Jacksonville's new downtown agency faces plenty of hurdles

[JaxArchitect]

Regarding the timeline to complete new residential housing, the real issue is not so much the construction/permitting or even the design time, its the time that must be invested by the developer into identifying viable property, running the proforma, securing funding, negotiating deals for grants / subsidies or other incentives, etc.  We've all watched as multiple developers have tried to achieve this with the Laura Trio.  It's taken years and so far nothing has been acheived.
If you were to renovate a building such as the Ambassador Hotel, the timeline to design/permit/build that project would be in the range of 18-20 months.
I agree that the goal of reaching at least 5,000 units downtown is incredibly important and must be prioritized but that it will likely take 5-10 years to reach that goal.  I lived in Cleveland in the 90's and saw first hand that when they reached this critical mass of residents downtown (roughly 5,000), the other businesses such as restaurants, grocery/deli, dry cleaners, bars, etc. just made a lot more sense to the business owners.  They had a customer base that could make their businesses viable and they didn't need to be incentivised anymore. 
BTW, most of those new residential units in Cleveland were in renovated historic buildings or urban infill similar to what can be done in Jax. 

[vicupstate]

In terms of timeline, and reducing it, it took 16 months just to create the DIA.  And by 'create', that is only approval of enabling  legislation and appointment of board members.  There is still no budget or staff. 

[Pinky]

In terms of timeline, and reducing it, it took 16 months just to create the DIA.  And by 'create', that is only approval of enabling  legislation and appointment of board members.  There is still no budget or staff.

So sad, so true.  What *happened* to this town??  It just seems to have ground to a halt, from the busy days of the Delaney years to the current morass that passes for "government". 

I voted for Alvin Brown.  He seemed like the kind of "new blood" that I thought the city needed post-Peyton, and I'd heard good things about him.  But I'm starting to think that Downtown Alvin Brown was a much better mayoral candidate than mayor.  I've seen him at various events a number of times since the election, and in every single case he looks freaked-out.  Not like "afraid of a nut with a cream pie" freaked out, more of a "people are asking me questions that I have absolutely no idea how to answer" freaked out.  I got scammed into voting for "Chauncey Gardner", but I won't do it again.  I'm voting the straight Somebody Else Party ticket next time.  But who?  Who is likely to run against him?  Clearly some republican, but what about a democrat, or independent?  Who, on the Jax political horizon, would make a great mayor?

[Noone]

Did anyone listen to First Coast Connect yesterday and Bill Bishop was the guest? A real estate broker calls in and has customers that want to buy city property.

My first reaction was Intuition Ale and the Shipyards property. Instead of being greeted with the welcome mat they are greeted with the door being closed.

Now the Hayden Burns library and a letter of intent pending on city incentives. Enough taxpayer dollars and the door will be opened.

And so now this Authority that will oversee the picking of winner and losers. originally and still may be a primary funding source will be the parking revenue over this boundary. A huge Benny moving forward. 2012-202