A contractor has come through and started clearing out the trees at St. Johns Bluff & Town Center Parkway.
No signs or permit poles on the property yet.
Does anyone know what's going up?
More apartments? We seem to have a ton going up already. My guess is a gas station.
I believe that is the property that was purchased by Gate.
Yes, that should be the Gate gas station. Would not surprise me to see at least one more built at that exit.
And with no mobility fee, they'll be going up like weeds!
Really a shame. The area from Publix to UNF could be some really interesting urban layout bring UNF to the towncenter.
at street level. there are some cool examples happening in and around UCF and FSU.
Having a new service station on the corner is not a singular sin, but lining the road from Gate to Publix with new urban style, pedestrian friendly, mixed use, would vastly increase the value of that area.
I guess I was hoping that at one of the entrances to UNF, a street lever walkable area would develop. Beach is shot and Kerman is completely suburban. I know Delaney has worked really hard to make the campus very urban and walkable. The main entrance would be a great place to extend a great walkable district. North town center would be that place. I guess we will have to see what happens.
Quote from: urbaknight on July 06, 2013, 10:27:21 AM
And with no mobility fee, they'll be going up like weeds!
If this is Skinner land near SJTC, they're still paying fees. Those fees are just going to the Skinners so they can recoup their cost of paying for roads like Gate Parkway and Town Center Parkway. Just goes to show you how much of a crock the whole "we need the moratorium" argument is. The most rapidly growing area of town has always been paying fees, yet that hasn't stopped development from coming.
Quote from: jcjohnpaint on July 06, 2013, 11:29:09 AM
I guess I was hoping that at one of the entrances to UNF, a street lever walkable area would develop. Beach is shot and Kerman is completely suburban. I know Delaney has worked really hard to make the campus very urban and walkable. The main entrance would be a great place to extend a great walkable district. North town center would be that place. I guess we will have to see what happens.
Yeah, don't expect walkability here. That ship sailed when UNF moved to the middle of a swamp. The best you'll ever see is nodes of development. This means, we'll need to find a way for reliable transit to link multiple nodes throughout that section of the city.
Quote from: jcjohnpaint on July 06, 2013, 10:50:57 AM
at street level. there are some cool examples happening in and around UCF and FSU.
Quote from: jcjohnpaint on July 06, 2013, 11:29:09 AM
I guess I was hoping that at one of the entrances to UNF, a street lever walkable area would develop. Beach is shot and Kerman is completely suburban. I know Delaney has worked really hard to make the campus very urban and walkable. The main entrance would be a great place to extend a great walkable district. North town center would be that place. I guess we will have to see what happens.
Hmm, it's more than half-a-mile of nothing from that entrance to the actual walkable campus area. I don't think that compares in any way to UCF or FSU, as far as I can remember.
Walking = hiking, this IS Jacksonville, after all.
Students walk and bike to the towncenter all the time. During school there is constant foot and bike traffic between the two areas.
In comparison, Edward Waters generates more foot traffic on Kings and they have less than 2,000 students. There's not much you can do to urbanize the stretch between 295 and UNF's core campus. There's also not much one can do to urbanize that diamond interchange with 295. There's remote opportunity with the Skinner land west of 295 but none of that is properly zoned for urban oriented infill. Most likely, it will end up looking like everything else already lining Gate, Deerwood, and Town Center Parkways. That's the path of least resistance.
Is there really much foot traffic off campus near UCF? I have been to a few football games there and haven't seen it.
There's a lot of bike traffic. UCF runs a shuttle service between the campus and all the apartment complexes lining Alafaya Trail, so pedestrian traffic is nowhere close to what you would encounter around a true urban campus like UF or FSU.
Quote from: ProjectMaximus on July 06, 2013, 12:36:47 PM
Quote from: jcjohnpaint on July 06, 2013, 10:50:57 AM
at street level. there are some cool examples happening in and around UCF and FSU.
Quote from: jcjohnpaint on July 06, 2013, 11:29:09 AM
I guess I was hoping that at one of the entrances to UNF, a street lever walkable area would develop. Beach is shot and Kerman is completely suburban. I know Delaney has worked really hard to make the campus very urban and walkable. The main entrance would be a great place to extend a great walkable district. North town center would be that place. I guess we will have to see what happens.
Hmm, it's more than half-a-mile of nothing from that entrance to the actual walkable campus area. I don't think that compares in any way to UCF or FSU, as far as I can remember.
actually the master plan for UCF was very similar....the difference is they have 50,000+ students now and their campus isn't also an environmental preserve...so, as Lake states, the best we can hope for is a node/pod of campus development near the main entrance....but there will still (and should) always be a natural area between there and the campus core
I do agree on this point. It is also what makes the campus so special. I was grading today and took a walk around to enjoy the nature. Very special place.
All of the post-GI bill campuses have the problem of a lack of connectivity due to the way they were sited and laid out originally. But there are plenty of opportunities. Making the stretch north of 295 more walking and bike friendly would go a long way, not just in the developments but in the pedestrian connections. We also need to complete the pedestrian/bike routes on the UMF side, get the Kernan rerouting completed, sidewalks and bike paths added on Central Parkway, and better transit connections. These are all things students use already. The area will never be "urban", but it can be better connected.
Quote from: tufsu1 on July 07, 2013, 06:27:15 PM
actually the master plan for UCF was very similar....the difference is they have 50,000+ students now and their campus isn't also an environmental preserve...so, as Lake states, the best we can hope for is a node/pod of campus development near the main entrance....but there will still (and should) always be a natural area between there and the campus core
Thanks for the clarification. Still a problem either way..
Madewell, a women's clothing store and Tervis, a store that is known for tumblers and other drinkware are both coming to the SJTC. My bad if someone already posted this news.
www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/01/22/madewell-to-open-first-jacksonville.html
www.madewell.com
www.tervis.com