(https://photos.moderncities.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/Forsyth-Street-Garage-December-2018/i-Fk4t6D3/0/825cfe69/L/20181213%20DDRB%20Agenda%20Packet_Page_075A-L.jpg)
QuoteWith the reconstruction of the Barnett well underway, the time has come for an associated parking garage to replace a long standing surface parking lot in the heart of the city.
Full article: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/plans-for-proposed-forsyth-and-main-parking-garage-grow/
Glad to see that Vystar's move necessitated a larger garage, and also glad to see that the convertible retail spaces are still intact.
That said, dragging the exact same structure before the DDRB again, with absolutely no changes beyond the addition of one extra level, seems like an insane waste of time and resources.
Seems like unnecessary red tape that could be handled with a 30 second email.
Old vs. new.
(https://snag.gy/0eB6yd.jpg)
(https://snag.gy/Dt6Uvc.jpg)
You can use this link to see larger images of the slides:
https://photos.moderncities.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/Forsyth-Street-Garage-December-2018/
^Thanks!
You would think that there should be a mechanism to handle this administratively. For example, in the historic districts of you want to make an exterior mod to your home that is fully in compliance with the code you can get it stamped by staff rather than going in front of the board.
I think that if you're making a mod to an approved design that doesn't require any new deviations you should be able to just stamp the thing
If they faced the ramps the other way, they could eventually turn the entire first floor into retail with cars entering at the same spot then taking a quick right up the ramp. Thats a fail in my opinion. The way the entry and ramp are planned, they will have to use the entire forsyth facing part as a driveway forever. Missed opportunity for future retail.
I agree. That's a missed long term opportunity.
Quote from: Lostwave on December 13, 2018, 09:05:04 AM
If they faced the ramps the other way, they could eventually turn the entire first floor into retail with cars entering at the same spot then taking a quick right up the ramp. Thats a fail in my opinion. The way the entry and ramp are planned, they will have to use the entire forsyth facing part as a driveway forever. Missed opportunity for future retail.
No they won't. Just move the entrance/exit closer to Laura.
^ It's hard to tell, but I wonder if the garage floor level is at an equal grade with Forsyth Street, if moved closer to Laura?
Quote from: thelakelander on December 13, 2018, 10:03:49 AM
^ It's hard to tell, but I wonder if the garage floor level is at an equal grade with Forsyth Street, if moved closer to Laura?
It appears to be. The up/down ramps are on the back side of the garage.
Permits issued.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/forsyth-street-garage-approved-for-construction
$17 million seems shockingly cheap for this garage.
Glad to see this finally moving forward. Laura Street finally loses its only surface parking lot between the Landing and Union Street. Btw, came across this garage in downtown Detroit yesterday. The Griswold is a $24 million, five floor apartment building with 80 units built on top of an existing 10-floor parking garage.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Detroit-December-2018/i-c6HjDTp/0/ee56c999/L/20181223_143150-L.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Detroit-December-2018/i-3GhKmMq/0/618ea30e/L/20181223_161213-L.jpg)
^^ There was a developer that sought to get air rights over a number of city parking garages in Columbia, SC a few years back. It didn't make sense to me given the price of nearby land. It eventually died after they did more due diligence.
Just saw article on Daily Record that VyStar is now purchasing the land from the city and will actually build the garage now instead of Southeast Development. They will lease spaces to Barnett and city. Sounds like it will be scaled back to 550 spaces. Article didn't mention if still includes the retail or not. Article said this will now allow SE to move on to next phase of the Trio
The article>
VyStar will build Downtown parking garage near Laura Street Trio
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DIA partially terminates lease with Barnett Tower LLC.
by: Katie Garwood Staff Writer
The Downtown Investment Authority voted Wednesday to partially terminate a lease agreement between Barnett Tower LLC and the city to construct a parking garage at the southwest corner of Main and Forsyth streets.
VyStar Credit Union will instead purchase the property for $943,403 to construct the garage.
As part of the terms of the agreement, it will construct at least 550 spaces, and lease up to 250 of those spaces to the city for tenants in the Barnett Building and Laura Street Trio.
Until the Laura Street Trio is complete, VyStar will lease up to 125 spaces to the city.
The redevelopment agreement between Barnett Tower LLC and the city stated that the Barnett Building and parking garage must be "substantially completed" within three months of each other.
The Barnett's substantial completion deadline was Sept. 13.
On Wednesday, developer SouthEast Development Group announced the city issued a certificate of occupancy for The Barnett Building at 112 W. Adams St.
The certificate allows for marketing of the remaining apartments and retail space.
Work on the remaining commercial and retail spaces will continue through the first quarter of 2020. The 107 apartment units began leasing in April, and half are rented.
SouthEast Development Group now will shift toward the group's second phase of the project – the Laura Street Trio.
Full article link: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/vystar-will-build-downtown-parking-garage-near-laura-street-trio
VyStar is making a serious investment in downtown. It would be good for the city to follow suit. Hopefully this move speeds up the process of getting the Trio project underway.
Good! This is essential to the project though I hate parking garages in downtown Jax!
Is this design going to have to go back to DDRB for the 3rd time because of this? I trust Vystar to complete this sooner than Southeast, but how many times must a garage design get approved?
Sounds like they're going to build what's already designed. If that's the case, like the former Hotel Indigo project they purchased, they won't need to go back to the DDRB.
More info:
https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190918/new-deal-could-arise-for-restoring-jacksonvilles-historic-laura-street-trio
Seems like the construction cost estimates have increased, which could be why things have been slow to get moving on the garage and Trio.
As long as they don't ask for $200M, I say give them whatever they need and lets get this rolling.
Quote from: Captain Zissou on September 19, 2019, 08:57:09 AM
As long as they don't ask for $200M, I say give them whatever they need and lets get this rolling.
Of all the projects discussed, this is the most important one for revitalization of downtown.
Quote from: FlaBoy on September 19, 2019, 10:53:43 AM
Quote from: Captain Zissou on September 19, 2019, 08:57:09 AM
As long as they don't ask for $200M, I say give them whatever they need and lets get this rolling.
Of all the projects discussed, this is the most important one for revitalization of downtown.
I agree, but the previous project cost was listed at $44M, so a $200M incentive package would be high even by Lenny/Shad's standards.
I was half joking. I don't care what they ask. Give it to them and let's go.
More on this:
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/laura-street-trio-developers-renegotiating-deal-with-downtown-investment-authority
Boyer's comments : "We need to look at Trio with a fresh set of eyes," Boyer said. "We need to look at it realistically in terms of demand for hotel space, what you can expect to get in rent Downtown, what does the pro forma look like and what is their (financial) gap? What do they have in the way of a financing structure, how's it going to work?"
Not sure this part of project is going to be as originally planned. We will see.
Hopefully, they can figure out what the overall cost and financing gap happen to be for retrofitting long abandoned historic buildings that size. I'm not sure the DIA is staffed to determine the market for certain types of uses like hotels (assuming the hotel operator is still on board). I also doubt the majority of the redevelopment costs will be dramatically different regardless of if those +100 year old buildings become hotel, residential, etc.
An update on the proposed parking garage at Forsyth and Laura:
QuoteVyStar could buy Regions Bank parking lot to expand Downtown parking garage
VyStar Credit Union could expand its proposed Downtown parking garage by acquiring a neighboring Regions Bank parking lot.
VyStar Email Marketing Manager Christina Weber said via email Sept. 15 that the credit union entered into a contract with Regions and is doing due diligence on the 0.26-acre lot at 54 W. Forsyth St.
The Regions lot space would be used to expand VyStar's planned 550-space parking structure to 798 spaces and 293,929 square feet, according to Weber.
Regions and VyStar employees will use the garage and Weber said 250 spaces will be leased to the city.
Plans for the garage expansion include about 12,600 square feet of ground-floor retail.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/vystar-could-buy-regions-bank-parking-lot-to-expand-downtown-parking-garage
Any chance of street-level retail at the corner of Laura and Forsyth?
Regions Bank owns the corner surface parking lot at Laura and Forsyth. To have street level retail, they're trying to buy it from Regions.
I'm totally confused by this one. Every single rendering had the garage going to the sidewalk of Laura Street, thus encompassing this parking lot. I completely assumed this arrangement/agreement was already handled.
So we've been showing (literally) years of renderings on this without an agreement for this property? I mean, it sounds like they're close to an agreement but I'm really surprised.
Quote from: Steve on September 15, 2020, 02:16:51 PM
I'm totally confused by this one. Every single rendering had the garage going to the sidewalk of Laura Street, thus encompassing this parking lot. I completely assumed this arrangement/agreement was already handled.
So we've been showing (literally) years of renderings on this without an agreement for this property? I mean, it sounds like they're close to an agreement but I'm really surprised.
Same. I thought this was done years ago...
Quote from: thelakelander on September 15, 2020, 02:06:22 PM
Regions Bank owns the corner surface parking lot at Laura and Forsyth. To have street level retail, they're trying to buy it from Regions.
The article talks about the Regions lot allowing more parking spaces within the garage, and says nothing about increased retail.
I share Steve's confusion, the previous renderings (in the first post of this thread) show the garage going all the way to the Laura Street sidewalk, with what appears to be retail along Laura (the rendering is too small to read, and won't enlarge on my device). Sounds like this puts Regions in the driver's seat - the approved garage requires their property, how much is that little parcel worth ... now?
Quote from: Steve on September 15, 2020, 02:16:51 PM
I'm totally confused by this one. Every single rendering had the garage going to the sidewalk of Laura Street, thus encompassing this parking lot. I completely assumed this arrangement/agreement was already handled.
So we've been showing (literally) years of renderings on this without an agreement for this property? I mean, it sounds like they're close to an agreement but I'm really surprised.
Just goes to show that renderings don't mean squat when it comes to reality. The land was never in a single entity's possession.
Quote from: Charles Hunter on September 15, 2020, 02:49:16 PM
Quote from: thelakelander on September 15, 2020, 02:06:22 PM
Regions Bank owns the corner surface parking lot at Laura and Forsyth. To have street level retail, they're trying to buy it from Regions.
The article talks about the Regions lot allowing more parking spaces within the garage, and says nothing about increased retail.
I share Steve's confusion, the previous renderings (in the first post of this thread) show the garage going all the way to the Laura Street sidewalk, with what appears to be retail along Laura (the rendering is too small to read, and won't enlarge on my device). Sounds like this puts Regions in the driver's seat - the approved garage requires their property, how much is that little parcel worth ... now?
Plans for the garage expansion include about 12,600 square feet of ground-floor retail......if they can get the Region's parking lot.
Quote from: thelakelander on September 15, 2020, 03:21:38 PM
Quote from: Steve on September 15, 2020, 02:16:51 PM
I'm totally confused by this one. Every single rendering had the garage going to the sidewalk of Laura Street, thus encompassing this parking lot. I completely assumed this arrangement/agreement was already handled.
So we've been showing (literally) years of renderings on this without an agreement for this property? I mean, it sounds like they're close to an agreement but I'm really surprised.
Just goes to show that renderings don't mean squat when it comes to reality. The land was never in a single entity's possession.
Part of me wonders if this was procedural the entire time, otherwise this is baffling to me. The DIA brokered the deal for the Barnett and Laura Trio 5 years ago. The garage rendering included this lot the entire time. At some level there had to be a recognition that land that neither Atkins or COJ controlled involved.
At a minimum when VyStar came to the table they had to recognize it. Perhaps they just didn't want to buy the property until they were absolutely ready to break ground? If you don't own the land then you don't have to pay taxes on it.
The more I read this, I'm convinced this is procedural. The article today indicates an expansion to 798 spaces. But, Daily Record's own article from December 2018 shows 807 spaces.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/forsyth-street-garage-approved-for-construction
When VyStar took over the project, it dropped to 550:
Quote from: edjax on September 18, 2019, 07:38:26 PM
The article>
VyStar will build Downtown parking garage near Laura Street Trio
SHARE COMMENTS 0
DIA partially terminates lease with Barnett Tower LLC.
by: Katie Garwood Staff Writer
The Downtown Investment Authority voted Wednesday to partially terminate a lease agreement between Barnett Tower LLC and the city to construct a parking garage at the southwest corner of Main and Forsyth streets.
VyStar Credit Union will instead purchase the property for $943,403 to construct the garage.
As part of the terms of the agreement, it will construct at least 550 spaces, and lease up to 250 of those spaces to the city for tenants in the Barnett Building and Laura Street Trio.
Until the Laura Street Trio is complete, VyStar will lease up to 125 spaces to the city.
The redevelopment agreement between Barnett Tower LLC and the city stated that the Barnett Building and parking garage must be "substantially completed" within three months of each other.
The Barnett's substantial completion deadline was Sept. 13.
On Wednesday, developer SouthEast Development Group announced the city issued a certificate of occupancy for The Barnett Building at 112 W. Adams St.
The certificate allows for marketing of the remaining apartments and retail space.
Work on the remaining commercial and retail spaces will continue through the first quarter of 2020. The 107 apartment units began leasing in April, and half are rented.
SouthEast Development Group now will shift toward the group's second phase of the project – the Laura Street Trio.
I would not be surprised if the number of floors have/will change as well.
Yep, I see that. I bet it has to through DDRB (again) too.
Quote from: thelakelander on September 15, 2020, 03:21:38 PM
Quote from: Steve on September 15, 2020, 02:16:51 PM
I'm totally confused by this one. Every single rendering had the garage going to the sidewalk of Laura Street, thus encompassing this parking lot. I completely assumed this arrangement/agreement was already handled.
So we've been showing (literally) years of renderings on this without an agreement for this property? I mean, it sounds like they're close to an agreement but I'm really surprised.
Just goes to show that renderings don't mean squat when it comes to reality. The land was never in a single entity's possession.
Swerve - Hyatt owns it.
They right-of-first-refusal'd Steve Atkins and are saving it for a 300-square foot, no-frills convention center.
#GameChanger!