Downtown Development Update: What's rising, what's delayed

[OspreyGrad]

If someone looks at Downtown Jacksonville on Google Maps Terrain View and compare it with the rest of the city, they will see a giant heat island from all of the exposed concrete and asphalt. Even if we make the streets more walkable, it is too damn hot to be out there in the middle of the day for half of the year. The sabal palms are native to north Florida, but it is the wrong choice for street trees here. We need to replace them with native trees that provide adequate shade along the sidewalks and gathering areas. What is needed downtown are more businesses willing to move in and use existing vacant buildings. Provide them with financial incentives. Downtowns need to evolve with changing needs or else it suffers from urban decay.

[Zac T]

On a positive note for Laura Street, Starbucks is actively being built out and just applied for sign permits. Oak Steakhouse is actively being built out and just put up new signage. Permits have been applied for the build out of the stairs leading to the new basement speakeasy under Oak Steakhouse. Avant will start rehabbing Mag's Cafe and the adjacent 2 buildings in the next few months which will yield multiple new restaurant and retail spaces plus residential.

Arriete is still planning to move forward on their fine-dining restaurant concept in the BOA Tower as well as a possible deli concept where Akel's used to be. Becovic Management applied for permits for a coffee concept in The Barnett. They assumed the mortgage for the Laura Trio and are awaiting the outcome of the city's foreclosure suit and have active plans for multiple other prominent buildings in the area. Not sure what's up with Snyder but they were supposed to be moving forward with a pre-disposition phase as of February.

There's no doubt that 2023-2026 will be remembered as really bleak years for Downtown with a plethora of retail/restaurant closures and job losses but I think 2027-2030 will portray a different picture (at least for Laura Street) based on what is actively under construction and permitted right now

[jaxlongtimer]

^Promises, promises as the song goes. Downtown has been on the cusp of great things for generations now.  Proof is in the pudding.  But, without a coherent master plan, incentives for street level retail/restaurants, robust connected and internal mass transit routes, better sense of security, improved streetscapes, etc. I don't see anything being sustainable over the long haul.  Downtown just keeps treading water.  All the places going out of business Downtown in the last few years also thought Downtown was on the cusp of great things and... it didn't happen and they lost their investment in Downtown's false starts, once again.

Private sector can only do so much.  Giving incentives to private developers won't address what only the City can and needs to do.  I have said it before... if we took a chunk of incentive dollars and had the City use those funds for its responsibilities and leadership, Downtown would be way ahead of where it is now and most incentives would not be necessary.  The ROI would have been many times higher.  Incentives just are not going to get it done alone.

[Tacachale]

While I'm incredibly proud of what's been accomplished Downtown by Mayor Deegan's team, DIA, Gateway, etc. in the last several years, the sad reality is that we're starting from less than zero. Years of self-inflicted damage and terrible decisions by the Curry admin will take years to recover from. The other tough reality is that there's no coming back from it without more investment to recover what's been lost. That can be a tough sell for those who saw all the money wasted on demolitions and bad projects.

The good news is that none of this is rocket science, good design principles and investments really work and the proof is in the recovery you can see in dozens of cities that have been in our position or worse. In fact, it is working - the projects that are coming online now are already paying off - not only are people coming back to the places where new parks have opened, but there's more private investment than there's been in probably 20 years. And the more people see it happening, the more and better they demand.

[fsu813]

Looks like it's public now: European Street Cafe will be opening at the Riverfront Plaza playground space. It will be a different, more simple concept than their other restaurants.