The school board would like to sell their riverfront office and move to the Northbank. However, they want free parking.
QuoteGentry recognized that the mayor has a full plate, working on the budget and establishing his administration, but he looks forward to meeting with Brown to discuss the possibilities of moving Downtown.
“If you look at the maps from around the courthouse, the City owns a lot of property in that area. And if we could put together a smart financial deal where we could build or take an existing building and make it work for us, it would benefit the area because we have hundreds if not thousands of people come through that school board building every day,†said Gentry.
Both Gentry and Hazouri identified parking as key to a new location for both Duval County Public Schools employees and people visiting the office.
“Parking is a real issue. People are going to be going in and out of the building all day long and we have to provide public access, so we aren’t going to charge to park there,†said Hazouri.
Full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=534131
How would that work? Would they buy a surface lot and let people park there for free? How would you know tat they were going there? Or would they make the whole block free? That wouldn't enough parking. Maybe 2 hour parking?
If they can make it work, I say go for it. The southbank is booming with or without the school board building. The northbank needs some help.
I THINK THEY SHOULD BE WORRYING MORE ABOUT THEY MANY INTERVENE SCHOOLS AND SPORTS FUNDING RATHER THAN MOVING!!!
The former Independent Life Building (1955) on Julia Street might make a decent school board building. I, however, do not know what to do about parking...
"Free Parking" would be relatively easy. They could issue passes to people having business in the school board building. The old Independent Life building is a good idea, JEA used it for awhile before moving to the Universal Marion Building (where they are now), so it might even be up to more modern codes.
Personally id rather see the school board relocated in some of the many many strip malls spattered throughout the city...plenty of free parking and low rent...sounds like a win win for everyone and a hell of a lot cheaper than that massive building on the river...
Well, power to them. The parking issue will be tough, but not insurmountable. If they can find a garage they could just issue passes for employees and validate parking for people coming to visit them.
If they need a lot of free parking then why do they need to be downtown?
If they really need parking then they can be somewhere near downtown, like the stadium area.
Let's not sacrifice downtown walkability for the sake of accommodating the school board.
We have plenty of half abandoned strip malls and office parks all across town. So, if some parking validation program can't be implemented (I'm sure one can), it shouldn't stop them from trying to get off the riverfront.
Quote from: Jaxson on July 29, 2011, 01:41:09 AM
The former Independent Life Building (1955) on Julia Street might make a decent school board building. I, however, do not know what to do about parking...
Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking as I read the article. Parking would a problem, though. It's about a block and a half away from the Hemming Plaza Skyway station, so they might be able to leverage that a bit. But as far as garages or surface lots go, there's not a lot over there. I think Chris Hionedes owns it and my
guess is that he would sell for under $4M. Maybe quite a bit less. Again, that's just a guess.
Another possible problem - I'm not sure if the building contains enough space for them. But I do love that building.
A few years ago there was a proposal to renovate that building and add some futuristic looking glass 'skin'. It nearly turned my stomach. That building is beautiful the way it was built - I hope that whoever ends up with it doesn't change the exterior.
The only other building I could think of is the old City Hall on Bay Street. But then you're just moving from one riverfront building to another, so not sure what that accomplishes.
Quote from: Garden guy on July 29, 2011, 06:08:13 AM
Personally id rather see the school board relocated in some of the many many strip malls spattered throughout the city...plenty of free parking and low rent...sounds like a win win for everyone and a hell of a lot cheaper than that massive building on the river...
If they want to have employees spread out throughout the city, they could just have them work from home. I think the goal is to have everyone in one central location.
Quote from: Dashing Dan on July 29, 2011, 09:52:50 AM
If they need a lot of free parking then why do they need to be downtown?
If they really need parking then they can be somewhere near downtown, like the stadium area.
Let's not sacrifice downtown walkability for the sake of accommodating the school board.
I disagree with moving them near the stadium. Our downtown is way to spread out as it is. That's part of what got us into this mess. We need some compactness (if that's even a word). I don't think that bringing the School Board to the Northbank has to sacrifice walkability. If anything, it could be used to enhance it.
I agree that it wouldn't necessarily sacrifice walkability. There are plenty of existing garages that can be used, it's a matter of finding an appropriate building and appropriate parking area, and working a deal so they can provide free parking to visitors. I don't think it's much of a stretch to suggest that a government building on riverfront property isn't the best use of the space, and that it's a good thing for offices to want to relocate downtown.
What I don't understand is, why this is coming up now. It sounds like they're years off from even breaking even on a move.
They blew the opportunity when they had the chance. They could have sold that thing at the height of the development boom a few years ago when companies were considering redeveloping the JEA site adjacent to it.
Garden Guy I see your point, but I think it's more important, at least at this time, to get people downtown. I love the idea of the old Independent Life building and I would hope there would be retail/restaurant at the street level.
Quote from: thelakelander on July 29, 2011, 10:24:37 AM
They blew the opportunity when they had the chance. They could have sold that thing at the height of the development boom a few years ago when companies were considering redeveloping the JEA site adjacent to it.
Yeah, they sure did.
Quote from: Jaimen on July 29, 2011, 01:28:53 AM
I THINK THEY SHOULD BE WORRYING MORE ABOUT THEY MANY INTERVENE SCHOOLS AND SPORTS FUNDING RATHER THAN MOVING!!!
There have been talks about getting them out of the building for some years. This is not a new issue. This isnt the first time the topic of them moving has came up. If they can fill some vacancies on the southbank and use some of the millions of parking spots we have, its a win-win situation.
What is the point now? Is anyone willing to buy that land? Doubt it.
Well Evidentally something is going on or they would even be bringing it up. I let the school board worry about that part. Whatever the case, this would be a good move