'Eyesore' hotel in downtown Jacksonville heading for demolition

[thelakelander]

Hopefully when this thing comes down, it does not end up as a retention pond or passive park site.  Considering it is a full city block and located on the busiest corner in the downtown area, its a prime commercial site (assuming its cleaned).

Long before the Omni Hotel or the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel, there was the Park View Inn.

For decades, it was one of the only places for visitors to stay in downtown Jacksonville.

Today, the pillaged and fire-damaged building that stands at the corner of State and Main streets is a ghost of its former self.

Any hopes its owners had of refurbishing the old hotel are about to dashed by a wrecking ball.

The city of Jacksonville plans to tear down the building as early as this summer.

Few are mourning its passing.

"I remember growing up it was a very viable hotel. It was a place where residents visited frequently," said Ju'Coby Pittman-Peele, CEO and president of the nearby Clara White Mission. But now "it just breeds a lot of unsafe things."

The hotel, built in 1966, had become a magnet for the area's homeless. Weeds and trash grew like kudzu. Its worst moment came in 2005, when a purposely set fire in its garage injured three firefighters.

"It has continued to be nothing but an eyesore," said Louise DeSpain, executive director of the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-06-15/story/eyesore_hotel_in_downtown_jacksonville_heading_for_demolition

[zoo]

Y-E-E-A-A-A-A-A-A-! This cannot happen soon enough (how about this afternoon!?!?)

it does not end up as a retention pond or passive park site

I agree with this ultimately, but I'll take it in the short-term over the Beirut-esque structure that blights much of Jax's entry to the core anyday!

[MattnJax]

[/quote]
I agree with this ultimately, but I'll take it in the short-term over the Beirut-esque structure that blights much of Jax's entry to the core anyday!
[/quote]

lol @ Beirut-esque ..... I think that's the perfect way to describe how the place looks! .... Looks like it should be stuck in a war-zone and not next to a thoroughfare for a major metropolitan city. Glad to see it go!

[strider]

it does not end up as a retention pond or passive park site

Of course it is.  And not to open a big discussion, but if the nay-sayers are right, it is a badly contaminated site and so this property will sit and sit and sit..... in which case, we actually are better off with a existing building that could be rehabbed into something usefull rather than another empty lot.  But this is Jacksonville afterall.....and least we forget, whose 1.5 mil is being used to do make the new parking lot?

[avonjax]

Sadly, after it's demise, I see an ugly foundation sitting empty for decades.

[zoo]

Sadly, property rights still apply, even to owners without good intent. I'm hopeful these owners have been misjudged and will make every effort to get credit (yes, this part will take time) and do something positive with the site.

On an additional note re: contamination, this site is an EPA Superfund site. It is my understanding, tho, that it is non-active status as the COJ's requested to the feds. COJ claims the request to make it EPA non-active is due to the extra $2-3M and 3-5 yrs it would take with EPA involvement vs. without it -- time will tell.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

I can't believe the day after  I post a picture of this place to the photo thread we get a demolition notice.
I guess something in me knew...
well, we all already knew.

I work right around the corner from this site, and every time I drive by it I think that in the present traffic/roadway design I can't see how you could make anything with the current structure. I totally agree that something can and should be built on the property once it's leveled, but there's no way another hotel would work there.

[jason_contentdg]

If 118 Main can get a demolition sticker and be totally demolished in 3 weeks, what kind of time line are we looking at here?  Not long right?

[jagsfan32092]

Thank God!  I moved to Jacksonville in 1994 and remember seeing this piece of crap in my taxi ride from the airport to Mayport.  I remember thinking to myself, "what have I gotten myself into"? 

[vicupstate]

I can't believe the day after  I post a picture of this place to the photo thread we get a demolition notice.
I guess something in me knew...
well, we all already knew.

I work right around the corner from this site, and every time I drive by it I think that in the present traffic/roadway design I can't see how you could make anything with the current structure. I totally agree that something can and should be built on the property once it's leveled, but there's no way another hotel would work there.

Didn't someone have a plan to rehab it?  That plan wasn't a hotel though (and there is no reason why it would have to be a hotel anyway).  I seem to remmebr it was residential, but the current market probably precludes doing that now. 

It could be turned into something nice, I've seen the same done with other buildings in similiar condition. At this point htough,  I just want the eyesore gone.   

[downtownparks]

I wonder how they will handle the environmental issues. The DEP released their study last year, and said that the site could be reused, but had a laundry list of things it had to do to be used, including, if I am remembering right, filling in the basement with cement

[Omarvelous09]

THANK GOD!!
I remember as a kid this hotel had already gone to shi*t! I'm so glad they're gonna tear this crap down, i hope the lot is used for something interesting....not another stupid pocket park (lol).

[hightowerlover]

i think they should just blow out the entire core and put in a culdesac

[BridgeTroll]

There was a mini golf there around the turn of the century I think...

[Karl_Pilkington]

well maybe if it is a cement lot there will be some skate opportunities there, just need a small embankment, a few rails and the city won't have to go and arrest the ones skating downtown anymore, problem solved