Is it time to reassess the Berkman Plaza II

[ubben]

It looks to me like it's just a concrete shell. Does a couple years of rain damage concrete to the point the whole thing has to be torn down?

How bout if we built some zip lines from it so tourists could zip down to Dos Gatos or onto a water taxi?

[Noone]

Wow, just think of the possibilities posed herein, we raze the Berkman II building, followed immediately by the old Courthouse, City Hall, Bostwick Building and you'll recall that plan to take down the Baywater Square Building. With these out of the way we could focus our ire at the Barnett Bank and Laura Trio. 9 buildings are all that is keeping us from greatness! Let's rip em down!

THE JACKSONVILLE SONG?

Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
Jacksonville needs your help again.
It's got itself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder near the county pen
So push down that plunger, we've already begun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we bitchin' for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Jacksonville is at it again.
And it's five, six, seven,
Implode it, before its too late,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! downtown's all gonna die.

(My apologies to Country Joe and the Fish)

Ock,

That's funny. Instead of razing them lets save them all. Visit Jacksonville -Home of the national FEMA training center. We don't need a hurricane or tropical storm, earthquake, tsunami to have an urban core multiple examples of various degrees of high rise structures incapacitated to reenact the the types of rescue that are needed throughout the world in dense residential populations.

Craig Fugate- We need you man. I'll reach out to you.
Questions for Craig.
That was an opportunity when he was the Director of the Division of Emergency Management before he was made the Director of FEMA.

Mr. Fugate, In Jacksonville we have the Laura St. Trio. 3 clustered buildings. Are zip lines now being used in rescue and evaluation techniques utilizing the highest structure from the top and then taking it to the bottom for sustainable evaluation and support for residents until power is restored to these structures? is this being done anywhere?

In the interim let's have a food truck party at 601 East Church St and that 1915 solid brick structure that is now a leveled slab.

Or I'll take anyone kayaking and fishing next to Berkman Plaza-Plaza at Berkman and we can fish under the brand new No Fishing signs that was never before the Jacksonville Waterways Commission.

Visit Jacksonville- We are so Lost.

DIA board meeting tomorrow. Anyone going?

[Noone]

Just  drove by and the WJXT TV truck is parked next to the Berkman Exoskeleton. News at 5 or 6?

[Mathew1056]

I tuned into WJXT. I didn't catch any segments at that location. I was a little preoccupied so I very well could have missed it.

[GoldenEst82]

Unlike a lot of what J-ville tears down- this is not a historically significant structure- nor is it aesthetically pleasing.
I don't thing leveling the Berkman II is on par with the elimination of LaVilla (as an example).

We could go on all day about the ass-backwardsness of this city.

[downtownbrown]

Looks like Berkman 2 didn't make the cut in Khan's video of the Shipyards.

[downtownbrown]

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/news/local/wake-shipyards-plan-reveal-city-leaders-debating-f/nkDrh/

I wish someone would make a move 

[thelakelander]

What happened to the group that wanted to use the existing shell?

[Keith-N-Jax]

^^ That's a good question. So in the viedo they said the city doesn't own the building so that means there is nothing they can do??

[jaxjaguar]

What happened to the group that wanted to use the existing shell?

Isn't that the current owner based out of Atlanta the reporter mentioned? Last I heard they wanted to turn it into apartments, but needed help from the city to settle some legal work / cleaning up the damaged areas... I'm not holding my breath for city council to get any of this done. I'll believe it when I'm rolling around in the new practice fields.

[downtownbrown]

Choate owns the building.  They brought a developer in to complete the building, but they needed $5M from DIA to make it worth their while, but DIA turned them down.  Khan's people were allegedly talking to the Berkman people recently, but who knows where it is now.

[thelakelander]

I don't think the DIA has $5 million to give anyone. Money would have to come from another pot of public funds, in the form of tax incentives, etc. With that said, it will probably cost $5 million just to tear it down.

[MusicMan]

This particular thread was initiated in 2012. I think that says it all......................

[downtownbrown]

word is that Khan's people are still talking to Choate after all. Sure would be nice to be a fly on that wall 

[Steve]

I'm sure they are, considering they want to develop about 40 acres next to it. If Choate gets any offer that won't leave them in the poor house, they should take it and get out from the disaster