The Gulf Life Building Is Worth Saving

[thelakelander]

The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission has recommended the demolition of the Gulf Life Insurance Building for yet another empty lot. It's a sad end for a building that's both historically significant and a contributor to Downtown's dwindling walkable urban fabric. Is there another solution?

Full article: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/the-gulf-life-building-is-worth-saving/

[KenFSU]

Key line:

The plan next goes before City Council for final determination. Let council members know what you think here:

https://www.coj.net/city-council.aspx

[CityLife]

Is there anyone at DIA, DVI, or the Planning Department advocating to save the building? Are their hands tied politically? Or do they not know what they're doing?

As I said in the other thread, this is an easy shared parking agreement to work out between First Baptist and Fire Department. The City Council should vote to approve the rehab of the office building, but with the condition that instead of tearing down the Gulf Life Building, they provide a shared parking agreement with First Baptist.

If the Fire Department had someone that understood real estate development properly, they would have been advised to do this in the first place. The cost of leasing the parking spaces from First Baptist during weekday daytime (when there is a major abundance) should be substianally less than the potential income they could derive from the Gulf Life Building.

What the Fire Department is doing here is counter to what most savvy developers do and that is to be as aggressive as possible with shared parking, so as to not tie up valuable real estate with surface parking. I'm baffled here, but not surprised.

[CityLife]

^ To my post above, I did not even realize the buildings are currently owned by First Baptist. That is even more leverage that the City Council has over the project. The Council can essentially say "We do not want this historic structure to be torn down, but First Baptist, if you want to sell the property, you can provide a parking agreement with the Fire Department to provide them the necessary parking they need". Problem solved.

[bl8jaxnative]

There seems to be a hell of a lot of these buildings that people want saved.  Is there a system for measuring their importance to enable the community to prioritize?

[Steve]

There seems to be a hell of a lot of these buildings that people want saved.  Is there a system for measuring their importance to enable the community to prioritize?

I'm honestly less concerned about the building (though I'd rather see it saved). I'm more concerned about turning it into a surface parking lot.

[Steve]

There seems to be a hell of a lot of these buildings that people want saved.  Is there a system for measuring their importance to enable the community to prioritize?

Further, one of the biggest issues with connectivity downtown is the sheer number of surface parking lots. Adding to this number is not a positive.

[thelakelander]

There seems to be a hell of a lot of these buildings that people want saved.  Is there a system for measuring their importance to enable the community to prioritize?

There's not an equitable system in place. However, in this case, I think the biggest problem is having demolition policies on the books that are counterproductive to downtown revitalization. Our current policies favor the creation of more surface parking lots. I think most of us would agree, when you think of the characteristics of the most vibrant downtown districts, having more surface parking lots than buildings isn't one of them.

[acme54321]

This parking lot will be a double whammy.  A government owned surface lot.  Chances of it ever being redeveloped would be slim to none.

[Kiva]

So what is the solution? Lobby city council? Run for city council? Something needs to change.

[thelakelander]

Solution: IMO, it's get the policy changed. Right now CW Boyer is in the midst of working to revamp downtown's zoning code. Those who want to see dump policies like this ended should consider recommending to her that a revision be included in her current work efforts.

[jaxnyc79]

What's the ETA on her work?  I feel I've been reading about her land use and zoning work for many years now.  I thought her efforts were to be applied city-wide, but now it's strictly downtown?

[thelakelander]

It's just downtown and I believe something may be introduced in early 2019.

[Papa33]

Any news on this building?  I pass by this building everyday on my way to pick up my kid from Paxon and its still standing.  I also see an empty FBC parking garage one block east, across Beaver Street.

[sandyshoes]

bl8jaxnative:  I'm confused about your comment which sounds like a complaint about Jax trying to save too many of these  buildings. Speaking for myself, one can never save "too many" of these buildings b/c there aren't too many of them left to be saved.  On another thread posted today re: possibly demolishing the FBC Singles' Building, someone else suggested that one has an entire month to enter a plea for it to be saved.  On yet another thread, the majority of people on this forum seemed hurt and outraged that The Landing was demolished.  It is confusing to me as now it sounds as if we are talking out of both sides of our mouths - which is it, do we want to save what's left of Jax's historic buildings or just mow the rest of them down and get it all over with and forget we ever had a history?  This is maddening.