Chicago Pizza coming to the Landing

[thelakelander]

Chicago Pizza will be a nice addition to downtown and the Landing.

• Look for a third Jacksonville Chicago Pizza location to open at the Landing in mid-September in the former Ruby Tuesday space. Landing spokesperson Rachel Nudge said the owner signed the contract Thursday, paid extra to open by Sept. 15 and started work Friday. The restaurant has 5,500 square feet with 2,000 of that outside. There will be plasma TVs and two outside bars.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/citynotes.php

[77danj7]

That will be a very nice addition to the Landing...They have some great Chicago style pizza

[blizz01]

They have some great Chicago style pizza

- But our guests are visiting Jacksonville!

[77danj7]

Well Jacksonvilly style pizza is crappy!

[77danj7]

btw..how long has the Ruby Tuesdays been vacant?

[copperfiend]

Decent food. The one on Baymeadows/Phillips has TVs at every booth. They charge on soda/tea refills which I thought was weird.

[Wacca Pilatka]

btw..how long has the Ruby Tuesdays been vacant?

Since spring of '06.

[Steve]

Excellent news.  With that said, I'd like to see Sleiman and and City invest in the Landing properly (parking with validation, open it up to Laura St, etc).

[thelakelander]

^Does anyone think that the $26 million being set aside for Metropolitan Park/Kids Kampus, would be better spent opening up the Landing's courtyard to Laura Street (falls in line with the city's upcoming streetscape project) and funding that proposed park between the Landing and the Performing Arts Center?

[blizz01]

I do!  I do!  Maybe there would even be a little left to install a pond pump/spray head across the river @ the fountain, too.

[77danj7]

I think the money would be much better spent on the Landing!

[fsujax]

Definatley spend it on the Landing. Noo when working out at the gym I can smell pizza and be tempted to totally negate my workout...haha

[tufsu1]

sure the money is better spent on upgrades to The Landing...but just one problem...

The City may own the land but Sleiman owns the building...I can just imagine the complaints that would be raised about government "subsidizing a private development".

FYI....there will be a charette during the APA Florida Conference in September on ways to re-invigorate The Landing.  The folks at Sleiman have been very supportive of the idea (and the conference as a whole) and we hope to come up with some really good ideas.

[thelakelander]

Maybe the answer is a public/private partnership?  As for the space between the Landing and the Performing Arts Center, who owns it?  The city or Sleiman?

[Steve]

The City owns it.

Here is my thing:  People don't want to sell the riverfront land.  Here is the problem - no bank is going to give you financing if you don't own the land (in this econony, they might not give financing anyway, but that's a side discussion).  So, just sell the land underneath the building only (leave the courtyard in the middle as city land, and just sell from the building out to the street).  Better yet, don't sell the land under the portion of the landing that they want to cut out, and have the city pay for the cutting open of the landing (this could be the public-private partnership).