Southside Construction Update - Winter 2017

[Metro Jacksonville]

Southside Construction Update - Winter 2017



A brief look at the status of various projects under construction in and around Jacksonville's Edge City, the Southside, during winter 2017.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2017-feb-southside-construction-update-winter-2017

[jaxjaguar]

I'm really dissapointed in the Town Center plans... The blueprint looks just like any other strip mall. They could build something much better that fits better with the new apartments going in immediately next door. Are there no requirements for them to build garages? How long will we let them sprall unchecked?

[coredumped]

What's going to happen with these glorified plazas when this boom is over?

[Jim]

Is the Best Buy moving across the street?

[brainstormer]

Is the Best Buy moving across the street?

Yes.

[thelakelander]

I'm really dissapointed in the Town Center plans... The blueprint looks just like any other strip mall. They could build something much better that fits better with the new apartments going in immediately next door. Are there no requirements for them to build garages? How long will we let them sprall unchecked?

There are no requirements to build garages, although there is a garage under construction at one of them, to serve an apartment development.

[Jim]

Is the Best Buy moving across the street?

Yes.

Is there anything planned for the empty location?

[remc86007]

What's going to happen with these glorified plazas when this boom is over?

My guess; see Regency Square.

[thelakelander]

Is the Best Buy moving across the street?

Yes.

Is there anything planned for the empty location?

Not that I'm aware of.

[FlaBoy]

What's going to happen with these glorified plazas when this boom is over?

Depends. The Town Center is definitely strategically located. With its close location to UNF and the business community there, I think it has some staying power. I don't think it will be Regency anytime in the near future.

[Tacachale]

What's going to happen with these glorified plazas when this boom is over?

Depends. The Town Center is definitely strategically located. With its close location to UNF and the business community there, I think it has some staying power. I don't think it will be Regency anytime in the near future.

Southside won't go the way of Regency for a few more decades. But it will happen, it always does.

[JaxJersey-licious]

If there is any sliver of hope about this country's over-abundance of retail it's this: There's a under construction in North Jersey for years. Called ironically "American Dream" it will be the largest indoor shopping facility in the U.S. once (or if) completed. It is apparently the only independent shopping mall currently under construction in North America.

Period.

Developers have seen how inefficient and unnecessary these climate-controlled behemoths can be and new ones are going the way of the dodo. We still have too much retail but these newer "lifestyle centers" are much more flexible to conversion to other uses if and when the demos and demands of the area changes as opposed to their indoor counterparts - with a lot less overall overhead, utility, and upkeep costs to boot. SJTC should do just fine for decades on account of this.

Also, I think commercial sprawl has been addressed because of the lower demand for brick and mortar places. If anyone remembers when the Avenues Mall was built in 1990, it was considered on the edge of Southside Jax with very little development south and east of it. I don't think it's happenstance the proposed Durbin Park on the other hand will have miles of existing residential development surrounding it.

Developers may be slow in getting the lessons of unchecked runaway haphazard development, but market forces can play a role in getting them to go about it in another smarter, more efficient, and better way. Or they choose to ignore the warnings...at their own peril.

[coredumped]

What's going to happen with these glorified plazas when this boom is over?

Depends. The Town Center is definitely strategically located. With its close location to UNF and the business community there, I think it has some staying power. I don't think it will be Regency anytime in the near future.

Regency is strategically located by JU, and countless homes (remember, Arlington is one of the most densest areas in jax).

[martt12]

The biggest problem with Regency and the Arlington area is neglect.   The old motels and apartments would be a start. Until there is redevelopment there and the low income housing is checked off, it will never be reborn. 

[FlaBoy]

What's going to happen with these glorified plazas when this boom is over?

Depends. The Town Center is definitely strategically located. With its close location to UNF and the business community there, I think it has some staying power. I don't think it will be Regency anytime in the near future.

Southside won't go the way of Regency for a few more decades. But it will happen, it always does.

Not true. I don't think we truly know yet how these shopping areas will evolve. First, it depends on the socioeconomics of the area. The Town Center has more jobs around it than anywhere in the city including even DT I think (although I don't know the numbers exactly). That is a natural advantage that a place like Regency does not have as it was always a bedroom community with most workers commuting into DT when built.

To coredumped's point, JU is in Arlington but not nearly as close to Regency as UNF is to the town center. The student populations are not comparable either. JU is a small private school while UNF has nearly 17,000 students and will only grow from here. That is a strategic advantage that is hard to come by and is a reason people regret not putting UNF downtown. I would love to see more urban shopping options in the core or the Beaches, and maybe that will eventually be the downfall of the Town Center, but not for awhile.