Annie Lytle demolition back on track?

[vicupstate]

A gym like the example in DC given would work well but there's no real need for another gym nearby. Maybe a Museum?

The Westin hotel in Greenville is awesome. They did a really great job of preserving historical elements. They've got some great restaurants too. I think is was abandoned for a lot longer than 12 years though. I don't remember anything ever being in that building.

The YMCA has looked at relocating before, and they could get a fortune for there current site since it fronts both the river and Riverside Ave.  The current facility is very inefficient and is out of date. The Lytle location is close enough to the existing facility to serve the same clients.   

The Lytle school could be expanded in the rear without changing it's appearance negatively, which could achieve any needed additional square footage.  It could be uniquely historic and yet modern as well. 

The Westin had been vacate from about '82-'86 until about 2000 or so.  I went with the low end.  It might have been empty as long as 18-20 years.     

[hightowerlover]

why dont you guys post those interior pictures again theres some great bones in there

[matt a.]

http://duvaldestroyer.blogspot.com/2009/03/public-school-number-four-modest.html

[Steve]

Another option is if the building is just too inefficient, then I'm sure the exterior walls could be saved.  This is something that has been done before in other cities where the economics of a true renovation just don't make sense.

[lindab]

The structure of the building is strong. It is built of concrete, even the roof. The exception was the auditorium roof which was wood and burned due to vandalism. The walls are almost two feet thick. Once inside the building, with good window and door replacements you would never hear the traffic.

Secondly, the property is open under the expressway to Riverside Park. There is no retention pond there. You can simply walk down that massive flight of stairs and straight thru to the park. What a great feature!

The rest of the property goes back on one side, along College Street, the whole length of the block.

Inside, the structure is an "E" shape with all the rooms facing a hallway which opens to the outside. Light pours into the interior structure from this configuration. It was well made and well designed. 

quote author=Ocklawaha
VISION PEOPLE! VISION! SKYWAY, TOD, THEATER, STORES, FOOD, FUN, STREETCAR, BUS... VISION Damn Jax! VISION!

[lindab]

I want to point out to anyone thinking the Jacksonville Historic Commission are the bad guys here, they voted to preserve the building. But they can be overruled by the council.

[thelakelander]

LaVilla was long gone by the time this project showed up (destroyed a decade earlier).  The Jones LaVilla townhouse project should have been built.  $180k for 3bd/2ba new townhome units in 2004 were pretty reasonable, imo.

[TheProfessor]

According to below website, the below people are on the LUZ comtittee wich will be making the decision.  Please e-mail them your thoughts.

ArtG@coj.net; Joost@coj.net; RBrown@coj.net; Gaffney@coj.net; Holt@coj.net; Redman@coj.net; Webb@coj.net

http://www.coj.net/City+Council/LUZ.htm

[heights unknown]

Just think if Hotel George Washington, Mayflower Hotel, the old building where BOA now stands had been saved; at least the building where BOA now sits was demolished in favor of an almost SUPERTALL.  But numerous buildings in Jax could have been saved, remodeled or reconstructed, and would have served the urban core much better than the empty lots and parking lots that are now there.

[thelakelander]

I was out of town from 92 to 00.   Any idea when the neighborhood was levelled?

The mid 1990's, around 1996.

Downtown Frankenstein: LaVilla Style
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2006-nov-downtown-frankenstein-lavilla-style

[zoo]

Anyone who thinks that the location is bad, and no one would be interested in it b/c it is right next to I-95, must be from Jacksonville...

[grimss]

LUZ sent it back to the JHPC to consider all available evidence and options.  From what I gleaned at the meeting, the developer wasn't the one pushing the LUZ review--it was, as some have suggested, the result of the new council president's effort to get unresolved issues off the docket. So . . . back into a holding pattern.

[Omarvelous09]

Always have loved this building...but honestly with the highway so close to the building i don't know how well it would do as a residential building. Ive always thought it would make a great amphitheater, if they could bring the facade to the park side and open the building...but we don't do things like that in jax.

[stjr]

I repeat that it might may a great tourist and convention bureau center and could house related groups such as the hotel association, Sports Authority, etc. that are connected to bringing tourists to Jax.  Also, RAM and RAP.

This building is well accessed and located by I-95, I-10, and the future multi modal station a few blocks away at Park and Bay Streets.

Being located next to the interstate is an asset due to its very high visibility.  Companies would pay a pretty penny for exposure like this.   It needs to be EXPLOITED, NOT EXPLODED!

[JaxNative68]

Once again it comes down to the almighty dollar.  The interior of this building has been exposed to the elements for over thirty plus years.  I remember seeing the inside of it at least twenty plus years ago.  The roof was completely shot then.  Water has been pouring into this building for decades, rotting the structure.  Not to mention how much fecal waste is throughout the interior, both animal and human.  The amount of money it would take to bring this building back to life is probably about 2+ times more than building new.  No developer I have met in Jacksonville is willing to undertake that kind of expense.  I'm not saying don't save it.  I'm just saying don't leave it up to the developers.  The city needs to undertake the saving of this building.  Put it on the national register of historic places.  Utilize the federal grant money out there that is allocated to registered historic structures.  Raise it from the dead and turn it into a City of Jacksonville office building or some other type of public building, possibly a cultural arts center (we all know Jacksonville needs a little culture).

The Savannah College of Art and Design has saved many building just like this one, even ones in worst shape, and turned them into beautiful, vibrate places of human interaction.  I think the City of Jacksonville owes PS#4 a little respect and revitalization.