Metro Jacksonville

Brooklyn's Corner Bakery Café Opens: What Do You Think?

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One of the most controversial infill development projects near downtown Jacksonville is nearing completion. Is it a positive or negative for downtown walkability?

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/3884

This will be my next hood. Was one of the first 100 that will receive free coffee for a year. What a positive to be down from the official  Mayor Brown Kayak launch at Sydney Geffen Park. All positive.

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It's walkable because it is not the size of SJTC, or other large outdoor mall. 

Not sure how to answer this. I think it's all three at the same time. Yes, it will be a positive addition to downtown's streetscape; it's a bunch of new commercial space instead of a big empty lot, and the street-fronting buildings are better than the set back grocery store. Yes, it's too suburban for downtown and we could have gotten something better; it should have had a more urban footprint. And yes, regardless of anything I'm glad new businesses and a grocery store have come to Brooklyn. I'd go with choice D: all of the above.

While the JTA reviews/determines the future of the Skyway system, can we expect any attempt to better connect Downtown and Riverside via bus/trolley? And if so, would we see it down Riverside or Park?

looking at the new bus routes, it seems there are three lines running down park st to downtown, with a weekday cutoff time around midnight. One connects through riverside to murray hill, another to avondale, including decent weekend service.

Then there are two lines down Riverside Ave. One goes through Stockton in Riverside, the other runs from Lavilla to Riverside and Avondale. But neither goes to the downtown. These end a little earlier in the night.

Yes its a great addition to that area. It's to boom over there!

Does it make Riverside Ave more walkable?  I guess so but does that even matter at this point?  The complex itself only needs to be walkable enough for the renters to use it easily and it is far more walkable than say River City ever will be. As this is still and will be an auto-centric society for the next 50 plus years no matter what; and the majority of the business to Fresh Market will arrive by car, this development seems like the reasonable compromise that seems to be needed for the next couple of decades.

The Fresh market is a little closer to the street than I initially thought it would be.  I don't love it, but don't hate it either.  I have noticed quite a jump in foot traffic with only Fresh Market opening.  I am sure it will be fine.  Still to suburban for me. 

So, has anyone actually tried it yet? I'll be making my visit later this week!

At least they have outdoor seating, with a better a view than any outdoor seating at the SJTC offers. It's not perfect, but what is?

Begin the southside hipster exodus!
The promised land awaits nestled between authentic riverside and trendy downtown.

Don't you think the new apartments look a bit like 'The Projects' in NYC. ? They're just massive with
little visual entry points.

The biggest obstacle to making Riverside Ave. walkable is Riverside Ave. itself.  It needs to lose a couple of lanes and gain some on-street parking to help prevent future large parking lots.  If it was me I would lose the two center lanes and increase the median width (which would make room for a streetcar line).  The "sidewalk" dining is so far from the street because cars are going by at 55 mph.  No one wants to eat next to that.  As for the large parking lot itself, a few more structures next to Corner Bakery could take care of that.  Publix has a large parking lot as well but for the most part you can't see it from the street.

The good thing is that Riverside Avenue isn't a FDOT roadway anymore, so there's no one stopping COJ from converting two lanes to parallel parking.

The new plaza isn't TOTALLY suburban. I'm out deep in Mandarin now and it still looks a bit more compact, set closer to the street than any of the big grocery stores plazas out that way. But not quite as compact as something you'd see in one of the more dense metros.

Plus, this isn't a densely populated city to begin with. The area needs some of these core amenities before we can get too picky.

As for Corner Bakery place itself, it's awesome being able to walk there on my lunch breaks & their portion sizes are decent (A full steak sandwich was overkill for lunch, get a half sandwich and some soup) I treat it as an extra conference room at work when i need to get away from all of the in-office distractions. Pretty sweet additional to the area, IMO.