south Liberty Street Drama

[Marle Brando]

Why was it a necessity to extend liberty st so far out into the river in the first place? Was it solely to feed the parking deck or what?

[Marle Brando]

I would hate to be a Berkman Townhouse owner. Isn't that built over the river as well?

I was always uncertain about Berman ever since the garage collapse on phase II in 07. Didn't trust the contruction enough to consider moving there ever since. And besides just being an out of place, cheesy and cheaply designed building on the waterfront, it always looked sorta crooked or leaning to me when I view it from the Wyndham side of things. Weird optical illusion or maybe just me? Lol

[thelakelander]

Why was it a necessity to extend liberty st so far out into the river in the first place? Was it solely to feed the parking deck or what?

To clear industrial blight and provide additional parking of course. Here's what this block looked like in 1959 before the construction of the parking deck.


State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/26866


State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/39090

With that said, is there a negative in removing the entire deck and using the lion's share of the $33 million in bridge replacement funds for something else?

[Lunican]

$33 million is a lot of money for a parking lot. How much is that per space?

[downtownbrown]

I would hate to be a Berkman Townhouse owner. Isn't that built over the river as well?

I was always uncertain about Berman ever since the garage collapse on phase II in 07. Didn't trust the contruction enough to consider moving there ever since. And besides just being an out of place, cheesy and cheaply designed building on the waterfront, it always looked sorta crooked or leaning to me when I view it from the Wyndham side of things. Weird optical illusion or maybe just me? Lol

The townhouses are also built on piers, but it is completely different construction from the street "bridge".  I think those townhouses are great, and I wish there were more of them.   Cheesy?  Cheaply designed? Crooked?  I don't know where any of that comes from.

[Tacachale]

I would hate to be a Berkman Townhouse owner. Isn't that built over the river as well?

I was always uncertain about Berman ever since the garage collapse on phase II in 07. Didn't trust the contruction enough to consider moving there ever since. And besides just being an out of place, cheesy and cheaply designed building on the waterfront, it always looked sorta crooked or leaning to me when I view it from the Wyndham side of things. Weird optical illusion or maybe just me? Lol

The townhouses are also built on piers, but it is completely different construction from the street "bridge".  I think those townhouses are great, and I wish there were more of them.   Cheesy?  Cheaply designed? Crooked?  I don't know where any of that comes from.

Yeah, those townhouses are pretty nice.

With that said, is there a negative in removing the entire deck and using the lion's share of the $33 million in bridge replacement funds for something else?

Yeah, that's a ton of money to be spending on a structure that doesn't seem suited to ever be anything but a parking lot. Especially considering it's the parking lot for a vacant building with no firm plans.

[downtownbrown]

It will be interesting to see if the state engineers believe that the parking lot and road is viable long term.  Turning it back into river would change the conversation about downtown just a tad.

[Marle Brando]

Thanks  Lake. I wonder if they have thought about removing the deck since the courthouse will be obsolete soon. And guys I too love the townhouses..it's the actual tower I think is offensive in design. The townhouses I think are actually cool looking. That tower should be on jax beach somewhere.

[Charles Hunter]

From some of the folks interviewed on TV said, there may be some townhouses available very soon.  More than one has said they are moving out.

Timing is everything!

[Know Growth]

I have kayaked underneath the Deck. At low tide it is possible to get way back in there. Excellent fishing around the pilings, the eerie light beams piercing through from the grates above. Giant Redfish. Spooky. This is Noone's thing- I've made a couple of excursions.(Luckily,the collapse was at 1 am.....)

And some of the most vivid images are of the deterioration. Rusty beams,flanges,chunks of metal hanging,after all,it's a salt-ish water environment....and best of all,obvious attempts to shore up,reinforce; fresh lumber, shinny new fasteners here and there.It's obvious there have been some attempts at keeping it up.

I have often thought of the corner Town Homes atop the Heap.The construction below the Townhouses does not seem that much different,and in fact is a site of obvious patches.

Perhaps,blessidly,the condos too will be condemned and go away. Some how,God is telling us the immediate waterfront strip is too valuable for private residence. And perhaps, removing the deck and re-establishing open water, maybe constructed cove, might prove efficacious.

[downtownbrown]

From some of the folks interviewed on TV said, there may be some townhouses available very soon.  More than one has said they are moving out.

Timing is everything!

I heard a whiney renter who felt "unsafe", but I doubt there will me much exodus.  I think it's great that the whole parking lot is closed until a complete inspection can be done.  That ought to be an interesting report.

Meanwhile, no one at JEA is saying when power will be restored to the townhouses.  Weeks, probably.

[Bridges]

Meanwhile, no one at JEA is saying when power will be restored to the townhouses.  Weeks, probably.

We should probably change the pothole party to a birth celebration.  It won't be long before the new hole is 3 years old.  They just grow up so fast.

[fsujax]

yeah, pretty ridiculous this has been an ongoing issue for three years, thank goodness there were cars or people on that section when it collapsed.

[downtownbrown]

nice to see the media cover this hole.  A mysterious kayaker named Nooney was interviewed today by Roger Weeder.  Apparently Noone is retiring from under cover fishing for a while 

[taylormiller]

$33 million is a lot of money for a parking lot. How much is that per space?

I don't know precisely how many spots there are, but just a quick look at it, it looks as though there are about 25 of those diagonal parking spots per row and about 12 of those rows (6 face-to-face) and then there are those parallel spots on both side and lastly the ones facing Courthouse Drive. Rough approximation, we're looking at around $100,000+ per spot.