First look: Hard Rock tower in downtown Jacksonville

[Ned Plimpton]

If anyone thinks this project is going to actually get built, I've got a bridge to sell you.

This looks to be a $600M+ project on a good day, with far too many condos.  I don't know what the developer gains by putting forth an unbuildable project, but I agree that this iteration of the project won't come to fruition.

[Ken_FSU]

To switch things up a little, may I casually suggest that decisions about subsidizing massive completion grants for multiple hotel and residential projects along the Northbank riverfront may be better informed if looked at through the lens of a downtown master plan.

You can't even BEGIN to have productive conversations about public incentives for projects like this without first understanding things like:

1. Where will our future convention center be located?
2. Will it be exhibition space only, or hotel + expo?
3. What is our plan for Metropolitan Park? What types of festivals, and at what frequency, do we plan to program the space?
4. What is the anticipated scale, usage mix, and timeline for a Sports & Entertainment district adjacent to the new stadium?
5. What is the transit plan for Bay Street?

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Ken, all good but your last point should be changed to what is your transit plan for all of Downtown and for the entire region which should be connected to it.  One small section of a street is not meaningful in isolation.

Regarding festivals and events, what is our target for the maximum crowd size we want to be able to facilitate?  Ten, twenty-five, fifty, one hundred or more thousands? I have noted before, in planning for our future growth, it is not hard to envision one day a desire to host crowds of 6 figures in size.

The little planning, if any, we do barely covers the current population.  I don't see anyone thinking down the road, 10 to 25+ years, when we could have up to twice as many people.

[Jagsdrew]

Serious question, will NAVI have a stop at the Hard Rock?

[Ken_FSU]

Serious question, will NAVI have a stop at the Hard Rock?

Yep!

Will simply require:
1. Re-hiring the entire NAVI senior staff
2. Starting from scratch on NAVI software, as the existing vendor has retired the product
3. Backfilling a $40 million budget deficit
4. Borrowing against the local option gas tax from the 2040s

[OspreyGrad]

After looking at the proposed Hard Rock hotel plan, I noticed that it was blocking the Plaza Berkman tower's eastside view of the river. The new tower would also have a direct view of the city jail on the street side. That's not a good location in my opinion. I decided to move it on the other side of the Jacksonville Fire Museum. I also placed a new convention center on the empty Shipyards West lot right beside it. The design of the convention center is accented with a wave theme which follows the Hard Rock hotel's wavy top. This would replace the Prime Osborn III convention center and have the same square footage of flex space. This would create a cluster made up of the USS Orleck, hotel and convention center on the Northbank riverfront.

In the empty lot next to the Berkman Plaza tower, I would place an IMAX theater and outdoor dining plaza with restaurants facing the river. When the city decides to relocate the sheriff's office and city jail, I would place the proposed culinary school and a dining hall in their place.

The city should continuously work on providing more variety of dining, shopping and entertainment venues downtown especially along the river. Compared with other cities, Jacksonville has nearly double the amount of empty city owned property.

[fsu813]

^ Nice! But be careful OspreyGrad. Most local media will cover literally any fanciful rendering proposal like it's going vertical next week. Should they get wind of your images, you'll be obligated to apply for a $20 mill incentive.

[Todd_Parker]

Serious question, will NAVI have a stop at the Hard Rock?

No, but one of the cars will be used as seating in the lobby, right next to displays of Fred Durst's half-eaten sandwich and an original pressing of Rick Dees' "Disco Duck".

[Ken_FSU]

After looking at the proposed Hard Rock hotel plan, I noticed that it was blocking the Plaza Berkman tower's eastside view of the river. The new tower would also have a direct view of the city jail on the street side. That's not a good location in my opinion. I decided to move it on the other side of the Jacksonville Fire Museum. I also placed a new convention center on the empty Shipyards West lot right beside it. The design of the convention center is accented with a wave theme which follows the Hard Rock hotel's wavy top. This would replace the Prime Osborn III convention center and have the same square footage of flex space. This would create a cluster made up of the USS Orleck, hotel and convention center on the Northbank riverfront.

In the empty lot next to the Berkman Plaza tower, I would place an IMAX theater and outdoor dining plaza with restaurants facing the river. When the city decides to relocate the sheriff's office and city jail, I would place the proposed culinary school and a dining hall in their place.

The city should continuously work on providing more variety of dining, shopping and entertainment venues downtown especially along the river. Compared with other cities, Jacksonville has nearly double the amount of empty city owned property.

She's absolutely lovely, but sadly, she's also absolutely impossible. When we opened Kids Campus at Met Park up for private development (Four Seasons + office tower), we executed a land swap with the National Parks Service that legally protects Shipyards West as park space. The land is also so deeply contaminated with arsenic and lead that it would take tens of millions of dollars in remediation to make the land habitable for commercial use.

[Charles Hunter]

After looking at the proposed Hard Rock hotel plan, I noticed that it was blocking the Plaza Berkman tower's eastside view of the river. The new tower would also have a direct view of the city jail on the street side. That's not a good location in my opinion.

Had the Berkman 2 been completed, it would have blocked eastward views from Berkman 1, and had the same view of the jail. The police/sheriff HQ has already moved to the Florida Blue Tower on Riverside Avenue, in Brooklyn. Relocation of the Pre-Trial Detention Facility (aka 'the jail') awaits some studies, and finding a few hundred million dollars.

By the way - cool renderings.  (And what Ken_FSU said about Shipyards West)

[jaxlongtimer]

After looking at the proposed Hard Rock hotel plan, I noticed that it was blocking the Plaza Berkman tower's eastside view of the river. The new tower would also have a direct view of the city jail on the street side. That's not a good location in my opinion. I decided to move it on the other side of the Jacksonville Fire Museum. I also placed a new convention center on the empty Shipyards West lot right beside it. The design of the convention center is accented with a wave theme which follows the Hard Rock hotel's wavy top. This would replace the Prime Osborn III convention center and have the same square footage of flex space. This would create a cluster made up of the USS Orleck, hotel and convention center on the Northbank riverfront.

In the empty lot next to the Berkman Plaza tower, I would place an IMAX theater and outdoor dining plaza with restaurants facing the river. When the city decides to relocate the sheriff's office and city jail, I would place the proposed culinary school and a dining hall in their place.

The city should continuously work on providing more variety of dining, shopping and entertainment venues downtown especially along the river. Compared with other cities, Jacksonville has nearly double the amount of empty city owned property.

Osprey, your renderings are beautiful.  Much nicer and inspiring than the ones from the "professionals" advising Hard Rock (they should fire theirs and hire you!) and others.  We need your creativity added to the City's mix.  Keep them coming.  Maybe it will raise the bar for what could be vs. what we have typically gotten.

[OspreyGrad]

Thanks for the kind compliments Charles Hunter, Ken_FSU, fsu813 and jaxlongtimer. I'm new at creating renderings and it does take a little time to get it to appear more realistic.

[Ned Plimpton]

No, but one of the cars will be used as seating in the lobby, right next to displays of Fred Durst's half-eaten sandwich and an original pressing of Rick Dees' "Disco Duck".

Disco Duck is a 10/10 song.  One of the best to ever come out of Jax. 

[tufsu1]

Had the Berkman 2 been completed, it would have blocked eastward views from Berkman 1, and had the same view of the jail. The police/sheriff HQ has already moved to the Florida Blue Tower on Riverside Avenue, in Brooklyn. Relocation of the Pre-Trial Detention Facility (aka 'the jail') awaits some studies, and finding a few hundred million dollars.

I think the hope is that a private prison company will pay for much of the new facility - allowing those hundreds of millions to be applied to a new convention center on the site.

There was actually a hint of that idea in the package presented by the Hard Rock folks at the DDRB meeting last week.

[Charles Hunter]

Had the Berkman 2 been completed, it would have blocked eastward views from Berkman 1, and had the same view of the jail. The police/sheriff HQ has already moved to the Florida Blue Tower on Riverside Avenue, in Brooklyn. Relocation of the Pre-Trial Detention Facility (aka 'the jail') awaits some studies, and finding a few hundred million dollars.

I think the hope is that a private prison company will pay for much of the new facility - allowing those hundreds of millions to be applied to a new convention center on the site.

There was actually a hint of that idea in the package presented by the Hard Rock folks at the DDRB meeting last week.

I hate the for-profit prison industry, but I think you may be the only path to replacing the downtown jail.