of the necessary right of way required to build that system.

You can make them pay mobility fees which would provide a funding mechanism to help pay for transit. We have a mobility plan in Jax, or we did, until our City Council decided it would be a good idea to put a moratorium on it.