New life for Berkman II? Owners seeking Commercial CBD Rezone

[CityLife]

I am confused.  Somewhere upthread, someone said the 'water park' would only be for Hotel Guests.  How does that related to the "swim up bar"?  Are these separate amenities?

Swim up bar/pool would likely be only for hotel guests...but I could see them charging admission on weekends for pool parties. Pretty common in South Florida, Vegas, and similar spots.

[thelakelander]

http://www.dlwarchitects.com/hard-rock-hotel-daytona-fl/

I haven't stepped in a Hard Rock in over a decade. Do they include museums themed around local music heritage?

I am familiar with the project in Daytona though. It's located on one of past transportation planning study corridor I was involved with a few years back. That Hard Rock just opened and is a replacement for the bigger project that failed to materialize a mile or two south. It's an old hotel that was remodeled without a Hard Rock Cafe.


Personally, I'm not exactly sold on the viability of the Berkman for what's proposed but being combined with the USS Adams should help both uses out considerably. Combined and not focusing on anything else, they are a good example clustering, complementing uses within a compact setting. They're also within a half block of the east edge of the Elbow. Years ago, there used to be a restaurant in the ground level of Berkman I. Get something back in that space and it will help with connectivity to the Elbow. Assuming the mini amusement park fails, I guess it could revamped as a mini-Kids Kampus type of environment. I doubt money would be made off of it directly, but Kid's Kampus did bring families in consistently. So at the very least, such an environment would add foot traffic in the immediate vicinity.

[thelakelander]

In my opinion, a Hard Rock hotel, if designed, executed, and managed well has a FAR greater chance of success than a convention center in DT Jax.

I think we've screwed up the convention center situation. We're already in the convention business. All we really need is an exhibition hall (we won't die with a +100k square foot space) connected to the Hyatt, so we can get it out of terminal and restore that property into what it was originally designed to be. Heck, this (if successful) would actually validate a no-frills space at the courthouse site. However, somehow, we've turned what should be basic and no frills into a monster with a billion dollar price thing. 

[Wacca Pilatka]

I haven't stepped in a Hard Rock in over a decade. Do they include museums themed around local music heritage?

Not museums in the sense that many of us would have wanted to see for the city's Southern Rock heritage, no.  But their properties do tend to make local music history a point of emphasis in the artifacts they display.

[downtownbrown]

Anybody hearing anything about Berkman lately?  Rumors are that there are multiple lawsuits happening, including against the developer who sold rights that he had no authority to sell, or something like that. 

[KenFSU]

Anybody hearing anything about Berkman lately?  Rumors are that there are multiple lawsuits happening, including against the developer who sold rights that he had no authority to sell, or something like that. 

Haven't heard anything new on progress, but the lawsuit is definitely a thing. From my understanding, Choate - probably due to pressure from Curry - was talking to multiple parties in succession when trying to offload Berkman. One of the parties, Cambridge, hired a consulting firm, TTSM, to help close the deal. The consulting firm claims to have done a ton of due diligence, appraisal, and legal work for Cambridge in exchange for a promised equity stake on the resulting new development at Berkman 2. Something happened, not sure what, that made Choate sell to Ohde instead, and TTSM is claiming that Ohde somehow leveraged their due diligence in order to get financing of his own.

Personally, it sounds like a junk lawsuit to me - Shad Khan and Rimrock/Devlin were originally charged in the suit as well - but I'm sure it's causing some headaches.

[downtownbrown]

I heard that Ohde is the bad guy.  Weaseled himself into an area he was not competent in, and resold his contract, or something. His "website" if you can call it that, would support that notion.

[KenFSU]

I heard that Ohde is the bad guy.  Weaseled himself into an area he was not competent in, and resold his contract, or something. His "website" if you can call it that, would support that notion.

Yikes.

On paper, Ohde doesn't necessarily seem qualified to take on a project of this scale.

[CityLife]

I heard that Ohde is the bad guy.  Weaseled himself into an area he was not competent in, and resold his contract, or something. His "website" if you can call it that, would support that notion.

Little known fact, Charlie Kelly and Uncle Jack from It's Always Sunny designed this guy's website.

https://www.500eastbay.com/

[JBTripper]

I heard that Ohde is the bad guy.  Weaseled himself into an area he was not competent in, and resold his contract, or something. His "website" if you can call it that, would support that notion.

Little known fact, Charlie Kelly and Uncle Jack from It's Always Sunny designed this guy's website.

https://www.500eastbay.com/

Designing websites? That's Charlie work!

[KenFSU]

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20181102/jacksonville-in-line-to-ride-observation-wheel-trend

[Charles Hunter]

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20181102/jacksonville-in-line-to-ride-observation-wheel-trend

No.  Just, no.

[Kerry]

Again - another magic bullet project that will never deliver the results City officials say it will.  Jax needs to get the fundamentals and urban framework right first - that IS the magic bullet that will spur these spin-off developments. 

Downtown Jax isn't dead because we don't have a Ferris Wheel.  We don't have a Ferris Wheel because downtown Jax is dead.

[Steve]

Again - another magic bullet project that will never deliver the results City officials say it will.  Jax needs to get the fundamentals and urban framework right first - that IS the magic bullet that will spur these spin-off developments. 

Downtown Jax isn't dead because we don't have a Ferris Wheel.  We don't have a Ferris Wheel because downtown Jax is dead.

I don't always agree with your opinions. On this one though, we're in 100% alignment.

I'd describe Jacksonville going after the Ferris wheel like the kind who's just not cool picking up on 10 year old fashion trend.

[Captain Zissou]

What's the point of doing anything at 200 feet in downtown?  It will be half as tall as the surrounding buildings.  I'd rather have the Seaglass tower or whatever it's called than this.  My office is about 400 feet in the air.  It's pretty neat, but I doubt many people would pay $10 a pop to have this view.

In Seattle, I went to Smith Tower and it was excellent.  It's a historic building with a top floor bar and balcony area.  There is a tour, but once you're at the top (480 feet up) you just hang out, grab a drink, and relax.  I probably spent an hour up there and bought a couple beers.  I much preferred it to the space needle.  We don't have any historic building stock that tall, but I'd be behind something like that being done over anything else