A new look for proposed LaVilla Daily's gas station

[thelakelander]

A new plan for a three story Daily's gas station and Bold City Brewery craft brewery and restaurant has been developed. This version shifts the building to the intersection of Bay and Broad streets, the southern gateway to the historic LaVilla neighborhood. The project will be considered for final approval at the July 27th Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) meeting. Take a look at the before and after and let us know what you think!

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/a-new-look-for-proposed-lavilla-dailys-gas-station/

[marcuscnelson]

Still seems like a waste of an urban block, but this is better than the previous version.

[jaxlongtimer]

Agree with Marcus that is better than before but not ideal for Downtown. 

If the brewery (or convenience store) is counting on Downtown workers walking to it, I don't see much encouragement for that.  Walking across the Broad Street entry that faces Downtown's core where most patrons might be walking from is hardly pedestrian friendly.  What could be more risky than crossing a gas station entrance from a busy street with cars zipping down it and making sharp, last minute turns into the entry?  At a minimum, this entrance should be removed.  They have 3 other accessible entries and that should be plenty.  Many stations around town have only two and a few, only one.

Further, if Broad Street is effectively an entry point for Downtown off the Acosta Bridge, removing this entrance would enhance the first impression aesthetic for Downtown.

[Charles Hunter]

I agree with jaxlongtimer that they should remove the Broad Street driveway. Northbound traffic can access the site by making a left onto Bay Street, To resume going northbound via the Forsyth Street driveway, then left on Broad, might be tricky when traffic is backed up at the traffic signal on Forsyth at Broad. Maybe moving the Forsyth driveway a few feet west (closer to Jefferson) could make this movement easier and safer.

[thelakelander]

The claim is that the Broad Street driveway is needed for their fuel trucks. However, there are other ways to address that.

I'd rather see the brewery taken off the top of the gas station and placed at the intersection of Broad and Forsyth or the building shifted to that corner. Forsyth is a gateway into downtown and a major neighborhood street. Most people arriving on foot, would also be coming from Broad and Forsyth intersection. That corner needs an urban street edge and pedestrian scale interaction. There should be outdoor seating and dining there. Those are my thoughts but they should sit down with the LaVilla community and work to accommodate their concerns. I think there's a viable solution that improves the plan and project more if they work together. It can't be just a DIA staff and development team decision making process. Those with direct understanding and LaVilla cultural heritage ties should also be at the decision making table.

[Zac T]

The major change that came out of that conversation: relocating the building from the center of the block to the corner of Bay Street and Broad Street.

"This is a significant improvement as it lends a more urban character, and offers a gateway, to this intersection and the LaVilla district," DDRB staff said in their review of the application.

Even with the changes, the project would need to be approved for deviations from the LaVilla zoning overlay, which is designed to force developers to build more urban-type projects.

The entrance to the building would face the fuel pumps, parallel to Jefferson Street, with parking around the interior edges of the structure. Facing inward requires a deviation from city code, which calls for buildings to face the public street — a deviation staff supports because of the "inherent function" of the filling stations.

The north side of the building, which faces Forsyth Street, would be treated as the back of the building, with Daily's anticipating a mural on the side. "Any public art installed or created should be used to celebrate the rich history of the LaVilla neighborhood," staff said in their comments.

Other deviations are required because the project only activates the corner of Bay and Broad and not the other three intersections and because it has more parking than the city wants to see in the area.

Getting those deviations is necessary for the project to move forward, the developer said.

"The restaurant/brewery operations, convenience store amenities, fueling station benefits and the circulation of traffic, parking, landscaping and other performance standards contemplated for this mixed-use plan coupled with the circumstances surrounding the site mandate relief from the rigid one-size-fits-all design standards of the overlay," the application said. "To comply with the strict regulations would render the project elements nonfunctional and inoperable."

Daily's has said the project will help bring people downtown, with Bold City, Jacksonville's oldest craft brewery, already having agreed to lease the second floor of the building and the rooftop event space.

Having a place to gather will be an asset to the neighborhood, Daily's CEO Aubrey Edge said.

"Downtown is still struggling. Not everyone has come back to work," Edge said previously. "We still believe the vision of downtown should exist and will persist."

The DDRB board will vote on the proposal July 27.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2023/07/20/lavilla-dailys-changes.html

What is the point of DDRB and their staff if all they do is recommend approval for projects inconsistent with our Downtown overlay? If a developer wants to build a gas station downtown, the pressure should be on the developer to conform to all of the proper zoning and building requirements necessary to build Downtown and propose a project worthy of approval. We should not be providing deviations to make it easier when there's a million properties across the city that can fit a gas station rather than in the heart of LaVilla. Not to mention Gate, Shell, 7-11, and Daily's already operate gas stations within the Downtown overlay zone. Do we really need more?

Allowing the building to face inwards creates a wall of dead space along Broad street effectively prohibiting that block from ever being activated for the foreseeable future. A mural on the side of the building facing the parking lot is not a reasonable accommodation for that. Not to mention how the Jefferson, Bay, and Forsyth street sides of this project are treated. It's frustrating how because they are including Bold City in their plans, they act as if they are doing a service to the neighborhood and should be granted design concessions due to that fact. We shouldn't allow development for the sake of development.

While this development sits alone right now, if the expectation is that LaVilla is to once again become a vibrant, cohesive, and pedestrian friendly neighborhood, it's vital that we get these projects right in the beginning so they fit in as the neighborhood grows around them or they will become inconsistent eyesores in the future. A good example is the Lofts at Monroe where we allowed a surface lot on the corner of Lee and Adams with a bike storage facility to "screen" it in and now with Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park and Johnson Commons going in on the opposite corner, the suburban development style and lack of urban street edge is a glaring eyesore now and creates a hole in the neighborhood. We don't have to replicate that with a gas station on such a prominent corner.

[simms3]

^^All good points.  The Daily's development is the one development happening right now that I am opposed to, but I hate to raise my voice too much because I don't want to be called out for being hypocritical since I rail against the activist groups a lot on here.  Everything about it from the demolition of the buildings, the delay, their plans, etc are kind of just a slap in the face and that is one company/real estate model (convenience store) that can afford to do better in an environment like this.

I will say, having a gas station there will be handy, I'm not going to lie.  But we've all survived without one thus far and so it's not absolutely imperative.  If you're going to build one, do it absolutely right.

The point about Lofts at Monroe is well taken by me!  But Vestcor is one of those "golden child" developers in this town and they can get away with quite a lot.  There are solid political connections with First Coast Energy as well.

[Tacachale]

^^All good points.  The Daily's development is the one development happening right now that I am opposed to, but I hate to raise my voice too much because I don't want to be called out for being hypocritical since I rail against the activist groups a lot on here.  Everything about it from the demolition of the buildings, the delay, their plans, etc are kind of just a slap in the face and that is one company/real estate model (convenience store) that can afford to do better in an environment like this.

I will say, having a gas station there will be handy, I'm not going to lie.  But we've all survived without one thus far and so it's not absolutely imperative.  If you're going to build one, do it absolutely right.

The point about Lofts at Monroe is well taken by me!  But Vestcor is one of those "golden child" developers in this town and they can get away with quite a lot.  There are solid political connections with First Coast Energy as well.

It's a bad design, but this small concession never would have happened without public pushback. That's the most encouraging part of all this.

[thelakelander]

This one was deferred today for a month. The hope is that the design can be improved some more.

[Jax_Developer]

Can we get the driveway cuts down lol

[Steve]

Wow - JDR article on that

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/jul/27/mayor-council-member-peluso-ask-for-pause-on-proposed-lavilla-dailys/

Good to know that DDRB won't just be able to rubber stamp a poor site plan.

[thelakelander]

^Definitely a result of a change in political leadership. If not for that, this project's original suburban site plan would have been pushed through months ago, similar to Gate's Brooklyn gas station a few years ago. When this is all said and done, I believe it will be a win for Daily's, the DIA, DDRB, the LaVilla community and downtown as a whole.

[iMarvin]

I just don't see how a gas station makes sense here. Dedicating an entire block to something that shouldn't even exist in a walkable environment?

Build the convenience store and restaurant, keep the rest of the block open for future development.

[Zac T]

I just don't see how a gas station makes sense here. Dedicating an entire block to something that shouldn't even exist in a walkable environment?

Build the convenience store and restaurant, keep the rest of the block open for future development.

That would seem to fit in with the existing LaVilla overlay which allows gas stations by exception if a part of a mixed use development

[thelakelander]

This thing was cooked up a couple of years ago when Brian Hughes was the head of DIA. It was purposely included in the zoning update to allow a mixed-use gas station with 16 pumps.....specifically in LaVilla.