Why isnt this happening in Jacksonville?

[Bolles_Bull]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-10/renters-trading-size-for-frills-fuel-u-s-apartment-boom.html


Development shifting to urban centers.

[Bolles_Bull]

If Jax generally bows down to the developers though, shouldnt the developers be demanding a fix to these barriers? What I mean is, if intsitutional money sees the demand for urban mixed use developments across the country, shouldnt developers be responding to this?  Here's the demand, where is the supply? Youd think the developers would be on our side for this so they dont get left behind.

[simms3]

Downtown rents aren't the highest in the city.  FYI

Companies will pay the freight to be downtown if they feel they need to be downtown.  That's the way it works in countless other cities where downtown rents are often 2x what they are in the suburbs, and parking is limited and not free.  Most cities also require certain parking ratios for employees, etc.  This is necessary when transit is not so much part of the picture.  For instance, most of SF residential development is still subject to minimum and maximum parking requirements.  For much of the city near rail lines, it is possible to include no parking and that happens.  But that's not most of the city.  When you include no parking, the thought is that then it will burden street parking, which the city is trying to limit or even get rid of in many places.

You can rent office space in SF for $60psf average now, or $30-35psf average in Oakland.  Despite the costs, most companies are trying to establish in SF, not Oakland.  There are lots of reasons for this even though both cities offer transit connectivity, walkability, etc.

Jax downtown needs to provide reason for being.  Currently it does not.

[tufsu1]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-10/renters-trading-size-for-frills-fuel-u-s-apartment-boom.html


Development shifting to urban centers.

actually it is happening here, just slowly....Springfield, Riverside, and north San Marco areas have changed pretty dramatically over the past decade....and Brooklyn is filling in as we speak.

[IrvAdams]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-10/renters-trading-size-for-frills-fuel-u-s-apartment-boom.html


Development shifting to urban centers.

actually it is happening here, just slowly....Springfield, Riverside, and north San Marco areas have changed pretty dramatically over the past decade....and Brooklyn is filling in as we speak.

Good point. We're getting Core infill, it's just happening from the outside perimeter towards the center. Something has got to give at some point and the center has got to cave. Hopefully soon.

Give it up, bureaucracy, we're coming for you.

[Tacachale]

There were actually a lot of projects happening downtown and the urban core before the financial crisis. The Peninsula, the Strand, Carling, 11E, all the BJP projects and several others happened during that time. Since then we haven't had civic leadership that prioritized projects like that, so most of what's happened has been where other conditions are favorable. In the urban core that's mostly been small-medium projects in Riverside and San Marco, but mostly it's happened out in the Southside where developers and investors know they can make money.

Right now we're seeing a ton of enthusiasm for a vibrant urban core and this has led to some major projects and announcements, but things are unlikely to pick up a huge amount of steam without some more effective leadership.

[Rob68]

So developers only want to develope if they get huge tax breaks allowing the public to pay for their new mcmansion?  It seems that the only way this city will come into the 20th century if for all of these conservative good ole boys who cant run a city to die off and be replaced by people who might understand what an actual metropolitan city is supposed to be like.

[IrvAdams]

So developers only want to develope if they get huge tax breaks allowing the public to pay for their new mcmansion?  It seems that the only way this city will come into the 20th century if for all of these conservative good ole boys who cant run a city to die off and be replaced by people who might understand what an actual metropolitan city is supposed to be like.

We can't wait that long.