A mall for Florida's premier downtown in the works

[tpot]

Yes Jax is decades behind other major cities not only in Florida but throughout the entire Southeast....

[thelakelander]

I'm headed back to DT Miami now and a few other neighborhoods like Wynwood, Coral Gables and South Beach to load up on a few pictures before flying back to Jax this afternoon.

[tpot]

Check out Design District if you have been there before, lots of cool stuff going on there......

[tpot]

Oh and don't forget the new Miami Cetral Train station is going vertical that complex includes, retail, office and residential........

[thelakelander]

I got Miami Central. They're doing foundation work right now. I didn't make it to South Beach, Wynwood & the Design District, although I've visited them several times in the past. I ended up burning my photo time in DT, Brickell, Coral Gables and Little Havana.

[tpot]

http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/17/flagler-street-redo.php

Flagler street in downtown Miami is also getting redone with a railroad theme.....I think they are starting end of the year......I know funding was approved

[thelakelander]

I spent most of yesterday with the Miami DDA. They gave me a presentation that includes renderings of all projects under construction and proposed for the greater downtown area (roughly bounded by I-195, I-95, Brickell and Biscayne Bay). Downtown's population has doubled over the last five years or so to 80k. Now they are trying to invest in several infrastructure projects in order to create a world class urban core. Flagler St is one of several initiatives that will be underway soon. The two I find most impressive are the proposed remakes of I-395 and Biscayne Boulevard. On Biscayne, they are working with FDOT to make a Boston-style linear greenway & park through the downtown core. When I get a chance, I'll post the presentation here.

[JaxAvondale]

I think an enclosed mall makes sense, really. Much like in Toronto (for example), where the downtown buildings are connected by subterranean walkways that are essentially shopping malls, I can see things like this working in areas where the weather is harsh (too hot, too cold, too wet).

It might be that the era of the large enclosed mall in the suburbs is over - who knows. But an enclosed mall in an urban setting like this might flourish.

The renderings look a lot like Westfield Stratford City, the mall complex built before the Olympics in London. That is still doing very well, although it's only been open for about 4 years.

I have been in that mall at least once a year since it opened and it is always packed.

[Adam White]

I think an enclosed mall makes sense, really. Much like in Toronto (for example), where the downtown buildings are connected by subterranean walkways that are essentially shopping malls, I can see things like this working in areas where the weather is harsh (too hot, too cold, too wet).

It might be that the era of the large enclosed mall in the suburbs is over - who knows. But an enclosed mall in an urban setting like this might flourish.

The renderings look a lot like Westfield Stratford City, the mall complex built before the Olympics in London. That is still doing very well, although it's only been open for about 4 years.

I have been in that mall at least once a year since it opened and it is always packed.

Yeah, I tend to avoid it on the weekends if I can because it's always ridiculously full. But it does really well on the weekdays, too. Its sister in White City is also prospering. I guess the trick is to build a mall in a densely-populated urban area with great transport links.

[thelakelander]

Here's a few pictures of Brickell City Center from yesterday. Brickell City Center is a mall that will have a little under 800,000 square feet of retail. It will be anchored by a Saks Fifth Avenue and luxury movie theater called Cinemex. Of interesting note, the mall's parking and circulation is all underground and the residential units are being designed for...and marketed to families, as opposed to empty nesters and millennials.









Swire will break ground on phase II,  a 1,049' tall, 80-story tower when phase 1 nears completion.

[thelakelander]

A few shots of DT Miami from the DDA's office:

[thelakelander]

All Aboard Florida's Miami Central Station construction site:

[mtraininjax]

Miami is impressive, but its also a destination city with money flowing in from all over the world. Jax is a nice city, we should play to our strengths, we will never, nor should we hope to, be Miami. They are truly a destination city. We have a good thing going here, we just need some smarter people to figure out how to use the empty space we have downtown to fit the needs of us in Jacksonville.

[Adam White]

Miami is impressive, but its also a destination city with money flowing in from all over the world. Jax is a nice city, we should play to our strengths, we will never, nor should we hope to, be Miami. They are truly a destination city. We have a good thing going here, we just need some smarter people to figure out how to use the empty space we have downtown to fit the needs of us in Jacksonville.

I agree with you - but surely Miami wasn't always a destination city. Perhaps one day in the very distant future, Jax will be one. It may even have been one once in the past.

[thelakelander]

One of Miami Dade College's classroom buildings, fully integrated into the downtown landscape.

Downtown Miami was pretty similar to downtown Jacksonville 30 years ago. Although they are light years apart now, there are a lot of things we face now that we can look to a city like Miami to see how it dealt with them a decade or two ago. These would include keeping a 1980s Rouse Festival Marketplace up-to-date, making an effort to build up around a 1980s peoplemover system, dealing with FDOT to improve the streets for pedestrians, bringing our passenger rail station back to downtown, changing the citywide zoning code to make it more pedestrian scale, integrating a community college into the downtown streetscape, etc. IMO, what Miami truly shows autocentric Sunbelt sprawlers is that they can densify and become a lot more walkable if they are willing make it a priority to do so.


Miami-Dade College students traveling between classes spread around downtown's streets, as opposed to be hidden in a fortified campus.