Florida Discovery: A New Vision For The Landing

[thelakelander]

Guest columnist Jim White shares his adaptive reuse proposal for the redevelopment of the Jacksonville Landing into a mixed-use museum, retail, dining and entertainment venue.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/florida-discovery-a-new-vision-for-the-landing/

[Adam White]

I'm not a fan. I think it will struggle to draw tourists and will fail. Sitting in isolation downtown, this isn't going to ever get enough people through the doors to be viable.

But even if it is successful, the last think I think downtown needs is a big parking lot in front of this place.

[pierre]

It would be easier to just throw money directly into a bonfire.

But I can appreciate the creativity. It reminds me of something I would build in Sim City.

[heights unknown]

Give it a try. It's better than nothing, and/or an empty lot or park.

[Adam White]

Give it a try. It's better than nothing, and/or an empty lot or park.

I think an empty lot is probably better. At least that way when we're debating what to do with the space in 10 years' time, we wouldn't have wasted a bunch of money on a failed concept.

Why are people always enamored with 'attractions'?

[Kerry]

No Comment.  Next.

[Captain Zissou]

No Comment.  Next.

^That is a comment.

[JeffreyS]

What they got right.
Love the courtyard design.
Preserves usable infrastructure.
Love the Branding.

What they got wrong.
Still closed to Laura street.
Needs to integrate better with the shopping/ Dinning in the surrounding buildings to feel more significant,  Cloud be done with openness signage and common branding.

Another idea
Add elevated moving sidewalk to skyway via Omni. Get everything playing together.

[JeffreyS]

A hotel integrated into the landing might play well like they did with the old Union station St. Louis.

[Adam White]

What they got right.
Love the courtyard design.
Preserves usable infrastructure.
Love the Branding.

What they got wrong.
Still closed to Laura street.
Needs to integrate better with the shopping/ Dinning in the surrounding buildings to feel more significant,  Cloud be done with openness signage and common branding.

Another idea
Add elevated moving sidewalk to skyway via Omni. Get everything playing together.

You forgot to mention the giant State of Florida.

[KenFSU]

It's just so sad where we now find ourselves with the Landing.

It wasn't living up to its full potential, but it had tenants.

It was operated by one of the most successful commercial real estate developers in Jacksonville.

Complementary development was and is springing up around it that would provide additional foot traffic for its restaurants and retail.

There was plenty of space to accomodate something that would draw in additional visitors, like a food hall.

Literally ALL we had to do was sit down with Sleiman, agree to fix the docks and other public spaces, put a fresh coat of paint on the building, and - worst case scenario for the taxpayers - throw maybe $10 million in incentives to the developer to open it up to the river and trim some excess square footage.

That's it.

With VyStar, Hyatt, Atkins, the Times-Union, JBJ, UNF, and others bringing close to 2,000 additional warm bodies to Laura Street, and additional public parking coming in by way of the Laura Street Trio garage, there's no way the Landing wouldn't have experienced a natural mini-renaissance even if we just cleaned the existing facility up and did nothing else.

And instead, we pay $20 million dollars to buy out Sleiman, tear the building down, eliminate 30 small businesses, and wipe out most of the retail space in the area of downtown that we're investing the most public money into.

It's infuriating.

Love the effort and the thought behind the Florida Discovery proposal, but it shouldn't be necessary. This doesn't need to be so complicated.

The Landing shouldn't be a gimmicky attraction designed for highway tourists, or for locals to visit once a year (same reason an Aquarium isn't right for this space).

It just needs to be a clean, safe, retail and dining anchor for the residents and workers of Laura Street and the northbank core.

80% of what it would take to make the Landing successful is already there.

And we're tearing it all down and starting over, with no plan and no cash.

We're using a bonesaw to treat a cold.

[Adam White]

It's just so sad where we now find ourselves with the Landing.

It wasn't living up to its full potential, but it had tenants.

It was operated by one of the most successful commercial real estate developers in Jacksonville.

Complementary development was and is springing up around it that would provide additional foot traffic for its restaurants and retail.

There was plenty of space to accomodate something that would draw in additional visitors, like a food hall.

Literally ALL we had to do was sit down with Sleiman, agree to fix the docks and other public spaces, put a fresh coat of paint on the building, and - worst case scenario for the taxpayers - throw maybe $10 million in incentives to the developer to open it up to the river and trim some excess square footage.

That's it.

With VyStar, Hyatt, Atkins, the Times-Union, JBJ, UNF, and others bringing close to 2,000 additional warm bodies to Laura Street, and additional public parking coming in by way of the Laura Street Trio garage, there's no way the Landing wouldn't have experienced a natural mini-renaissance even if we just cleaned the existing facility up and did nothing else.

And instead, we pay $20 million dollars to buy out Sleiman, tear the building down, eliminate 30 small businesses, and wipe out most of the retail space in the area of downtown that we're investing the most public money into.

It's infuriating.

Love the effort and the thought behind the Florida Discovery proposal, but it shouldn't be necessary. This doesn't need to be so complicated.

The Landing shouldn't be a gimmicky attraction designed for highway tourists, or for locals to visit once a year (same reason an Aquarium isn't right for this space).

It just needs to be a clean, safe, retail and dining anchor for the residents and workers of Laura Street and the northbank core.

80% of what it would take to make the Landing successful is already there.

And we're tearing it all down and starting over, with no plan and no cash.

We're using a bonesaw to treat a cold.

I agree. And if we could get more people to live and work downtown, the Landing would probably thrive.

[thelakelander]

+1000 The Landing was a symptom not the actual ailment.

[pierre]

Give it a try. It's better than nothing, and/or an empty lot or park.

Give it a try.

-Person not on the hook for tens of millions of dollars

[sandyshoes]

Seems we already tried the dining/entertainment/retail thing at The Landing.  It would be great to obtain a huge old ship and outfit it with a couple of concert venues below deck, of considerable size and maybe hold it down to 2 restaurants and dock it where The Landing currently stands.  (Tear down The Landing, make ample parking and a small office to pay the parking/admission charge to get aboard).  That would be a unique destination for our area, as far as I know.  As for the Florida Discovery concept, why would tourists want to stop here to see what's in Florida vs. going straight to their intended destination?  They can do that at the state line and get a free cuppa cold orange juice, to boot.  But then, we're always going to have the rocket scientists who want to come downtown and cause drama just because.  Even if you just put a Cracker Barrel there because downtown doesn't have one of those, somebody would still probably show up with an axe to grind.