Lenny Curry tells TU editorial board to expect big downtown development

[vicupstate]

^^ Shipyards remediation is quite expensive and the city is broke.  A Convention Center would cost four times as much. Tax increases are off the table and the existing Sales Tax is not an option as it is already spoken for.  DT Property values have yet to recover from the crash of 2008.  I wouldn't get my hopes up.   

[coredumped]

Fuddruckers is finally opening...wow guys. Cannot believe it.

Is that going to be next to Macy's???

[Steve]

A Convention Center would cost four times as much.

Yes, but with the convention center there are PPP available, so let's say the owners of the Hyatt front the money and the City pays them over time.

Financing...the American dream!

[KenFSU]

^^ Shipyards remediation is quite expensive and the city is broke.

1) We've got a very large chunk of the money already set aside specifically for remediation.

2) An Environmental Engineer may be able to correct me on this, but I'm pretty sure parkland has more relaxed standards for remediation than residential or commercial, which could drive total costs down if a section of the Shipyards is appropriated for that use.

3) If you read the article, Curry is heavily emphasizing private development, not public. Who's to say that there isn't a private developer out there - perhaps bolstered by all the activity in the area (Daily's Place, the District across the river, and whatever the Jaguars are planning for Metro Park) - willing to front a portion of the remediation cost.

Don't get me wrong, I'm with you on the cynicism, but I don't know, Curry has always been a relatively straight-shooter, and he's shifted 180 degrees from saying, "no money for downtown," to throwing around words about massive, unannounced, transformational change coming to our downtown. He's also casting lots and lots of shade at past failures to actually get anything done with properties like the Shipyards, and saying that's about to change.

Color me intrigued.

[heights unknown]

I like your style, attitude, and demeanor KenFSU; we must be hopeful, have faith and a positive attitude. Keep our fingers crossed.

[KenFSU]

I like your style, attitude, and demeanor KenFSU;

Oh, I'm a trainwreck in person

But thanks buddy!

Like I've mentioned previously, I honestly do think that we're getting to a point of critical momentum where it actually becomes easier for at least a couple of these projects to happen than it does for the city to find a way to screw them up.

Only thing that can slow us down is economic downturn.

Praying we get some shovels in the ground before the market turns south.

[vicupstate]

^^ Shipyards remediation is quite expensive and the city is broke.

1) We've got a very large chunk of the money already set aside specifically for remediation. 

2) An Environmental Engineer may be able to correct me on this, but I'm pretty sure parkland has more relaxed standards for remediation than residential or commercial, which could drive total costs down if a section of the Shipyards is appropriated for that use.

3) If you read the article, Curry is heavily emphasizing private development, not public. Who's to say that there isn't a private developer out there - perhaps bolstered by all the activity in the area (Daily's Place, the District across the river, and whatever the Jaguars are planning for Metro Park) - willing to front a portion of the remediation cost.

Don't get me wrong, I'm with you on the cynicism, but I don't know, Curry has always been a relatively straight-shooter, and he's shifted 180 degrees from saying, "no money for downtown," to throwing around words about massive, unannounced, transformational change coming to our downtown. He's also casting lots and lots of shade at past failures to actually get anything done with properties like the Shipyards, and saying that's about to change.

Color me intrigued.

First time I have heard anything about money being set side for Remediation.  The District is a 10-20 year project. It isn't going to all go up at once. 
I football practice field isn't going to do much.

Also, I thought Park Service regs prevent Metro Park from changing hands? 

[KenFSU]

I've been critical of the city for the last year or two for not showing any urgency with remediation of the Shipyards property. The more that I learn about remediation though, the more that I can at least understand the city's stance of waiting until a site development plan is set in stone before beginning to remediate. It would be insanely expensive to go in and bring 100% of the property up to commercial or residential standards when in truth, much of the land wouldn't require that level of excavation. In fact, if a portion of the property was established as a riverfront promenade/park, I'm pretty sure a cap alone would be enough for that area.

Specifically, I've been reading a lot about the historic remediation of Baltimore's Harbor Point. It's probably amongst the most analogous projects to the Jacksonville Shipyards:



Unlike the Jacksonville Shipyards - where even though environmental contamination makes the property unfit for residential or commercial use, it's not inherently dangerous to humans - the chromium levels present at the former processing site in Baltimore were high enough to be considered a cancer risk.

The actual remediation and development story for Harbor Point was really interesting in the way that the developers and environmental agencies worked so closely together. The challenge was that environmental work tends to happen very slowly, and developers tend to want to do things very quickly. The way that they were able to expedite the process together, and the generous provisions offered to the developer limiting their liability in the event that future remediation was necessary, would be a really great model for Shipyards development.

Here's the site plan, with waterfront park.

[RattlerGator]

Well done, KenFSU. This site can sometimes be so damn reflexively juvenile.

Ron Chamblin, great post. It doesn't cost anything to meet the mayor halfway *or* to be optimistic.

[heights unknown]

Wow; great rendering for Baltimore's Harbor project; wish the shipyards could field at least half a project like the Harbor; check out those towers; we need a couple of those in our skyline and half of all else that went into that project. That would infuse some life in downtown and the Northbank for sure; wishful thinking though, we're talking Jacksonville, but hey, anything is possible and things CAN change.