Park View Inn construction?

[danno]

I stopped and asked they were contractors  doing enviromental testing.

[Jaxson]

What is so annoying is how the George Washington, Seminole, Mayflower and other downtown hotels were demolished in the blink of an eye, but this monstrosity of a structure lingers on for yet another day.  Shame!

[Debbie Thompson]

Agreed.  Even in the 1970's the downtown hotels had elevators with brass folding cage door, operated by hand, and elevator operators. They were truly elegant, and should have been saved.

But, then, I'm preaching to the choir, aren't I? 

[thelakelander]

It doesn't bother me too much.  Go to major cities and you'll see much larger structures with worse conditions.  Anyway, I don't think the city paid for the demolition of those grand structures.  Their owners did for either surface parking revenue, elimination of taxes/cost associated with vacant structures or to make room for new development.  In the Park View Inn's case, the owner doesn't want to pay for demolition because he believes the structure is still salvageable.  So if it were to come down, those cost would be on the back of the taxpayer.  I know its a gateway to Springfield and downtown but there are better ways to spend +$1.5 million on improving the urban core.  If we can free up that type of cash, I'd rather see it dumped into upgrading the park system along Hogans Creek.

[Ocklawaha]

Agreed.  Even in the 1970's the downtown hotels had elevators with brass folding cage door, operated by hand, and elevator operators. They were truly elegant, and should have been saved.

But, then, I'm preaching to the choir, aren't I? 

Debbie I think I love you! Those were awesome days in Jacksonville, the elevators themselves actually a vertical trolley car with almost identical controls. Do you or anyone else know if ANY, anywhere downtown were saved or are still intact or operation?

OCKLAWAHA

[fieldafm]

Is the Park View site an eyesore?  Absolutely!

But, I tend to look at this in the context of a much larger problem... and one that has a very viable solution.

One of the major problems here is that Springfield and Downtown are cutoff from each other.  The Main Street commercial corridor is virtually non-existant and suffers b/c it is cut off by a no-man's land that seperate these two core communities.

Specifically the problem is, how do you connect this:





with this:








I fervently believe a big part of the solution lies with the Park View site.
Keep in mind, it will take somewhere over $1million to demolish/level this building.  In a recession where the city's budget is experiencing severe downward pressure from decreased tax revenues, there quite simply isn't money available for this option.  Many of you posting in this thread that are in favor of the demolition of this structure also have identified the city's budget as a major concern.  Some of you are even against the proposed tax increase(something with which I share the same concern ).

Furthermore, spending that kind of money to create yet another empty lot in a downtown landscape defined by unfulfilled space simply exhasberates the problem. 

The current owners of the property are asking the city to allocate federal money available under HUD's Community Development Block Grant program.  What is this?

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. Beginning in 1974, the CDBG program is one of the longest continuously run programs at HUD. The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to 1209 general units of local government and States.

About the Program
The CDBG program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities. The CDBG program has made a difference in the lives of millions of people and their communities across the Nation.

The annual CDBG appropriation is allocated between States and local jurisdictions called "non-entitlement" and "entitlement" communities respectively. Entitlement communities are comprised of central cities of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs); metropolitan cities with populations of at least 50,000; and qualified urban counties with a population of 200,000 or more (excluding the populations of entitlement cities). States distribute CDBG funds to non-entitlement localities not qualified as entitlement communities.

HUD determines the amount of each grant by using a formula comprised of several measures of community need, including the extent of poverty, population, housing overcrowding, age of housing, and population growth lag in relationship to other metropolitan areas.

Citizen Participation
A grantee must develop and follow a detailed plan that provides for and encourages citizen participation. This integral process emphasizes participation by persons of low or moderate income, particularly residents of predominantly low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, slum or blighted areas, and areas in which the grantee proposes to use CDBG funds. The plan must provide citizens with the following: reasonable and timely access to local meetings; an opportunity to review proposed activities and program performance; provide for timely written answers to written complaints and grievances; and identify how the needs of non-English speaking residents will be met in the case of public hearings where a significant number of non-English speaking residents can be reasonably expected to participate.

Eligible Activities
Over a 1, 2, or 3-year period, as selected by the grantee, not less than 70 percent of CDBG funds must be used for activities that benefit low- and moderate-income persons. In addition, each activity must meet one of the following national objectives for the program: benefit low- and moderate-income persons, prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or address community development needs having a particular urgency because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community for which other funding is not available.

Sounds pretty appropriate doesn't it?

The problem as I see it with the Park View's ownership group is that they are asking for money from this program in order to level everything but the parking garage.  Again, additional parking and/or parking garages are not needed in and of itself and does nothing to 'address community development needs'.

However consider this, what if the Park View site became a viable commercial building, designed to be pedestrian friendly, that served an economic need to both communities, and that included the existing parking garage?

A retail drug store would be a perfect fit for this location.  The traffic count required for such a development is met at this location.  The combination of residential and employment population required for such a development is met at this location.  And the economic need exists for both of these neighborhoods.


This:





could become this:





The existing parking garage would be kept for the drugstore and other potential commercial tennants.  This would reduce the amount of surface parking and encourage a pedestrian friendly design.

There is an example locally of this type of building design.
The Urbana in Jacksonville Beach serves as a smart inspiration for such a design on the Park View site.








You could probably fit about a 9k square foot drugstore footprint into the Park View site.  This is smaller than the typical big box drug store coner lot formats, but not unusual in dense urban settings.
Additionally, in regards to the space concerns... if a drug store can be fit on this intersection's corner lot, then a smaller footprint format would certainly be viable at the Park View site.



San Juan and Roosevelt Blvd/US-17


The ownership group would be assisted by fedral dollars and for an additional personal capital outlay, they would be rewarded with a commercial tenant that typically signs long term lease agreements.


This type of development, coupled with the new pedestrian friendly urban gas station/cafe diagonally across the street would serve as the start of a connection b/w these two traditionally economic-dependent communities.  The Rosa Parks connection station and FSCJ would facilitate pedestrian traffic to this gateway as well.

[strider]

There has been a long history of the supposed community leaders speaking for nothing but the demolition of this building.  When the owners tried to get it sold and developed, we all heard it needed to be torn down.  When the plans to make it a condo development was announced, we heard how badly contaminated the site was and that the building needs torn down. Even today, we are hearing the building needs torn down.  Very few have ever given it a chance.  And that is a shame. Of course, as it turns out, some of the supposed leaders of the community have been saying to tear everything down, so it is of no big surprise.

Field, what you say makes perfect sense.  It should be used and not torn down.  It could have been and with a bit of support, it can still be utilized. But instead of support, we get letters saying that it blocks the view of the park so it must go.

We all hope common sense will win in the end, but this is Jacksonville and this is a council district that needs real leadership and has none. Some of us are trying to change things, but it will be a slow process.

[thelakelander]

Field, the Park View's owner wants to do what you described. He wants to keep the garage and convert the ground level space into retail. I don't know where the notion that they want a garage with no retail came from.

[Miss Fixit]

Field, the Park View's owner wants to do what you described. He wants to keep the garage and convert the ground level space into retail. I don't know where the notion that they want a garage with no retail came from.

Does the current owner have plans and financing lined up for this project?

[thelakelander]

From my understanding, the current owner is working with the city to land some sort of federal grant to help with the financials.

[fieldafm]

Field, the Park View's owner wants to do what you described. He wants to keep the garage and convert the ground level space into retail. I don't know where the notion that they want a garage with no retail came from.

My apologies.  I was informed that the proposal included just the parking garage and a concrete surface lot facing the park.  Third hand info so I realize that could have been skewed somewhat.

[Timkin]

I thought I read an article in Monday's Times Union that this eyesore is finally coming down?

[thelakelander]

It's being renovated as discussed on this forum over the last couple of months.  Plans call for the hotel tower to be demolished, the hotel's garage to remain and existing street level spaces to be renovated into retail.  The hotel's owners also plan to renovate the old Claude Nolan Cadillac building across street at Orange and Main.

[Springfielder]

Are you saying that there's renovations going on now? I've not seen anything or any signs of work being done

[Charles Hunter]

I went by this afternoon, and there was some equipment at the corner of Main and Union next to the lobby.