Lost Jacksonville. Downtown Hotels: The Grande Dames

[Timkin]

So funny you would say that Ock.... We should "recreate" some of the destinations in the Downtown area that made Jacksonville, Florida  "THE PLACE TO BE" and get rid of vacant lots , parking meters, Create more living space... kind of take the City back to a few decades ago, as much as humanly possible.  IMO  THEN, you would have a vibrant Downtown area.

[Jaxson]

I would love to see Hemming Plaza returned to a park with more green grass and less cement.

I agree 100%.  The city tried too hard to turn Hemming Park into a mall...  We need to restore Hemming PARK!

[Timkin]

And we tore down the majority of it for "progress"?  Nice work Jacksonville!

You mean , nice work, last 6 Mayors and City management, and Council.   Alot of these people are the main culprits of the "Better Jacksonville Plan" and other brilliant ideas (?) that razed alot of what is no longer in LaVilla, Brooklyn, Downtown,.   Hell.... Even Orlando's downtown, I believe has more Historic Buildings left than our downtown and by comparison it is a town...not a City...

[Timkin]

We need to do that , and Restore the adjacent areas to it as much as possible.  Hemming Park was at one time very beautiful.  It has been changed to another concrete monster.

[Ocklawaha]

DUKE


CAB


ELLA


BILLIE


RAY


BLIND BLAKE


Birdland South? Tuxedo Junction? Blue Note South? Sweet Lorraine's? Apollo Theater? This is our stop boys and girls!

Can you imagine the restored period streetcar aka: Heritage Streetcar, linking the "Streetcar Museum", with the "Ray Charles Restaurant-Club" and the "Richmond Jazz and Blues Hotel..."

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing..."


OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

" The ability to swing "

[spuwho]

I don't like seeing historic buildings come down anymore than anyone else, but many of these buildings are a significant cost to remediate and make usable again, especially with asbestos and lead.

Jacksonville's economy just doesn't support restoration of these buildings which herald an era that is long, long gone.

There is already much criticism of COJ and the use of tax dollars to help developers with older properties, and the Laura Trio and old Barnett are still standing empty even with incentives available.

Jacksonville got a lot of criticism back in the early 1960's for its run down buildings and shacks and left overs from the then obsolete wharves and rail yards. Some are still left over as the new roundabout hit an old wharf bulkhead this week!

So they did what the "new city of the South" thought they should do, they tore them down!

Until Jacksonville can rise up from its economic malaise that started in the post WWII era, they will always struggle retaining these old and historic buildings.

Fortunately, unlike Detroit, Chicago and some other older cities, Jax does not have a built in set of arsonists who get their thrills on watching these places get toasted. So they hang around until it falls down or someone uses it.

[Timkin]

Jacksonville does not have that many "Historic" Buildings left, particularly in the Downtown area.  To an extent I concur that the cost of rehabbing some of these buildings /removal of asbestos/etc may not seem "cost effective" , I argue that to demolish and haul away a building... lets use an example... The Ambassador Hotel  which one of the posters who says they they have the inside information on this ,now condemned building  that it is cost-prohibitive to repair/revitalize/renovate/take your pick of what you want to call it....

  I say... to wreck, Haul away to some Landfill forever , and to REPLICATE the same building with the same Wall Thickness, Construction , Etc of that building , as it was origonally designed, and to meet modern code  IMO would cost MORE... maybe SIGNIFICANTLY more than to save an old building.  I think the same is true of Many of the endangered buildings of the area.. When you wreck one of these , and slap up a structure that has a life expectancy of maybe 50-60 years before it either needs major repairs , or torn down and replaced, then you might just as well have spared the origonal Old building.  I am no expert.. but common sense makes this seem very logical to me. 

Detroit has some really beautiful Old buildings that will go...and it is depressing because they simply do not, and probably will never have the funding to save these places.... It personally makes me sick to see such a once-vibrant city like Detroit fall apart.  I would not go so far as to say Jacksonville has quite reached the point of Detroit, nor would I argue that there probably were some buildings that truly were beyond repair..  But we have razed them to the point of practically no return... and I personally think we need to save what we have left , regardless of expense.. Over the long haul the investment would pay off , both in the life of the building , and the revitilization of the Urban Core.

[thelakelander]

I don't like seeing historic buildings come down anymore than anyone else, but many of these buildings are a significant cost to remediate and make usable again, especially with asbestos and lead.

Jacksonville's economy just doesn't support restoration of these buildings which herald an era that is long, long gone.

There is already much criticism of COJ and the use of tax dollars to help developers with older properties, and the Laura Trio and old Barnett are still standing empty even with incentives available.

There are a few things that can be done to preserve historic structures and Jacksonville's history.  We may want to look at changing our property taxing and code enforcement strategies that lead to many historic demolitions, the creation of a downtown historic district or tax abatement zone.

[Jaxson]

And my bet is that they will see demolition within 5 years.

@Timkin - Now, the last thing that our city needs is encouragement to tear down more historic buildings!  ; )

I was entirely kidding ... I guess I have to really choose my words carefully or just say nothing at all .

I knew that you were kidding.  LOL! 

The shameful thing, however, is that there are quite a few folks in this city who would not care if downtown completely shut down - as long as they were insulated in their happy little suburbs.  This, Timkin, seems to be to trouble with Jacksonville.  We are cordoned off in our subdivisions, suburbs and neighborhoods with no real pride for the city that we share in common.  Yeah, we run downtown for fireworks displays or Christmas tree lightings, but otherwise, we are content with sprawling ourselves into obilvion.

[duvaldude08]

And my bet is that they will see demolition within 5 years.

@Timkin - Now, the last thing that our city needs is encouragement to tear down more historic buildings!  ; )

I was entirely kidding ... I guess I have to really choose my words carefully or just say nothing at all .

I knew that you were kidding.  LOL! 

The shameful thing, however, is that there are quite a few folks in this city who would not care if downtown completely shut down - as long as they were insulated in their happy little suburbs.  This, Timkin, seems to be to trouble with Jacksonville.  We are cordoned off in our subdivisions, suburbs and neighborhoods with no real pride for the city that we share in common.  Yeah, we run downtown for fireworks displays or Christmas tree lightings, but otherwise, we are content with sprawling ourselves into obilvion.

I agree. I will always say that consilation killed our downtown more than any other city. We have more room to sprawl and spread out. Personally I want to see downtown vibrant. I actually wanted to move in the Carling but they were TOO pricey. Once the Trio becomes a reality, hopefully the prices are affordable and I will relocate to the core. And you are right, people in jacksonville dont have pride for the city at all. And I beleive that is our only problem. When you have pride for your city and a positive attitude, things will change for the better.

[JaxNative68]

There is a statistic in the story that is pretty striking to me.

the population grew by 60 thousand people in the Winter, with tourists and people escaping the north.

They stayed in the hotels, steamboats resorts boarding houses and the like, downtown.

Could we accomodate 60 thousand people downtown today?

I highly doubt it.

We'd have to bring back the cruise ships, just like the superbowl

[JaxNative68]

^ nothing like commenting on something before reading on, only to fine out the next post had your comment already posted . . . sorry finehoe

[Jaxson]

And my bet is that they will see demolition within 5 years.

@Timkin - Now, the last thing that our city needs is encouragement to tear down more historic buildings!  ; )

I was entirely kidding ... I guess I have to really choose my words carefully or just say nothing at all .

I knew that you were kidding.  LOL!  

The shameful thing, however, is that there are quite a few folks in this city who would not care if downtown completely shut down - as long as they were insulated in their happy little suburbs.  This, Timkin, seems to be to trouble with Jacksonville.  We are cordoned off in our subdivisions, suburbs and neighborhoods with no real pride for the city that we share in common.  Yeah, we run downtown for fireworks displays or Christmas tree lightings, but otherwise, we are content with sprawling ourselves into obilvion.

I agree. I will always say that consilation killed our downtown more than any other city. We have more room to sprawl and spread out. Personally I want to see downtown vibrant. I actually wanted to move in the Carling but they were TOO pricey. Once the Trio becomes a reality, hopefully the prices are affordable and I will relocate to the core. And you are right, people in jacksonville dont have pride for the city at all. And I beleive that is our only problem. When you have pride for your city and a positive attitude, things will change for the better.

What troubles me most is how many folks in Jacksonville seem to believe that we can function without a healthy downtown.  IMHO, we cannot have a healthy economy for the entire city if we abandon our central city.  When looking to relocate to a new city, businesses look for the soul of a city.  I do not believe that heart lives on the periphery of a city.  They are merely branches of a tree that, in our case, is dying while our city leaders fiddle around...  

[JaxNative68]

I know many companies that have relocated to the suburbs of Jax without caring about the downtown situation.  With today’s e-business/remote log on consciousness, having a thriving downtown location isn’t as important anymore.  Comfort of life seems to over rule these days.