Urban Construction Update - January 2014

[funwithteeth]

I hope Silver Cow installs some awnings and a nice sign--If I hadn't read it was open here, I would probably walk right past the place now without going in thinking it was just part of one of the stores next door.

I walked by the place and still couldn't tell they were open!

They also have a terrible website.

http://silvercowjax.com/

Everything is either blank or says "Coming Soon".

This isn't surprising. Social media—Facebook, Twitter, etc.—is so much easier and quicker a way to let people know what's going on with your business. Keeping a "regular" website is good for search-engine purposes and is generally used just to redirect people to their social-media pages.

[PeeJayEss]

I have two concerns about 22 Riverside Ave.

The building is made entirely out of wood. What happens in the event of a fire in one of the units?

With a wood frame, what happens in the event of a hurricane?

It would just burn down or blow over. It is highly unlikely the design process foresaw either of those possibilities.

[urbaknight]

^But they should have. This is Florida after all. I predict that they'll be destroyed somehow (preventably) and we'll have another empty lot for the urban core. I hope that doesn't happen. But we are overdue for a powerful hurricane.

[thelakelander]

220 Riverside isn't the first wood frame multi-story building in Florida or Jax.  In the event of a fire, you'd hope your fire rated walls would hold up long enough to contain and put out the fire.  In the event of a hurricane, you'd hope the structural engineer got their calculations right and that the hurricane straps, bracing, etc. perform as designed.  I'm sure Brooklyn Riverside will be wood frame as well.

Here's an image of a wood frame apartment building going up in Los Angeles. They don't have hurricanes but they are earthquake prone.

Cost-effective, code-compliant and sustainable, mid-rise wood construction is gaining the attention of design professionals nationwide, who see it as a way to achieve higher density housing at lower cost—while reducing the carbon footprint of their projects. Yet, many familiar with wood construction for two- to four-story residential structures are not aware that the International Building Code (IBC) allows wood-frame construction for five stories and more in building occupancies that range from business and mercantile to multi-family, military, senior, student and affordable housing.

"Once designers know that wood offers all the required safety and structural performance capabilities and meets code requirements for mid-rise, the most appealing feature of wood tends to be its price," says Michelle Kam-Biron, P.E., S.E., a senior technical director with WoodWorks in California. "Multi-family housing was one of the first market segments to rebound from the recession—because it's more affordable than single-family housing while offering advantages such as less upkeep and, in most cases, closer proximity to amenities. Wood construction is attractive for multi-family projects because it offers a high percentage of rentable square footage at a relatively low cost, but its benefits are equally applicable to other occupancy types."

http://continuingeducation.construction.com/crs.php?L=285&C=883

[edjax]

^^^Wha??  They're building an entire garage for a small ~300,000 SF building that isn't even 60% full and likely has no prospects?  Even with other partially filled garages within 1-2 blocks???  Not to mention, they don't have to build the useless floorplate retail in the garage until the building is 60% full?

I guess I knew that, but reminders of how backwards the city actually is are never fun to bear.

Speaking of, thanks for the update, but this is really a boring update.  There appears to hardly be anything actually under construction in the core, aside from the apartments in Brooklyn, one of which is wrapping up and the other of which is just now finally after so long getting going (both of which are sadly novel for Jax but boring now, yawn, because the same building has already been built in Charlotte's core 20x over, etc).  The YMCA - why is that taking so long?

I'm seeing with my own eyes where I live whole 55 story towers get built to completion in less time that it takes for Pulp Juice to finish in Avondale, or actually any of these projects.  They are ALL moving more slowly than any projects I've seen anywhere.  I'm seeing more tumbleweeds in these pictures than people or construction equipment.

Since you are so bored with pretty much everything about Jax, feel free to ignore the site and move on. And wow. Every post you make has to be about you.  Certainly all about me, me me. Carry on.

[jcjohnpaint]

I have been traveling around the country quite a bit lately and have seen so many wood high-rises going up in so many cities.  I guess this is of the times. 

[edjax]

^^^Wha??  They're building an entire garage for a small ~300,000 SF building that isn't even 60% full and likely has no prospects?  Even with other partially filled garages within 1-2 blocks???  Not to mention, they don't have to build the useless floorplate retail in the garage until the building is 60% full?

I guess I knew that, but reminders of how backwards the city actually is are never fun to bear.

And yea pretty sure you knew about it since you made 35 comments in the actual thread about the garage.

[simms3]

^^^Someone has a heavy flow this month!  Grrrr

[ben says]

^^^Someone has a heavy flow this month!  Grrrr

Personally, I don't care one way or the other. I grew up with the "Jax sucks" discourse, so this is par for the course.

For the sake of keeping the forum civil, you may want to rethink how your comments come across. You know these guys are a sensitive bunch 

[edjax]

^^^Someone has a heavy flow this month!  Grrrr

Good one girlfriend.

[simms3]

I hate to do this, but this is why I'm depressed:

State Attorney's Office renovation

October 2012:


This post, January 2014:


Total project size, just $26mm.


Goozlepipe & Guttyworks

October 2012, with the caption

Sitework for King Street's G&G continues.

January 2014, this post:





Pulp Juice Bar

October 2012, with the caption

Pulp is still in the process of moving forward with opening their second urban Jacksonville location at the Shops of Avondale.

January 2014, this post:



In fact, Pulp was first photo'd and reported on in the Urban Construction Updates back in July 2012, see below:



G&G was in that thread, too, but has been reported on even longer.



I know the effort Lake goes through to take these photos and to gather/compile the information to report on, monthly, because I do the same thing for whatever city I happen to be living in at the time on other websites, so I can appreciate his effort.  However, both as someone who craves new development, and as a homer, it makes me cringe that for years now the bulk of our Construction Updates have been consumed by immaterial little store openings here and there (Firehouse Subs?  Really?), that still take years to complete.  There is very little meaningful construction, or anything really interesting.  Neighborhood stores opening up in neighborhoods should be part of life - excitement "on the ground" for those in the neighborhood, but should never be the most interesting things going on in a million person city.

Here is a time comparison of a couple buildings here in SF for the comparison (because it seems to take 2x longer to open a store or build a formula Panera or stick frame hybrid apartment in Jax than it does to build full on skyscrapers elsewhere).


One Rincon Hill North Tower, 55 stories, 541 ft high.

November 12, 2012 by timbad on SSP:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=199764&page=4

Today, a pic by yours truly (it's nearly done, took about 12 months to top off structural...and it has complexities, such as a Tuned Mass Damper at the top):



NEMA, a 22 story tower and 37 story tower with 754 rental units between them:

10/1/2012 also by timbad at SSP:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=128011&page=13

9/29/2013 by yours truly, the tower on the right - it's completed now, with half the units full:



535 Mission (27 story office), land sold in May 2013, ground broke in June/August, see my pic from 7/28/2013 below:




And pic from today, 1/23/14 (it basically took 5 months to top off):




I'm just saying, if I didn't live in a construction filled city and didn't travel, and all I had to go off of was the monthly Jax Urban Construction thread, I would beat my head against a wall...I've been meaning to get this off my chest for a while and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way.  It's not for lack of Lake's awesome effort and superb reporting, but for lack of anything interesting going on!

To me, just because of the construction and not necessarily the type of construction, the SS updates are far more interesting than the urban updates.  I look forward to them more.  The Beaches updates are downright offensive and should be taken out of the mix altogether.

[jcjohnpaint]

I come from an extremely corrupt city in the Northeast.  The politics is not surprising.  I think what hurts the most is Jacksonville's potential going to waste.  I really have come to like the city over the years, so I guess I would like to see it thrive, especially since all our peer cities are wiping the floor with us. 

[fsquid]

They build quick in San Fran.  Nice stuff

[thelakelander]

I'm just saying, if I didn't live in a construction filled city and didn't travel, and all I had to go off of was the monthly Jax Urban Construction thread, I would beat my head against a wall...I've been meaning to get this off my chest for a while and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way.  It's not for lack of Lake's awesome effort and superb reporting, but for lack of anything interesting going on!

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of urban infill and construction going on in Jax in comparison with larger and similar sized metropolitan areas.  When we first started MJ, it used to bother me but I travel so much that over the years I've become somewhat immune. Jax has a ton of potential, but the city, the politics, the discussion, etc. is a decade or two behind everyone else when it comes to urbanism.  Over the years, I think we'll be pulled kicking and screaming to embrace certain trends but Jax is what it is.

[CityLife]

Speaking of wood framed apartments, here's a really interesting article about their use in downtown LA. Basically, if a developer wants to build over 75' they have to use steel and concrete. So what is happening is a lot of developers are building just under that threshold to avoid the extra costs and apparently steel and concrete construction doesn't become cost effective until 20 stories and up. So LA is seeing a lot of low-rise construction, but not much mid-rise, which is really needed to add the type of density to make it a walkable, transit oriented downtown like NYC, Chicago, etc.


http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/is-downtown-s-low-rise-building-spree-hurting-the-community/article_0e5f97ec-eb52-11e2-a694-0019bb2963f4.html