T-U building for sale

[thelakelander]

That's the Palms Hotel

[Wacca Pilatka]

Oh, OK!  Thank you!

[finehoe]

https://jaxpsychogeo.com/the-center-of-the-city/the-palms-hotel/

[Wacca Pilatka]

Thank you, Finehoe.  That was a good read.

[acme54321]

You know it's sketchy when it still has a payphone out front!

https://goo.gl/maps/JLQu7HjcKxu

[Rynjny]

The Mathis Report: Morris family taking steps to redevelop T-U property

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-gallery/the-mathis-report-morris-family-taking-steps-to-redevelop-t-u-property

[Captain Zissou]

Isn't Steve Wynn in some hot water lately?  I don't think we should be putting what looks like a Wynn hotel in Brooklyn

[Steve]

Mixed Feelings on demo'ing the TU building. I'd love to save it, but I'd love to open the creek back up even more.

[jaxnyc79]

These aerial view conceptual renderings are always concerning.  It looks like a mid-rise/high-rise resort, not really a downtown neighborhood.  Just as the TU building is disconnected from much of anything now on foot, so too is this sketch of the plans.  Hope the final product includes much tighter pedestrian integration with Brooklyn.

[Adam White]

Mixed Feelings on demo'ing the TU building. I'd love to save it, but I'd love to open the creek back up even more.

I think I saw NoOne on his kayak in one of those renderings.

I'm really starting to feel sorry for those Baltimore guys.

[thelakelander]

An old Sanborn showing buildings that had already been built on top of the original creek bed near West Bay and Jefferson streets.

Also, the creek was never fully covered by the TU building. In fact, it's not the original creek bed. The original creek ran where the Lofts of Jefferson Station is being built today. The railroad channelized and relocated it for the development of the Jacksonville Terminal. That relocation included a tunnel under existing industry in the vicinity of the Riverside Viaduct. If you take a kayak under there, you can see the old 1930s arched brick work under there.



Also, the TU office building is a pretty cool mid-century building. Like the old City Hall Annex, I don't necessarily believe redevelopment has to immediately mean demolishing everything and starting over from scratch. Using it as a part of a larger redevelopment of the site looks a lot better than what's shown on those conceptual sketches.

[acme54321]

Hope the final product includes much tighter pedestrian integration with Brooklyn.

Don't hold your breath.  80% of the Riverside Ave frontage of this parcel is the bridge.  Only a small part of the NW corner has a walkable connection to the rest of Brooklyn and I don't see that changing.

[bl8jaxnative]

The old Ambassador Hotel could work though. Plenty of surrounding parking for expansion if needed for trucks to load up / park in. It would fill a major dead spot too.

While we are dreaming, let's tear up the roads downtown and add light rail so we have a way to get around downtown without cars.

We have ways of getting around downtown.  I use them all the time.   You can walk and you can bike.  I see others using skateboards, eScotters, etc. 

[acme54321]

Has anyone noticed that the windows on the north corner of the T-U building have been removed?  I wonder what's going on?  Might be prep for interior demo or abatement but I don't see any permits.

[Charles Hunter]

Has anyone noticed that the windows on the north corner of the T-U building have been removed?  I wonder what's going on?  Might be prep for interior demo or abatement but I don't see any permits.

"Permits?!   Permits!?   We don't need to stinking permits!!"
(Admit it, you were thinking it.)