Tear-down of courthouse leaves wide-open options for city

[Adam White]

Annex was imploded. Courthouse came down through old fashioned demo.

Ah, thanks. Did they do them at the same(ish) time? I had friends posting about the implosion of the Annex, but hadn't seen anything about the courthouse.

It's a shame about the Annex. I'm sure there are or were plenty of reasons why it couldn't be repurposed, but it was a beautiful building anyway.

[vicupstate]

I'm sure there are or were plenty of reasons why it couldn't be repurposed

Considering the asbestos had to be removed regardless, I rather doubt that. If the Berkman 2 building can shift from condos to hotel after standing vacant and half-built for a decade, it seems there were possibilities with the Annex too.

I still say Curry and Khan thought the buildings were ugly and dated and therefore had to go.   

[Adam White]

I'm sure there are or were plenty of reasons why it couldn't be repurposed

Considering the asbestos had to be removed regardless, I rather doubt that. If the Berkman 2 building can shift from condos to hotel after standing vacant and half-built for a decade, it seems there were possibilities with the Annex too.

I still say Curry and Khan thought the buildings were ugly and dated and therefore had to go.

It's a shame - I know a lot of that mid-century architecture polarises opinion, but I thought it was one of the cooler buildings downtown. I like the TU building, too.

[thelakelander]

People wanted the Haydon Burns demolished too. I was one of them. However, I've come to believe that good architecture polarizes opinions. Bad architecture is the type no one gives a damn about. Looking back, I'm happy duPont stepped in and fixed the place up. It's pretty nice now and very unique to Jacksonville. Can't say the same about Berkman or the other Jacksonville beige buildings constructed in the 2000s.

[CityLife]

Mid-century modern seems to be a polarizing style, and while I think that the Annex is probably not in the upper echelon of mid century modern now (you might even argue that it has elements of Brutalist Architecture), it still could have been re-purposed very, very nicely. FSU recently updated it's mid-century modern physics building with modern glass and it looks great. I'm sure there are countless examples nationally.

https://www.facilities.fsu.edu/depts/designConstr/ActiveProjects/?p=412

I've seen photos on social media of the annex the night before demo with black banding (explosives) and you can see how much better the building would look with horizontal articulation on the large brick wall. Any architect worth a damn would have been able to add features along the roofline and side brick wall to make it one of the better buildings in Jax.

[Adam White]

People wanted the Haydon Burns demolished too. I was one of them. However, I've come to believe that good architecture polarizes opinions. Bad architecture is the type no one gives a damn about. Looking back, I'm happy duPont stepped in and fixed the place up. It's pretty nice now and very unique to Jacksonville. Can't say the same about Berkman or the other Jacksonville beige buildings constructed in the 2000s.

I loved the Haydon Burns library, but I totally get your point. Better to have architecture that people talk about then to have architecture that no one even notices. You don't really get a sense of place when everything is bland and uninspiring.

[heights unknown]

I always liked that building, even as a youngster. I was hoping they would have figured out a way to save it. Our skyline is already lacking, sparse, disproportionate, and as someone said, a good, solid and dense skyline is usually a sign of progress and success within an urban core. If that is correct, outside of the proposed developments on the table, Jax' downtown is regressing (possibly). I just hope we don't make too many of these mistakes again.

[CityLife]

I've seen photos on social media of the annex the night before demo with black banding (explosives) and you can see how much better the building would look with horizontal articulation on the large brick wall. Any architect worth a damn would have been able to add features along the roofline and side brick wall to make it one of the better buildings in Jax.

To further add to the this idea, The building had great potential for a world class rooftop bar/lounge/restaurant concept.

Look at what the owner's of Tallahassee's drab Downtown Doubletree building are doing. Don't think it's the best possible design, but the concept along with additional facade improvements could have made the annex an incredible building.

http://urbantallahassee.com/eve-on-adams-doubletrees-17th-floor-cocktail-lounge/

[KenFSU]

Apparently the DIA will be deciding next steps on the courthouse property today.

The three options are:

1) Accept the (unsolicited) Riverwalk Place bid and begin negotiations with Rimrock Devlin.

2) Issue an RFI for ideas for the property.

3) Issue a formal RFP, with the understanding that the winning bid would move forward.

Option number one seems completely irresponsible to me. I don't see how you can get away with issuing an RFP for a convention center, having a handful of companies put substantial time and resources into a good-faith response, and then choosing an unsolicited proposal for a completely different use case instead. Seems like the recipe for a lawsuit.

Would also be insane to just agree to the first (unsolicited) idea for the property without issuing a formal RFP.

If option number one is chosen, it's a clear tip-of-the-hat that a Shipyards convention center is going to be a thing. Rimrock Devlin's Riverwalk Place proposal was originally issued as almost contingent on the Shipyards convention center happening.

Clearly not everything is a conspiracy theory, but I just don't understand why there isn't a fourth option that involves either holding the land until we can afford a convention center, or re-issuing a scaled-down convention center specific RFP with requirements more in line with what we can afford and what the market can reasonably support.

[thelakelander]

There's no 4th option because they want the convention center at the Shipyards.

[downtownbrown]

I bet #1 won't happen because Khan didn't want to do it in the first place.  It was just a defensive play to disrupt the convention center plan. And it worked.

[KenFSU]

They're issuing a new RFP for the property, opening it up to all uses.

Will be interesting to see if the courthouse fiasco scares developers off.

[Steve]

They're issuing a new RFP for the property, opening it up to all uses.

Will be interesting to see if the courthouse fiasco scares developers off.

If you're not going to do a Convention Center, then this is the right thing to do.

Now, what's to stop the owners of the Hyatt for responding to the RFP with a convention center of their own?

[Captain Zissou]

They're issuing a new RFP for the property, opening it up to all uses.

Will be interesting to see if the courthouse fiasco scares developers off.

Get ready for observation towers, ferris wheels, aquariums, and theme parks.

[downtownbrown]

^ all of that is OK by me.