Metro Jacksonville

Downtown Investment Authority CEO Resumes

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/2465803031_7RqcDLV-M.jpg)

The Downtown Investment Authority's search for a CEO is down to four finalist.  Here is a look at each candidate's resume and past achievements. Who stands out to you?

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-may-downtown-investment-authority-ceo-resumes

Thanks for posting the info.
Wasn't there a recent huge firing at JTA? Is that posted on another thread?
Is there a DIA meeting today? Might be a sub committee meeting.
I'll check. Stay positive.

The gentleman from WV is really intriguing to me.  He has gotten a lot of the basics right and creates environmnents that encourages private investment. 

There is a subcommittee meeting this morning at 10am first floor city hall.

I like downtown Charleston, WV a lot.

Pretty darn impressive group. Hanna intrigues me quite a bit as well. Seems to be well versed in finance, CRA's/TIF's, and housing. Can anyone with knowledge of Atlanta share anything about his role there?

I still need to review through the other three candidates but I'm pretty familiar with the past of the WV guy.  I grew up 15 miles from the downtown he oversaw from 1987-2000. 

I personally remember the now restored upscale Lakeland Terrace Hotel being like the Laura Trio is today and being threatened with demolition.  I remember Munn Park being worse than what people think Hemming Plaza is now.  I remember all the downtown roads being one-way. Like our Main Street, if you hit one green light, you increased your speed to gun through all of them.  I also remember going to Mass Brothers/Burdines and JCPenney to shop.  I remember when they both closed their downtown stores to head to Lakeland Square in 1988.  I also remember the LDDA hiring Cy Paumier to come in and create a master plan for downtown's revitalization.

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-2885-lakeland-sdi.jpg)
A part of that old master plan I scanned years ago.

Since my parents still live down there, I've also had the opportunity to see that place do a complete 180, since those dark days.  All the little things we struggle with today...

- Successfully creating a CRA plan,
- Finding creative solutions to turn surplus city owned buildings into economic generators
- Converting one-way streets (even FDOT streets) into two-way corridors lined with retail/dining
- Turning something worse than Hemming into a pristine urban square
- Successfully using CRA funds to improve the streetscape/lighting of every DT street
- Brining back the Lake Mirror Promenade (ex. think Hogans Creek promenade)
- Bringing Amtrak back downtown, etc.

Those things have been accomplished. Looking at Jax, if the only thing we achieve are the things mentioned above, our downtown environment would be vastly different than it is today.  Anyway, here are a few images of the things I just mentioned above:

Lake Mirror Promenade (before)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/946398858_uA9zn-M.jpg)

Lake Mirror Promenade (a couple of years ago)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1261345111_j8cMJGH-M.jpg)

This used to be a one way street (Bus US 92).  They took over control of it from FDOT, shut it down and converted it back into the original promenade it used to be.

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-2759-p1050303.JPG)


Munn Park (like Hemming but green, maintained and surrounded by restaurants and retail)
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-2778-p1050272.JPG)

infill on Munn Park
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/944302679_8zvWH-M.jpg)

Streetscape has grown up now
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-2774-p1050311.JPG)

Lemon Street Promenade - was a one-way FDOT arterial. Road diet converted it into a linear greenway, stretching the length of downtown.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/944304034_MJQRj-M.jpg)

New downtown Amtrak Station at Lake Mirror Park
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/944301569_P5Ssh-M.jpg)

This long abandoned narrow highrise (think Laura Trio) was restored into a boutique hotel.

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-2776-p1050307.JPG)
http://www.terracehotel.com/

He then left and went to Hollywood (2000-2005).  I stopped in Hollywood and took pictures in 2011.  Here is what the results of 2000-2005 looked like then:

Hollywood Boulevard is basically a restaurant row (evidently, they found a way to get outdoor seating on both sides of the sidewalk)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213593345_8XmbL-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213594185_RXUax-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213593934_YxCdc-M.jpg)

Also noticed some new infill residential

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213592382_XLJso-M.jpg)


There was a pretty clean restored and maintained urban park as well.

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213597506_oKyhY-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213596672_DNtDf-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1213595867_EzPvS-M.jpg)

So, from my view, the WV guy definitely has some success in resolving many of the issues that downtown Jax struggles with.  It also helps, he's done CRAs in Florida and worked with entities like Amtrak to get them back downtown.

I've probably visited most of the places these finalist have been employed in.  As I go through each guy's past later today, I'll post images of the environments they oversaw.

Wow, thanks for the hard work you put into this post Ennis.   What you have shared above looks very encouraging.  Looking forward to seeing what the other candidates communities looked like. 

Quote from: stephendare on May 03, 2013, 11:48:32 AM
Great Job Ennis!

This city is so lucky to have such a tremendous resource like yourself.

I think I speak for most of us in saying that we are proud to have you and work with you daily here on (and at) metrojacksonville.

Its these little moments where you suddenly display a four dimensional familiarity with multiple projects in such a way that all of us can share in your research and documents that most of us realize that you are actually a giant.

I don't mean to interrupt the flow of this thread, but I did want to give you some much deserved thanks for doing the things you do.

Hear hear Stephen.  Well said and I completely agree!  :)

Thanks.  I guess scanning all those old planning documents and archiving images from various communities over the years, pays off at some point.

Quote from: thelakelander on May 03, 2013, 11:56:29 AM
Thanks.  I guess scanning all those old planning documents and archiving images from various communities over the years, pays off at some point.

Indeed it has and we are all glad you had the insight to do so.  ;) 

Ennis you really are an asset to Jacksonville, and I hope the negatives of the city (NIMBYs, COJ, GOB network of developers and politicians) never convince you to move away. 

Agreed with everything said about Ennis^. I wish the Times Union had done such a thorough job detailing the candidates experience. I mean this is kind of a big hiring for Jax....

Not that anyone expects anything better than trash from the TU comments section....but look at how poorly informed the posters are after the blurb about the position. Hopefully they will give more detailed profiles on the candidates in the near future.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-05-02/story/hunt-jacksonville-downtown-chief-narrows-four-candidates

I'm most impressed by the first two on the list....the third seems least impressive (even his resume format is bad)

I spent a week in Charleston WV downtown about 2 years ago.  Very nice, but didn't he have the built-in advantages of a university campus and geography that discourages if not prevents sprawl?

the guy has only been in WV since 2011....so I wouldn't think he had much to do with anything you see there

Edwards looks great.  One of his accomplishments that would be much welcome in downtown Jax:

Converted One-Way Streets--1995-2000
Directed process; Located experts; Overcame inertia

Quote from: tufsu1 on May 03, 2013, 01:30:34 PM
the guy has only been in WV since 2011....so I wouldn't think he had much to do with anything you see there

Just sayin' that what he accomplished elsewhere would have been more difficult and therefore more of a credit to his abilities.

Skeptical of anyone who has worked in both Detroit and Miami for the government in respect.  I'm sure Aundra is a nice, ethical experienced and qualified individual, but the amount of corruption that occurs in every layer of government in either city automatically disqualifies the person in my book.

I have a lot of respect for the work that ADA (now Invest Atlanta) has done over the past 2 decades, so I'm sure Hanna has played a major role in shaping the transformation of that city (and Atl has been a leader in financing alternatives and PPP for a while...so that would be something new to the table in Jax, he probably has the capital markets "connections" that many in public sector Jax probably don't).  I do remember someone telling me about someone over at ADA having some megalomaniacal power trip and kind of turning off a lot of private sector folks/developers, but it doesn't sound like it was Hanna.

Most intrigued by the first two along with everyone else here, it seems.  Never been to Charleston, WV; definitely a town you don't hear much about.

Wonder what happened to the guy from Columbus, OH (Schwimmer?).  There's a city with an arguably worse identity issue than Jax, which is a problem that anyone working downtown or for the Chamber or in the Mayor's office should be collaborating on to solve.

Quote from: tufsu1 on May 03, 2013, 01:30:34 PM
the guy has only been in WV since 2011....so I wouldn't think he had much to do with anything you see there

I didn't include Charleston because the last visit I took images of the city were before he arrived.  Speaking of Edwards, before I go on to looking into the other guys, I'll share this story of how momentum got started.

DT Lakeland was already struggling when Debartolo announced their plans for Lakeland Square in the mid-1980s.  Sears and Belk had already agreed to close their nearby Searstown stores and join up with newcomers Mervyn's and Maison Blanche.  However, the mall had two more anchor spots and the rumors were that downtown's JCPenney and Burdines were the targets.

In a panic, downtown leaders attempted to keep them there by purchasing two adjacent blocks, demolishing the buildings and then pitching the idea of a downtown mall connecting the two stores.  Needless to say, they ended up deciding to move to Lakeland Square anyway in the early 1990s.

Turning lemons into lemonade, the LDDA successful got the department stores to turn over ownership of the buildings to the city.  Before the stores closed, they had already put together cheap deals (ex. $1/year for 20 years) to lure to Publix and Watkins Motor Lines to relocate some of their headquarter operations into the spaces. 

So instead of having two large vacant stores further damaging downtown's image (hmm....Furchgott's), they ended up with almost 1,000 highly paid employees on those two blocks immediately.  After that, they put together deals for the remaining two blocks that were used for parking, resulting in infill office development. 

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/944305085_eLV9H-M.jpg)
One of the infill office projects from the 1990s.

QuoteWATKINS MOTOR LINES TO LEASE BURDINES DOWNTOWN LAKELAND BUILDING; CREATE 300 NEW OFFICE JOBS FOR LAKELAND MARKET

LAKELAND, Fla., June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Lakeland's economy received a substantial boost with a decision by Lakeland-based Watkins Motor Lines, the nation's 10th largest less-than-truckload (LTL) long haul common carrier, to lease the soon-to-be-vacant Burdines Department Store building in downtown Lakeland for future expansion of its corporate headquarters staff.  The transaction means 300 new quality office jobs and a $6 million annual payroll for the Lakeland market.

In addition to creating 300 new jobs over the next five years, Watkins plans to spend an estimated $4.2 million converting the two- story, 140,000 square-foot downtown building from retail to commercial usage.  The company plans to begin construction after the first of the year and occupy the building by mid-1995.
   
The Lakeland Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) paved the way for the transaction by accepting title to the property from Burdines, then approving in concept and agreement under which Watkins Motor Lines will lease the building for 20 years starting in January of 1995.  Burdines will occupy the building through the end of 1994 when it plans to move to new quarters at Lakeland Square Mall in north Lakeland.

"Our decision to lease the Burdines building was based on our projected employee growth and the belief that leasing offered advantages to both Watkins and the City of Lakeland.  This partnership with the city will go a long way toward meeting the goals of downtown revitalization, while also allowing us to meet out expansion needs," said John Watkins, president of Watkins Motor Lines, Inc.

Watkins said the privately-held company has experienced "tremendous growth" since moving its corporate headquarters to Lakeland in 1966, noting that its headquarters building has undergone expansion three times since that time, the most recent being a $4.7 million addition completed in 1990.
   
"We anticipate continued growth in the future.  Specifically, we expect to add about 300 to 450 employees to our headquarters staff in the next five years.  The Burdines building will give us the space we need for an expanded office staff," said Watkins noting that the company will begin a study soon to identify what office components are best suited for the Burdines building.
   
Watkins Motor Lines, Inc. currently employs a total of 6,000 people, including 500 office/clerical and 100 maintenance and terminal employees in Lakeland.  The company has 95 terminals and operates in 29 states.
   
"This is an exciting development for Lakeland.  We are pleased that a well established local company has stepped forward to fill the Burdines building before it is even vacated.  This will have a very positive impact on downtown Lakeland, stimulating the retail, restaurant and possibly even the residential sectors," said Lakeland Mayor Buddy Fletcher.
   

Officials of the City of Lakeland, the Lakeland Economic Development Council (LEDC) and the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) worked together in an effort to bring Watkins Motor Lines, Inc. to downtown Lakeland.

"We are excited that a quality, high-wage employer like Watkins Motor Lines has chosen downtown Lakeland for its future expansion.  This transaction significantly strengthens our downtown core," said Tom Moore, chairman of the LEDC, adding that the agency is also working closely with city officials to find a tenant for the vacant J.C. Penney building which is connected to Burdines by a parking garage.

6/21/94
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WATKINS+MOTOR+LINES+TO+LEASE+BURDINES+DOWNTOWN+LAKELAND+BUILDING%3B...-a015475618

Oh yeah, one more Jax issue that was resolved back in those days.  They also expanded their convention center (Lakeland Civic Center) and lured a hotel to build onsite.  It's on the west side of downtown.  The city took control over the adjacent FDOT one-way street (Lemon Street), reduced it's width and made it a linear sculpture park.  It stretches the length of downtown, from east to west, with the civic center and Lake Mirror Park as the anchors on either end.  You can see that linear green space in the Suntrust Bank building image above.  Ok, now I'm going to start digging into the past of these other guys.

I don't know as much about Hanna but he does have an impressive resume. He'd have to learn how to do a CRA plan on the fly but both Atlanta and Philly have seen a great amount of urban growth and redevelopment during the time he was employed in these cities. 

His financial backing would be a plus for a community as broke as we are.  Running a Google search reveals some information about his past experiences in Atlanta and Philadelphia that will require a deeper look.  I'm also not sure what his involvement was specifically with the revitalization of Center City.  In response I've sent an email to a urban advocate contact living in Philly, for his opinion. I'll provide a follow up post with that response when it comes in.

In the meantime, I'll post a list of links to articles that popped up during a Google Search of his time working for Atlanta and Philadelphia:



2008 to 2011 - Kevin Hanna and Associates

Replacing Greene at Philadelphia Housing Authority will require a political balancing act

QuoteThe first task of the Philadelphia Housing Authority's board after the firing of Executive Director Carl R. Greene is likely to expose political divisions not only among commissioners, but also between the agency and City Hall

QuotePHA Chairman John F. Street, the former mayor, said he favored his former secretary of housing, Kevin Hanna. "He had the strongest background and resumé," Street said.

But political observers say Hanna is such a clear ally of Street that his candidacy is not likely to go over well with Nutter, who has publicly clashed with his predecessor over the handling of the authority. Nutter appoints two of the agency's board members, which gives him a say in the decision.

This is not the first time Street has tried to get Hanna into the PHA. In 2004, as mayor, he appointed Hanna to the board, expecting him to eventually become chairman. But the appointment was blocked by another housing commissioner, City Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell. Street then named himself to the board and eventually became chairman.

In an interview Friday, Blackwell would say of Hanna only that "he made a good presentation" before the board.

Street, for his part, said the selection of an interim director was still up in the air.

"We had some really good people in for interviews," he said, "but not a lot of them knew a lot about public housing."

A second round of interviews is set for Oct. 4.

Hanna, who runs a Philadelphia urban and economic-development consulting firm, could not be reached for comment. As housing chief for Street, he oversaw the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, a much-vaunted project to eliminate blight that fell short of goals. Nutter put the initiative on hold while his administration untangled a complicated financial problem involving bond funding.

full article: http://articles.philly.com/2010-09-25/news/24978394_1_philadelphia-housing-authority-housing-commissioner-housing-experts



2002 to 2008 - City of Philadelphia - Secretary of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation

Atlanta official hired to fight blight Kevin R. Hanna will coordinate the housing portion of the city's anti-blight initiative.

QuoteWhile head of Atlanta's Development Authority, Kevin R. Hanna led an effort to create a $130 million residential and commercial development, with a supermarket and more than 300 homes, in a blighted part of that city's historic district.

He'll be asked to do much more in Philadelphia.

Yesterday, Mayor Street announced that he had hired Hanna, 43, to coordinate the housing portion of the city's multimillion-dollar anti-blight initiative. As secretary of housing and neighborhood preservation, Hanna's job will be to ensure that Philadelphia's myriad housing agencies are marching in step with the Street administration's $250 million-plus Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.

The program is a massive effort to eliminate blight, create redevelopment opportunities for private businesses, and improve city services. One goal is to build or reconstruct 16,000 houses.

full article: http://articles.philly.com/2002-11-08/news/25356035_1_anti-blight-affordable-housing-market-rate-housing



Audit questions official's record A report says Kevin R. Hanna and his former agency "lost control" of a Ga. project. It says he should be debarred.

QuoteA federal audit from Atlanta describes runaway costs, questionable land purchases and $3.8 million in no-bid contracts in a project supervised by the housing official whom Mayor Street has since named to help run his war on blight.

The audit raises questions about the management record of Kevin R. Hanna, Philadelphia's $175,000-a-year secretary of housing and neighborhood preservation.

Atlanta city officials and Hanna's former agency, the Atlanta Development Authority, "lost control" of a project called Historic Westside Village, says the audit by the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The feds say the City of Atlanta owes them $1.4 million, and shouldn't get any more redevelopment money until it proves it can control the money effectively. The auditors also urged HUD to consider possible sanctions against Hanna and other officials who ran the Atlanta project, including debarring them from handling future HUD funds.

A HUD spokesman in Philadelphia said the Atlanta regional office just received the report a week ago and hadn't yet decided whether to seek sanctions against Hanna, who was hired by Street in November for the newly created housing post.

Hanna said yesterday he had not yet read the audit but defended his actions in Atlanta as proper.

full article: http://articles.philly.com/2003-06-17/news/25447274_1_atlanta-project-audit-questions-housing-official



This article gives you a good overview of Hanna's backgroung.

A tough task for leader in blight fight Kevin R. Hanna called the city's revitalization plan "a tall order . . . a huge job." A tough task for new leader fighting blight

QuoteAs he drove his Lexus past the empty houses, buildings and lots stung with neglect, Kevin R. Hanna, the city's new housing czar, glanced left, then right, and made a prediction.

"I think - in fact, I know - people will be interested if we can get them the housing product," Hanna said of reawakening the Brewerytown section of North Philadelphia. "Because I've seen it go from this to what it can be."

Hanna, 43, who previously ran the Atlanta Development Authority, is the city's secretary of housing and neighborhood preservation, a new position in which he supervises the Office of Housing and Community Development, the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp., and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

Reporting only to the mayor, Hanna will work during the next year to bring all three housing agencies - which have a combined workforce of nearly 380 unionized workers - under one roof, seek technological enhancements, and evaluate staff and programs.

Hanna, whose yearly salary of $175,000 makes him one of the highest-paid employees in the city, is also charged with producing new market-rate housing and developing commercial space as part of Mayor Street's slow-moving Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. The main thrust of the initiative is to get 16,000 housing units built in five years - in a city with 60,000 vacant properties that have proved difficult to acquire or demolish.

Success will not be easy for Hanna, the son of Bahamian immigrants who grew up near Miami, excelled as a football player at Davidson College in North Carolina, and became a banker in Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta before being lured into government work in 1997. In Atlanta, he helped begin neighborhood and downtown revitalization projects, using his expertise in creating tax incentives for developers and his many connections.

full article: http://articles.philly.com/2003-03-28/news/25473708_1_new-housing-czar-revitalization-unionized-workers



Hanna was a mayoral appointment, so I'm guessing his position ended with the City of Philadelphia when Mayor Nutter took office in 2008. This article contains for and against views of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI) Hanna chaired under Mayor Street.

Scrutinizing Street's neighborhoods legacy

QuoteHOW WILL John Street be remembered after he leaves the mayor's office?

Will it be for high rates of violent crime? Or the FBI bug found in his office? Perhaps Philadelphians will simply remember him grabbing a deferred pay-raise on his way out the door.

Here's another possibility: Perhaps John Street will be recalled as the first Philadelphia mayor to apply government's massive resources to fixing neighborhoods that had been in decline for decades.

And if Street becomes the "Neighborhood Mayor" to future generations, it will be because of his Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, a complex vision of how to renew city neighborhoods ravaged by generations of disinvestment with a quick jolt of $296 million in bond money plus other city tax dollars.

Street's vision was this: Knock down thousands of blighted buildings, clean up neighborhoods, condemn abandoned property and then package it for development, attract private developers and encourage homeowners to reinvest in their own properties.

full article: http://articles.philly.com/2008-01-03/news/24988863_1_nti-neighborhoods-federal-housing-money



1997 to 2002 - Atlanta Development Authority

Entangled in Vine City; 'The city lost control': Officials scramble to save project to renew Historic Westside Village

QuoteAtlanta city officials are scrambling to salvage what they can of a major development project designed to restore a historic black community so blighted that heroin dealers and hookers work openly just blocks away.

Located near the Georgia Dome in an area known as Vine City, the Historic Westside Village was planned as a showcase of government-designed urban renewal. After 25 years on the drawing board, Westside Village was to open fully by 2002 as a mini-city providing up to 1,500 jobs, new housing, retail, offices, a multiplex movie theater and a six-story hotel.

But the project, with the Atlanta Development Authority as master developer, was loaded with so many expectations that it is imploding. The federal government has issued a scathing report on the city's oversight, the primary developer has pulled out, a bank has called for early payment of part of its loan because a construction deadline was missed, and the only buildings on the site house a Blockbuster, Publix, SunTrust branch bank and a restaurant where workers are finishing the interior.

"The city lost control of the project," is the blunt assessment in a recent audit by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provided a loan and grant to the project totaling $7.2 million.

The audit charges the city gave private developers land that should have been sold to pay off HUD loans, spent $1.35 million without competitive bids or contracts, lost records related to expenditures and paid above-market prices for some of the land.

A list of vendors HUD says were hired without competitive contracts include some key associates of former Mayor Bill Campbell. Among the records the city says are lost are those involving 23 land deals, plus general ledgers for 1994 through 1997, the audit says.

QuoteThe day-to-day development effort was overseen by Kevin Hanna, the former development authority president who resigned in December to take a similar job in Philadelphia. Hanna declined comment through his lawyer in Philadelphia, Edward Hoffman.

The project is so far behind schedule that Wachovia has demanded Atlanta pay $250,000 for missing a construction deadline the bank insisted on before issuing a $4 million loan.

full article: http://www.atlantahousing.org/pressroom/index.cfm?Fuseaction=printpubs_full&ID=73

I highlighted the one sentence because it mentions acts that happened between 1994 and 1997.  Hanna was hired for this position in 1997.  I'll provide a follow up on Hanna's Philadelphia experience from my contact up there later this weekend.

Here are some major projects in Atlanta that the ADA assisted in their development under the leadership of Kevin Hanna. Very impressive:


Fulton Cotton Mill

After two decades of underutilization, the former Fulton Cotton Mill industrial complex was renovated into loft apartments and condominiums. The project started in 1997, the same year Hanna became ADA's executive director.

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1242453357_RqULf-M.jpg)


Fulton Cotton Mill anchors an inner city neighborhood called Cabbagetown. Cabbagetown is an example of what many of our urban neighborhoods outside of downtown could become via revitalization

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1242453245_knan4-M.jpg)


Atlantic Station

During his tenure, the ADA helped develop and negotiate the Tax Allocation District (TIF) that faciliated the redevelopment of an abandoned 138-acre steel mill into a mixed use infill.

Atlantic Steel closed in 1998. Hanna's second year as executive director of the ADA

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1133-lg_atlantic_steel_mill.jpg)


Atlantic Station's first phase opened in 2005

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1108-as-16.jpg)

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1110-as-18.jpg)

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1128-as-4.jpg)

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1112-as-2.jpg)


Embassy Suites Hotel

ADA worked with a local developer to structure a deal to construct this hotel at Centennial Olympic Park.

(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1081-embassysuites.jpg)



StudioPlex at Auburn

ADA raised over $11 million for the conversion of this 104-year-old warehouse into an artist colony.

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Atlanta-Fourth-Ward/i-H5F6Ggc/0/M/P1580753-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Atlanta-Fourth-Ward/i-58gdqs8/0/M/P1580754-M.jpg)

Maher seems to bring a non-traditional quality to the mix of candidates.  He's an architect who leads an agency that succeeds at community engagement and implementing urban design goals.

With him in charge, approval of the poorly designed Parador parking garages and Fuqua strip centers would quickly disappear. Jacksonville could certainly benefit from more creatives like Maher being in a position of influence.

The CCDC appears to be a little heavy on the planning/policy side of things and light in the implementation of larger scale projects.  Not saying he can't handle this but his past experience doesn't appear to be as extensive in urban development as the other finalist.   

The CCDC does succeed in picking the affordable low hanging fruit.  However, I believe we can accomplish some of their successes without the DIA through tactical urbanism.  In fact, this discussion board's community of contributers already has similar accomplishments under our belts.  These include the new San Marco public square under construction, Jax Truckies, Courthouse Square, the Laura Street streetscape, modifying downtown parking policies, etc.


Here's some of Maher's CCDC's projects:

QuoteThe CCDC is an urban design initiative of the City of Charleston, and was a major recommendation of the 1998 Downtown Plan as a means to implementing the Plan’s urban design goals.

QuoteThe Center collaborates with citizens, neighborhood organizations, property owners, developers, interest groups, design professionals, city departments and elected officials to build upon the city’s progressive traditions and to promote the highest standards for community design. The CCDC helps to guide citizen involvement towards a productive definition of Charleston’s identity, promoting a forum for public dialog by sponsoring lectures, symposia, exhibitions, and design workshops. It engages difficult urban design challenges for the future of the city, with an integrated urban design studio that works across disciplines to foster innovation and sensitivity in promoting the best Charleston possible.

The Center aims to demonstrate in concept and in detail how civic discourse can bridge often divergent commitments: historic preservation and urban progress; neighborhood stabilization and gentrification; quality of life and economic development; continuity and change. In this way, a more inclusive and integrative approach to making the city can flourish, raising the processes of urban design and community development in Charleston to a new level of civic art.

http://www.charlestoncity.info/dept/content.aspx?nid=2287


Sidewalk Dining

The Civic Design Center, in its role as advocate for the quality and vitality of the public realm, developed a sidewalk dining ordinance that allows for appropriate and well-regulated sidewalk dining within the city, adding positive activity to our public realm.

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/609347062_j24bg-M.jpg)



King Street Bike Parking

Charleston’s Civic Design Center and the City’s Department of Economic Development have created a pilot program to provide more bicycle parking on the Peninsula.

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Charleston-2013/i-qJSCCJM/0/M/P1620275-M.jpg)



Medical District Height

The CCDC helped modify height ordinances to allow for context sensitive denser infill in the medical district.

QuoteIn 2002, MUSC concluded that it could no longer expand its present hospital or make major long-term investments in it.

The CCDC worked with the community and MUSC to develop new zoning regulations to allow reduced setbacks and greater density within the bounds of the MUSC campus in accordance with the MUSC Vision 2020 plan.

These innovative urban design tools helped the City of Charleston be responsive to the pressing needs of MUSC, while also upholding the City’s commitments to its citizens, and the quality of the urban fabric of Charleston.

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Charleston-2013/i-VcGfkt2/0/M/P1620288-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Charleston-2013/i-Z8zVw43/0/M/P1620294-M.jpg)

(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Charleston-2013/i-rxRFLFZ/0/M/P1620519-M.jpg)

You can find more here: http://www.charlestoncity.info/dept/content.aspx?nid=2299

Am I the only one who wonders, upon reading the thread title, "When did the DIA CEO 'stop' doing whatever it was, so he could resume?"

Here was my question to a Philadelphia contact regarding Kevin Hanna's work in that city:

Hi, I hope all is well. I have a quick question that you may be able to answer or provide some insight into. Kevin Hanna, Philly's Secretary of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation from 2002-2008 is one of the finalist for Jacksonville's Downtown Investment Authority's CEO position. A local paper posted his resume and it mentions all the success he had chairing the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.

However, during a google search, I found a story saying the NTI was a program to demolish thousands of vacant structures to make way for new infill. What's your take on Hanna and the NTI? Do you think Hanna would be good for downtown revitalization? Was he involved with anything in Center City? Thanks!

Here's the response:

QuoteI don't know too much about Mr. Hanna but I can tell you what I know about NTI.

The program was intended to demolish thousands of derelict and abandoned properties across the city, mainly in impoverished neighborhoods. The aim, of course, was good but slightly shortsighted and not properly executed. A large number of cleared parcels remain vacant to this day even though the program was initiated in 2000. NTI was the baby of former mayor John Street who built his reputation upon being 'the neighborhood mayor' as opposed to his predecessor Ed Rendell who channeled much of his efforts towards revitalizing Center City and environs. Street's program, when announced, was hailed as the magic bullet to bring the kind of success to Philadelphia's tumbled down and far-flung neighborhoods that downtown had been enjoying at the time. However a number of practical issues had either been overlooked or not fully considered by his administration starting with marketing. While blocks of abandoned houses are a deterrent to developers having those blocks located in low-income areas far from any possible synergy with gentrifying or economically stable areas is an even larger one. Additionally, the lion's share of NTI's budget went to land clearing and acquisition and not to any sort of management of the collection of properties in order to make them more than just fallow land.

Where Kevin Hanna fits into that is that he was Mayor Street's personal choice to run the operation. In my bit of research I'm not coming across anything bad about him or untoward about his association with Mayor Street but it does seem that he was a bit of a victim of local politics. Street had a defined set of local politicians and power brokers who were allies and who were enemies. After Street's terms as mayor ended current mayor Michael Nutter, no ally of Street during his time in City Council, essentially put NTI on ice in order to reorganize the program into something that more proactively dealt with the parcels that it had cleared - a process that has led to the idea of forming a land bank.

To answer your question, it seems that Kevin Hanna has no major strikes against him in terms of heading Jacksonville's Downtown Investment Authority. I'm unaware of the particulars - economic and political - entailed in executing the duties of that post but they can't be considerably harder and certainly have to be less frustrating than navigating Philadelphia's political waters.

As secretary of housing for Philadelphia he would have had little if any impact on anything in Center City as there's virtually no public housing there although in adjacent neighborhoods there are several Philadelphia Housing Authority projects that were conceived or built on his watch that are nothing short of outstanding (the mixed-income MLK/Hawthorne development is a notable example). If he does get the position I would think you could look forward to good things.

Peace,

Jim Edwards didn't make the cut.  The list is now down to three: Kevin Hanna, Michael Maher and Aundra Wallace.

Problems, assets weighed in hunt for Jacksonville's downtown chief

QuoteOne “short-list” candidate to run Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority once headed an agency that government auditors wanted ban from contracts with federal agencies.
Another made the news in Miami when a county-organized nonprofit he ran was accused of breaking local procurement codes by paying a developer tens of thousands of dollars for work before signing a contract.
Both have held important jobs at government agencies since then and were among three finalists the city said Thursday it is trying to schedule for open public interviews.

full article: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-05-09/story/problems-assets-weighed-hunt-jacksonvilles-downtown-chief

Maher withdraws from DIA CEO selection.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=539648