Convention Center Wars

[downtownbrown]

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2018/08/13/city-leaders-look-at-next-steps-following.html?ana=e_mc_prem&s=newsletter&ed=2018-08-13&u=WlI%2BuS2dnrpUQEXzA1dC%2FQ0a72b012&t=1534165166&j=83231101

[downtownbrown]

Corrigan said that the day a shovel goes into the ground for a new center, Visit Jacksonville would already be behind on selling it to conferences and groups. And either site needs a significant amount of outside work to make the location viable to large conferences.

In the meantime, Jacksonville's leaders wait.

"It depends on what's done with the Landing, the entertainment zone and the waterfront," Boyer said. "Then, we'll be ready. But that's a lot of if."

[thelakelander]

Any discussion about what Jax would like its downtown to be? Everything should be planned and implemented according to that goal. Boyer's quote shoulds like after all the money spent so far, we still have no clue and ultimate coordination is still lacking.

[Lostwave]

I think Ken is right.  Khan is leveraging Curry to take down the ramps.  I'd bet a nickel that if Curry said to Khan today, "I have the money and materials to take down the ramp immediately," Khan's convention center would turn back into a Four Seasons.  Khan is basically saying, "Don't spend money at the courthouse until you remove those damned ramps".

The Four Seasons is still in the plans.  its the oval building in the rendering just east of the convention hotel.

[JaxVision]

Of the two pieces of land vying for a convention center (Lot J/Shipyard & Annex property) whichever one does not get the center should start planning to bring an aquarium DT. Both properties are on the water and either one could be a great spot for a destination aquarium. The other addition to DT that some laugh about but it draws tourist and field trips is the USS Adams, have the Adams, convention center, & aquarium all from the Hyatt to the stadium and you have a great starting package to offer event coordinators & tourist.

All of a sudden if that did occur DT would have sporting events, concerts, dining, museums, aquarium, convention center expos, river cruises and seasonal events. Not to mention the zoo would be a river shuttle service away.

[downtownbrown]

I'm sure that if the people behind the aquarium idea were in anyway capitalized beyond just the idea, they would be part of the conversation.  Seems like I haven't heard anything from them in quite some time.  The Adams, meanwhile, is currently raising funds for the diesel fuel needed to tow her down here.

[KenFSU]

^AquaJax is still very active on social media, but beyond the feasibility study in 2015, they've been pretty quiet.

The Shipyards plot where Khan is proposing his convention center is the same plot that AquaJax pitched for their aquarium a few years back.

We've beaten the aquarium argument into the ground 'round these parts over the years, but I will say that if it did happen, it would be insane to put it out by the sports complex.

At least with a convention center out there, you're dealing with overnight captive guests who may have a small chance of finding their way downtown.

With an aquarium, you can almost guarantee that people would park at the sports complex, go look at some fish, and then go home.

I'm fine subsidizing an aquarium if it's part of a larger, well thought out plan to bring vibrancy to the Northbank core, but I think it's suicide to open one in a location where it's not going to have any true positive impact.

If we do commit to an aquarium one day and the convention center ends up at the Shipyards, I think the Courthouse site would be a solid spot for it. It'd be a true destination on the riverwalk, you could probably find a creative way to incorporate that inlet created from the Coastline demo, it's an easy river taxi ride to the zoo, and to your point, it creates some synergy with what we're trying to do with the Adams

[heights unknown]

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2018/08/13/city-leaders-look-at-next-steps-following.html?ana=e_mc_prem&s=newsletter&ed=2018-08-13&u=WlI%2BuS2dnrpUQEXzA1dC%2FQ0a72b012&t=1534165166&j=83231101

Well it would be nice to read it without paying for it!!!

[heights unknown]

^AquaJax is still very active on social media, but beyond the feasibility study in 2015, they've been pretty quiet.

The Shipyards plot where Khan is proposing his convention center is the same plot that AquaJax pitched for their aquarium a few years back.

We've beaten the aquarium argument into the ground 'round these parts over the years, but I will say that if it did happen, it would be insane to put it out by the sports complex.

At least with a convention center out there, you're dealing with overnight captive guests who may have a small chance of finding their way downtown.

With an aquarium, you can almost guarantee that people would park at the sports complex, go look at some fish, and then go home.

I'm fine subsidizing an aquarium if it's part of a larger, well thought out plan to bring vibrancy to the Northbank core, but I think it's suicide to open one in a location where it's not going to have any true positive impact.

If we do commit to an aquarium one day and the convention center ends up at the Shipyards, I think the Courthouse site would be a solid spot for it. It'd be a true destination on the riverwalk, you could probably find a creative way to incorporate that inlet created from the Coastline demo, it's an easy river taxi ride to the zoo, and to your point, it creates some synergy with what we're trying to do with the Adams

Good thought, good thinking Ken; I agree. Aquarium, should be on or close to the St. John's River commensurate with not only its name but its overall theme.

[downtownbrown]

I'd love to see the aquarium at the courthouse site, along with a new marina.  And I'd love to see someone buy that restaurant pad by the Plaza Townhouses as was originally planned.  Comes complete with a valet parking garage.  But all this will take private capital.

[vicupstate]

The Aquarium craze has sort of run it's course. If you haven't got in the game before now, I don't know that it makes sense now. To some degree the same thing can be said for Convention Centers.

[Steve]

The Aquarium craze has sort of full it's course. If you haven't got in the game before now, I don't know that it makes sense now. To some degree the same thing can be said for Convention Centers.

Not sure I agree. Once I've been to a couple aquariums I'm not going to necessarily go every year. However, I do have business conventions that I attend every year.

[Tacachale]

During the Better Jacksonville plan, the city seriously considered building an aquarium. They determined that the things are very expensive to do well, and they have to be updated constantly. In the end, they decided to focus on the things the city could knock out of the park, so a lot of the resources that could've gone to an aquarium went to the Jacksonville Zoo. The result is that we've now got a first class zoo that gets better every year, instead of what could have been a fairly middling aquarium. It was a case of building on our own assets and finding our strengths rather than just throwing stuff out there to see if it works.

[jaxnyc79]

During the Better Jacksonville plan, the city seriously considered building an aquarium. They determined that the things are very expensive to do well, and they have to be updated constantly. In the end, they decided to focus on the things the city could knock out of the park, so a lot of the resources that could've gone to an aquarium went to the Jacksonville Zoo. The result is that we've now got a first class zoo that gets better every year, instead of what could have been a fairly middling aquarium. It was a case of building on our own assets and finding our strengths rather than just throwing stuff out there to see if it works.

Has the site ever done a post-mortem on the Better Jax Plan?  In the final analysis, the Better Jax Plan was, at best, of little to no impact on downtown's fortunes, and at worst, a downtown detractor.  Interesting to think how the Plan could have been designed and implemented differently to achieve a better result for Downtown.  Would the city have gotten away with making the public works projects mixed use?  For example, a main library with residential?   

[Tacachale]

During the Better Jacksonville plan, the city seriously considered building an aquarium. They determined that the things are very expensive to do well, and they have to be updated constantly. In the end, they decided to focus on the things the city could knock out of the park, so a lot of the resources that could've gone to an aquarium went to the Jacksonville Zoo. The result is that we've now got a first class zoo that gets better every year, instead of what could have been a fairly middling aquarium. It was a case of building on our own assets and finding our strengths rather than just throwing stuff out there to see if it works.

Has the site ever done a post-mortem on the Better Jax Plan?  In the final analysis, the Better Jax Plan was, at best, of little to no impact on downtown's fortunes, and at worst, a downtown detractor.  Interesting to think how the Plan could have been designed and implemented differently to achieve a better result for Downtown.  Would the city have gotten away with making the public works projects mixed use?  For example, a main library with residential?

I don't know if the site published anything, but the BJP was great for Downtown. It would've been better yet if the city had stuck with the projects and built off of it.