Attitude in the Leadership class: The REAL reason DT Jax is floundering

[vicupstate]

Reading these articles illuminates the 180 degree difference between how the leadership of Charlotte views its center city, vs. the outright neglect that Jacksonville's business and political class holds for it's center city. 

As you read these, ask yourself these questions:

When was the last time the titans of industry and business sat around a table and talked about the city center?

When was a master plan created, much less followed, for DT Jacksonville?  And no, a few streetcape design guidelines do not count as a master plan.   

What could Downtown Vision (or a similiar entity) have accomplished for DT Jax, if it was fully supported by the Peytons, the Davis family, the Weavers, Bill Foley, etc., and had been in place for 30 years?   

Charlotte leaders predict uptown will rise again
By Doug Smith
dougsmith@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Mar. 22, 2009

High-rise residences, office towers, museums, an arena and an entertainment complex have fueled an unprecedented boom in the urban core that could surpass $6 billion in investment by the end of the decade.

Now, as that wave of projects nears completion, center city backers worry that the lingering recession and the troubles of uptown's big banks will bring development to a halt.

There is a pause, but uptown's growth will resume, say five leaders who helped guide center city development during the past 30 years.

“I'm not all that upset about a slowdown right now, because if you look back over the years … we've had those periods before,” said architect Harvey Gantt, mayor of Charlotte from 1983 to 1987. “The slowdown is an opportunity for us … to look at how we move forward.”

He, former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl Jr., former city manager Wendell White, retired Ivey's department store chief George Ivey and former Observer publisher Rolfe Neill met last week with Observer editors to talk about the center city â€" past, present and future.

They served at various times on the board of an uptown organization that collects money through special tax districts to promote and facilitate economic and cultural development in the urban core.

As for the pause, McColl said, “I know people would like an earlier prediction,” but we should be “turning the corner by mid-2010.” He's confident that more high-density housing will be developed in the center city and that a minor league baseball stadium will be built in Third Ward.

As Charlotte Center City Partners celebrates its 30th anniversary Thursday, the five men talked about surprises in the past and the challenges ahead. The conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.

What does the banking crisis mean for uptown's future?

McColl: Losing Wachovia's headquarters is difficult for Charlotteans. It will cost the city jobs and affect everything from churches, to high-end restaurants to the United Way. The next worst thing that could happen to us would be to lose Bank of America's headquarters. I don't expect that to happen. I have never expected that to happen, and it has never happened. I actually think Bank of America will grow here.

People have been saying Charlotte is a great place raise a family for 200 years. When people get transferred or lose their jobs, they won't leave. We are going to continue to attract well-educated and trained people. Companies will come here because of our labor force.

Neill: Look at the cost of Class A office space â€" about $30 a square foot annually â€" compared with New York.

Gantt: What's most important is people aren't leaving. We've been putting infrastructure for the past 35 years. We can compete for talent. Now is the time to build the best system of public education in the country. The worst thing that could happen for us is to take a hang-dog attitude and just allow things to happen.

How did all this begin?

McColl: We had a plan â€" the 1966 Odell master plan for uptown development. We knew where we were going. We set out to build a business district, a government district and housing in the four wards. We got housing in First, Third and Fourth wards, and who knows what will happen in Second. We actually have succeeded in making the center city an exciting place for the entire population â€" a place were we work together, play together and pray together.

Gantt: In 1965 I worked on the Odell plan (as an architect). I recall working on models of high-rise housing and I thought: this is a stretch. There also is a model that shows a stadium in Third Ward (the area where Bank of America Stadium is today). There was a lot of vision in that plan.

White: The first thing you do after you have a plan is move on it. We did that. The trick is to get everybody in on the act and still get some action. The city had the gumption to do that.

Neill: We had an absolutely wonderful working relationship between the private sector and elected officials. There was nothing put over on anybody. We tended to see things with a shared vision.

What do you see next on the horizon?

McColl: The Third Ward baseball stadium and park, with 12- to 20-story residential building around it. And the 22-acre First Ward urban village with the UNC Charlotte's 12-story tower and a 4-acre park as anchors.

Build the “green” line light-rail extension to UNC Charlotte and possibly branch it off to Mooresville. The North Tryon corridor offers a great opportunity for affordable housing. Continue to build our transportation spokes. Make it easy for people to work in the center city.

Gantt: We still have too many parking lots. We need to find ways to encourage investments to fill the gaps. The upcoming 2020 plan for center city development is a good place to get people involved in how to move forward.

Neill: We have to build on the health care industry; bring in more biotech companies and a medical school. Stay focused. Keep doing the things we've always done. Center City Partners as a convener helped recruit Johnson & Wales University. Protect the airport, a valuable asset, and expand the transportation system. Bring in the community's top leadership on projects ready to go. In Hugh's day he was doing that himself plus running a large financial institution.

What about future leadership?

Neill: Hugh had nationwide responsibility, could have had worldwide responsibility, but chose to concentrate on Charlotte. With a large bank now, that does divert people. But people put their time where they choose.

Gantt: The leadership in 2020 is going to look a lot different from what's sitting around this table â€" more of a rainbow color and the gender is going to be different. The trick is going to be finding leaders who can pull that diversity together to cause the engine to move forward.

McColl: The center city is not going to die, because we have a more diverse population. It's going to get better. Leadership will emerge. It's the natural order of things. It always does.

Will public-private partnerships continue?

Gantt: They have to continue to happen. The best example the (First Street Cultural Campus) going up now. Without a public-private partnership it wouldn't be happening. As an elected leader, I enjoyed having those vigorous business leaders.

Neill: We are in a more difficult economic time than any of us have lived through in our business careers. Public-private is a harder sell. We are going to have to be more skilled at it and be more patient.

What about affordable housing in the core?

McColl: There's not much. The city did mandate it over in Fourth Ward, and we have some in First Ward.

Gantt: The most expensive land in the city is the center city itself. The laws of economics make it difficult for any developer to build housing. It probably will require substantial subsidies and political will power.

Neill: We couldn't do everything and affordable housing wasn't a top priority. It's going to take considerable public input, probably exceptions to the zoning code and creative financing.

Will uptown see big retail stores again?

Ivey: No major department store retail is going to be successful without a population of approximately 1 million, 10 percent of whom live within the downtown confines. (Uptown's current population is about 11,000.)

Neill: We have medical practices back downtown, a theater and two grocery stores. It will slowly come as the people aggregate.

Gantt: It's not an overnight thing; we are going to see that 10 percent living in the center city. The Overstreet Mall, an idea imported from Minneapolis in the 1970s, worked but it had drawbacks: it drew retail off the street and caused social stratification: office workers in the Overstreet and bus riders on the street.

Doug Smith: 704-358-5174

McColl's uptown musings

Former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl Jr. will accept Charlotte Center City Partners' Vision Award on Thursday at the Charlotte Convention Center. He chaired the organization when it was formed as the Charlotte Uptown Development Corp. in 1979 and again in 1997 when it became Center City Partners.

Here are some of his recollections:


When I came to this town in 1959 there wasn't much going on. You would call it a Baptist town except it was Presbyterian. You couldn't buy a drink. They didn't have live music. You couldn't dance. It really was the most boring town.

There was a view, maybe a long time ago, that John Belk, George Ivey, Bill Mc- Guire (former Duke Power chairman) and maybe some other people ran the city. We built a $300 million tower and couldn't get a curb cut to our garage. We have a city that didn't have any graft in it. We couldn't muscle anybody.

The city followed the development blueprint laid out in the Odell plan, but I didn't think anybody would build a 50-story tower in Fourth Ward, where the Vue condos are under construction. I didn't envision anything that tall so far away from The Square.

Uptown's skyscrapers, cultural facilities and entrainment venues were built in large part through cooperation among the city's big banks, who avoided fighting each other on projects. But, McColl said, the banks retained the right to hate each other during the rest of the week.

Former Mayor Harvey Gantt and I tried everything we could to put the arena downtown when it went out by the airport. The original site proposed was where it is now. The point is you don't always get it done on the first pass.

Center City Partners awards Thursday
Charlotte Center City Partners (formerly the Charlotte Uptown Development Corp.) will recognize center city accomplishments and hand out Vision awards at its 30th anniversary celebration Thursday at the Charlotte Convention Center.

[Ocklawaha]

Big Deal! We got "monster truck rallys" and lots of "Gun Shows" at our fantastic - well planned - Convention Center! Yeah JAX!

OCKLAWAHA

[Keith-N-Jax]

The problem with Jax is not just the Mayor as some would like to think. I think the problem is much deeper than just one position. To me it's the total thought process of decades of the good old boy network in full force. IMO this city will never became a first tier city. Oh yea we will host a big event here and there, but our downtown will never be as it should be or could be. Too many residents in this area do not care enough or have no passion for there own city. Therefore city leaders will continue to do as they see fit with little public input or response. Whats really sad though is that the average person doesn't realize that it's there tax money being spent and wasted. I just hope the housing market improves in the next few years so I can sell my house and move else where. I have been back in Jax 6 years now, and a few condos have been built, but other than that, this city is still dead IMO. I hope for the best, but expect the same in the next few years. 

[heights unknown]

In my opinion, not since the Godbold era have we seen "true" vision, leadership, and superb management relative to a master plan or bold direction for downtown Jacksonville.

[Jason]

We saw that vision with Delaney.  Sure, even he wasn't perfect but we at least took a major step forward with infrastructure, development, and tourism. 

Great things have happend recently in this metro and great things will continue to happen.  The next administration will only affect how fast and to what extent.