The Evolution of Avenues Walk

[ProjectMaximus]

Just in case the developer or other's in that meeting come across this thread, its basically an Oakleaf Town Center or River City Marketplace, with a residential component next door.

Other than that, they did mention that they were paying for the six laning of Philips Highway and working with JTA to make the residential portion a TOD.  I just hope they realize, its not too late to make the entire east side of the project a pedestrian friendly TOD.

Hey Lake, why just in case they come across this thread? How come you couldn't bring it up in the meeting? Particularly the pedestrian friendly part with the transit implementation in the examples you gave earlier in this thread.

[thelakelander]

Because the place got kind of heated and they ran out of time, after arguing back and forth with one of the residents.  Also, the developer mentioned it would be similar to Birmingham's Summit, which I disagreed with.  The Summit has a tenant mix similar to St. Johns Town Center.  Avenues Walk has a tenant mix similar to a River City Marketplace.  I felt, mentioning that would have been like showing the developer up, given the circumstances.  It also didn't help that there wasn't a site plan.  That makes it difficult to argue something that no one else in the room can visualize. 

[italianny07]

I think It needs to be denser with buildings and have the parking behind the core of buildings where you can only see the buildings from the highways and street. just my opinion but this is jacksonville and jacksonville will never change.

[ProjectMaximus]

Because the place got kind of heated and they ran out of time, after arguing back and forth with one of the residents.  Also, the developer mentioned it would be similar to Birmingham's Summit, which I disagreed with.  The Summit has a tenant mix similar to St. Johns Town Center.  Avenues Walk has a tenant mix similar to a River City Marketplace.  I felt, mentioning that would have been like showing the developer up, given the circumstances.  It also didn't help that there wasn't a site plan.  That makes it difficult to argue something that no one else in the room can visualize. 

I see. Figured there had to be a reason. Will there be any more open forums where the developer has a chance to hear from the public?

[thelakelander]

Yes, I believe they will be coming back in front of the CPAC next month.

[Jason]

Avenues Walk a few steps closer

The project will include hotels and shops



By KEVIN TURNER, The Times-Union

A new bridge winding south from the intersection of Southside Boulevard and Philips Highway and over Florida East Coast Railway tracks soon will open public access to a mixed-use development that will offer shops, restaurants, apartments and office space.

Co-developer Bill Sulzbacher, president of Atlantic Coast Developers, said the bridge will open by mid-November to accommodate the grand opening of a new hhgregg store at Avenues Walk.

The 160-acre project, which co-developer Kimco Developers Inc. calls a "mixed use urban village," is being built on a previously overlooked piece of Mandarin land between Florida 9A, Interstate 95 and Philips Highway. The land had been bypassed by years of surrounding development because its access to Philips Highway was cut by Florida East Coast Railway tracks paralleling Philips.

A 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart is to open in the spring, and other portions of the development are to follow as the site is built into a Mediterranean town center concept, said Sulzbacher, who declined to give the project's cost.

Following hhgregg and Wal-Mart will be a Forever 21 store, a 200-room Hyatt Place hotel and a 200-room Hyatt Summerfield Suites hotel, office space and other shops. More than 1,000 apartments also are planned.

Beyond the spring, however, the timeline for the other committed tenants and the rest of the project isn't concrete, Sulz-bacher said.

"The development will continue to move forward on an economic basis," he said.

Previous incarnations of the project included condominiums, but those have been scrapped due to market conditions, Sulzbacher said.

The main entrance to the Avenues Walk will be from Southside Boulevard and Philips Highway. Other access points include one that will carry traffic to and from the east, leading to an access point to Philips Highway at Cedar Street, and another that will lead south, under Florida 9A to Greenland Road, Sulzbacher said.

According to marketing information on the Kimco Web site, more than 200,000 square feet of retail space is available for lease in the development, more than 23,000 square feet is available for restaurants fronting a "water feature" lake and 50,000 square feet is available in a three-story office building that also will face the lake.

The Mikado Japanese restaurant, which had a Philips Highway location torn down to make room for the bridge, also is to locate in Avenues Walk.

The developers have an application with Jacksonville to increase the amount of retail space in the planned use development from 600,000 to 800,000 square feet, Sulzbacher said.

"There was a change in regional activity center regulations that allowed for us to seek an additional 200,000 square feet of retail," he said.

kevin.turner@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4609

Source: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/092408/bus_336044519.shtml

[fsujax]

Anyone been out there recently? Would like to see some pictures of this development.

[blizz01]

So far, only HH Gregg is open with the Wal-Mart Monster center just about ready.  The Mikado Steakhouse has been blocked up but not expected to open until December.......

[Planner]

Wal-Mart and HH Gregg are open and doing good business, Mikado construction is coming along quickly.

[Ocklawaha]

Hey Planner, Welcome aboard. Looks like Commuter Rail on the Florida East Coast RY has been quietly incorporated into the plan for parking and access. With a little imagination one can "see" several locations for busy commuter, or Park N Ride stations.

OCKLAWAHA

[kellypope]

I guess even Southsider's are tired of the sprawl development that engulfs this town.

You think we want sprawl? We're humans too. I had eyed this spot before I left last year as a guerilla garden site. I'll still probably do something about it. But I hate looking at it. Never shop there (or anywhere, really, except supply stores for projects). I guarantee there's a lot  more like me down here who hate looking at it. Who groan every time family farm or last strip of forest becomes a horrid patch of little boxes. We hate sprawl as much as someone living in the Urban Core, and if we could stop the building of another Wal-Mart, we would.

[ac]

Wasn't a California Pizza Kitchen supposed to go in here?  What happened to that?

[chipwich]

Yes, CPK, Red Robin and several others (Brio, McCormick and Schmidts, etc.) were supposed to go into Avenues Walk.  In my opinion, this project has taken a real nose dive.  Just about no tenant scheduled to go in ever really committed.
Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree should basicaly NEVER anchor your project.  HH Gregg is good though.

  Poor planning and a weak leasing/ growth environment (economic conditions) lead me to believe that this development is going to stagnate for a very long time before it grows to any real potential (if ever).

On the bright side, that is by far the nicest Wal-Mart I have ever been to.  I will make it a point to shop at that Wal-Mart (if I am going to Wal-Mart).  To those who have not been yet, I recommend taking a stroll.  It's not mind blowing, but for Wal-Mart standards, you will be throughly impressed.

[avonjax]

Yes, CPK, Red Robin and several others (Brio, McCormick and Schmidts, etc.) were supposed to go into Avenues Walk.  In my opinion, this project has taken a real nose dive.  Just about no tenant scheduled to go in ever really committed.
Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree should basicaly NEVER anchor your project.  HH Gregg is good though.

  Poor planning and a weak leasing/ growth environment (economic conditions) lead me to believe that this development is going to stagnate for a very long time before it grows to any real potential (if ever).

On the bright side, that is by far the nicest Wal-Mart I have ever been to.  I will make it a point to shop at that Wal-Mart (if I am going to Wal-Mart).  To those who have not been yet, I recommend taking a stroll.  It's not mind blowing, but for Wal-Mart standards, you will be throughly impressed.

I agree....I HATE Wal-Mart, but this is BY FAR the nicest one I have ever seen.
Oh well the place could have been okay if the plans had not been mutilated. And Wal-Mart will still probably bring it down many notches. Most better chains will stay away because of WM....

[blizz01]

While not officially within the confines of Avenues Walk, it looks like a MEGA entertainment center is on deck at the site of the closed Toys Я Us (had to hunt for that R).  I noticed the signage this afternoon once I exited the Ronald Reagan Highway onto Philips.  Side note: I'm willing to bet that Philips Highway is the most misspelled in town with that one l & all.  Back on topic, the place will be called Latitude or something along that line with an "upscale bowling alley" - what an oxymoron! Someone beat me to it before I get back, but I swear I saw something on the sign along the lines of Drive in movies as well.........Can anyone clarify?