Retail-less parking garage proposed for Downtown

[thelakelander]

Crawford said the city enacted the requirement to make downtown more walkable and attract retail.
But he said fulfilling that goal has been difficult because garages built with first-floor retail have had trouble attracting tenants.

Why has filling first floor garage space been difficult?  With places like Sweet Lady Blue, Underbelly, Courtyard Cafe, Nature's Table recently opening or currently under construction, it would suggest that there is a market for certain types of retail.  So what's keeping retail away from various garages? 

There are several things that could stop retail from filling those spaces that have absolutely nothing to do with a natural demand for retail in downtown.  These could include  leasing rates above what the market can bear, retail frontage on streets with limited traffic/visibility or poorly dimensioned retail spaces that limit the type of retail that could logically go in them. 

For example, perhaps a CVS or Walgreens would work well on a street like Bay or Independent Drive.  However, they may need a retail box of 10,000 square feet with ceiling heights of 12' to 15'.  If you design your garage retail space with a depth of 50', you've pretty much killed that type of retailer from considering your site as a viable location for their product.  The dynamics explained above should be known by the JEDC, DIA or whatever agency is running downtown these days.

[cline]

If you design your garage retail space with a depth of 50', you've pretty much killed that type of retailer from considering your site as a viable location for their product.  The dynamics explained above should be known by the JEDC, DIA or whatever agency is running downtown these days.

The dynamics absolutely should be known by them.  Unfortunately they don't seem to have any grasp of the dynamics of downtown- that's part of the problem. 

[comncense]

With out luck as Downtown residents, they'll build a CVS or Walgreens and the store would close at 5pm and only be open Monday through Friday... Seriously though, it seems that generating foot traffic in that area of Downtown would be pretty easy. With the saturation of employees that are there during the work days and the people that still visit the Landing, I would seem that if you have decent stores or restaurants occupying that space, it would be easy to draw people in.

[Jax_Spartan]

Anyone know when the date is for the second approval meeting, now that the workshop is over?

[Ocklawaha]

The argument that the retail spaces will remain empty because that is what has happened up on Duval Street is bogus. With the Landing still having a spark of life and still attracting good sized crowds, retail in those spaces should fill in quickly.

[acme54321]

Has the July DDRB meeting happened?  What's going on with this?

[acme54321]

Still nothing on this project?

[dougskiles]

This just came to my email...

The City Office of Economic Development’s Downtown Development Review Board is scheduled Thursday to consider the final approval of materials and colors for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s Bus Rapid Transit customer shelters located Downtown.

Also on the agenda is a proposal for new signage for the Aetna Building on the Southbank, conceptual approval of the design for the proposed parking garage adjacent to SunTrust Tower on the Northbank and a discussion of the pedestrian bridge that has been approved for the Duval County Courthouse. The public meeting is 2 p.m. in the Lynwood Roberts Room at City Hall.

[JeffreyS]

Thanks for posting. I will try to make it but my schedule is tight tomorrow. I hope some others will show as we need to get this building right as it will play into the make up of downtown Jax for decades.

[thelakelander]

Original design above.  DDRB staff has basically recommended conceptual approval to the design below







The developer doesn't want to build the retail component until the Suntrust Tower is 65% leased. Right now, Suntrust is 20% leased.

[Tacachale]

^They don't want to build the bottom floor of the structure until some later point? What am I missing here?

[thelakelander]

The retail is adjacent to the garage.  They want to build a garage with ground level parking and eventually add on some retail bays at some point in the future.  In the meantime, a temporary plaza would be constructed instead of retail.

[Tacachale]

Okay, I see now. At any rate it looks like a pretty weak design.

[fsujax]

i doubt they will ever build the retail if allowed to move forward without it, even if the Suntrust tower became 100% occupied.

[JeffreyS]

I think they should hold the line and build the retail. If it is not built the owner won't be shopping for tenants.