QuoteMayor Lenny Curry's administration will withdraw a bill that refunds $1.725 million in federal grant funding instead of finding a replacement for Metropolitan Park Downtown.
The move comes weeks after a development company owned by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan released a plan that incorporates the park into its mixed-use Shipyards development.
Full article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/curry-administration-to-withdraw-metropolitan-park-bill
Sorry I posted this to a different thread.
In some ways I actually like this. I've always thought closer to the core was a better location for the park.
Now it comes down to how the dollars and cents work on this.
What exactly does this mean in relation to Lot J, Shipyards Project, and possible Convention Center?
It just means there will be some green space integrated into the developments, that will replace what's being lost at Metropolitan Park. It means very little in the timeline of something actually being built on any of these properties.
...so in other words, the empty space east of Berkman 2 and in front of Maxwell House will remain empty?
For the foreseeable future. I hate to be wrong but everything I said about these projects, years ago, has come true. The Landing, Berkman 2, Shipyards, Lot J, City Hall Annex, etc. City Hall should not be in the real estate development game. It's pretty bad at it.
Quote from: thelakelander on August 11, 2020, 02:27:35 PM
For the foreseeable future. I hate to be wrong but everything I said about these projects, years ago, has come true. The Landing, Berkman 2, Shipyards, Lot J, City Hall Annex, etc. City Hall should not be in the real estate development game. It's pretty bad at it.
Lest we forget the legend of Sax Seafood. What might have been.
:'(
Quote from: heights unknown on August 11, 2020, 12:43:21 PM
What exactly does this mean in relation to Lot J, Shipyards Project, and possible Convention Center?
Nothing.
Either it gets developed or it doesn't.
This greenspace has long been included in Iguana's Shipyards plan, I think this just formalizes its Met Park replacement status.
(http://snipboard.io/8ztWE3.jpg)
(https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/sites/default/files/styles/sliders_and_planned_story_image_870x580/public/190273_standard.jpeg)
Quote from: Bill Hoff on August 11, 2020, 03:43:38 PM
Quote from: thelakelander on August 11, 2020, 02:27:35 PM
For the foreseeable future. I hate to be wrong but everything I said about these projects, years ago, has come true. The Landing, Berkman 2, Shipyards, Lot J, City Hall Annex, etc. City Hall should not be in the real estate development game. It's pretty bad at it.
Lest we forget the legend of Sax Seafood. What might have been.
:'(
Lol Sax! We're well over a decade now of it being in its current state.
Quote from: thelakelander on August 11, 2020, 07:38:27 PM
Quote from: Bill Hoff on August 11, 2020, 03:43:38 PM
Lest we forget the legend of Sax Seafood. What might have been.
:'(
Lol Sax! We're well over a decade now of it being in its current state.
I toured the Sax building with a potential restaurateur a few years ago. The place was almost a goner then, can't imagine its condition now. This is the site that Daily's might have been better locating their "Downtown" station at than at the foot of the Acosta Bridge. They could not only tap into Downtown traffic but also I-95. Would also be better for Downtown given its a bit more removed from the core area. Go figure.
I don't understand how something like Sax Seafood could even happen. Something as basic as a small restaurant building, and it goes through three mayors with no action? What??????
There's incompetence, and then there's just being a complete disaster.
Two of those mayors were Republicans, how can you just leave a property off the tax rolls for over a decade like that?
Quotehow can you just leave a property off the tax rolls for over a decade like that?
It's easier here !
Quote from: thelakelander on August 11, 2020, 07:38:27 PM
Quote from: Bill Hoff on August 11, 2020, 03:43:38 PM
Quote from: thelakelander on August 11, 2020, 02:27:35 PM
For the foreseeable future. I hate to be wrong but everything I said about these projects, years ago, has come true. The Landing, Berkman 2, Shipyards, Lot J, City Hall Annex, etc. City Hall should not be in the real estate development game. It's pretty bad at it.
Lest we forget the legend of Sax Seafood. What might have been.
:'(
Lol Sax! We're well over a decade now of it being in its current state.
The count down to historic landmark eligibility is on! Just a few more missed economic cycles/decades and we're there!
QuoteEnvironmental testing proposed at Metropolitan Park
The Downtown Investment Authority board of directors will consider a resolution Aug. 19 to allow Iguana Investments Florida LLC to conduct environmental testing at Metropolitan Park.
The resolution states the testing may be performed "in anticipation of preparing an offer" to acquire the property.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/environmental-testing-proposed-at-metropolitan-park
I'm sure it's clean lol. The fact that it was a working shipyard I'm sure didn't contribute to any issues in the previous 150 years.
I guess from Iguana's perspective, this would be a COJ responsibility. At a minimum, it would factor into the agreement $$$
Quote from: Steve on August 13, 2020, 02:58:07 PM
I'm sure it's clean lol. The fact that it was a working shipyard I'm sure didn't contribute to any issues in the previous 150 years.
I guess from Iguana's perspective, this would be a COJ responsibility. At a minimum, it would factor into the agreement $$$
Yeah, hard to imagine that the arsenic just suddenly stops there at the edge of the Shipyards property.
(https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-gmg.s3.amazonaws.com/public/PIFXMX4FOBEDPEU7HDKYI2W4JE.jpg)
^ From what I recall, the reclaimable submerged lands may be even more polluted.
Metro Park area also used to be an oil tank farm so add some likely hydrocarbon spills to that Shipyard history 8). And, the area was once crisscrossed with railroad sidings. Railroads used to spray oil as a weed killer on their tracks in addition to lots of fluids dropping from train equipment and residues from creosote treated cross-ties. Add it all up, and there is likely a major clean up in the cards for all of the land from the stadium to Metro Park to the Shipyards.
Has anyone heard the results of the environmental testing for Lot J that Khan should have in hand by now? That might be a preview of coming attractions.
^$6.3 million is the estimate for remediation at Lot J.
Pollution is mostly petroleum, apparently.
City will foot the bill if Lot J happens.
Quote from: Ken_FSU on August 13, 2020, 09:19:49 PM
^$6.3 million is the estimate for remediation at Lot J.
Pollution is mostly petroleum, apparently.
City will foot the bill if Lot J happens.
Based on Google Maps, I estimate Lot J at about 10 +/- acres. At that size, clean up would be $630K/acre. I am guessing given the amount involved, there may also be some groundwater intrusion which can further complicate clean up.
Given Lot J is likely "cleaner" than the other real estate Khan is eying, I would expect even higher costs per acre to clean up Metro Park and the Shipyards.
Wonder where Curry is going to keep pulling all these dollars from given COVID, crime initiatives, the Port's dredging, the buy-off of the police and fire for the fake pension fund fix, underfunded and deferred parks and road maintenance, etc. in the face of declining tax revenues. So much for a Republican CPA/fiscal conservative. He appears to favor bonding some of these things which is just pushing the fiscal can down the road for others to deal with. One way or the other, this is a bubble that is going to burst.
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on August 13, 2020, 09:50:12 PM
Quote from: Ken_FSU on August 13, 2020, 09:19:49 PM
^$6.3 million is the estimate for remediation at Lot J.
Pollution is mostly petroleum, apparently.
City will foot the bill if Lot J happens.
Based on Google Maps, I estimate Lot J at about 10 +/- acres. At that size, clean up would be $630K/acre. I am guessing given the amount involved, there may also be some groundwater intrusion which can further complicate clean up.
Given Lot J is likely "cleaner" than the other real estate Khan is eying, I would expect even higher costs per acre to clean up Metro Park and the Shipyards.
Wonder where Curry is going to keep pulling all these dollars from given COVID, crime initiatives, the Port's dredging, the buy-off of the police and fire for the fake pension fund fix, underfunded and deferred parks and road maintenance, etc. in the face of declining tax revenues. So much for a Republican CPA/fiscal conservative. He appears to favor bonding some of these things which is just pushing the fiscal can down the road for others to deal with. One way or the other, this is a bubble that is going to burst.
^Groundwater is definitely something that the Jags tested for. The city did some work in the late 1990s at Lot J in conjunction with the EPA to prevent the petroleum from getting into the groundwater, but that was 20 years ago, so who knows.
For what it's worth, $35 million was what the Jags estimated the Shipyards remediation would cost.
The city is supposed to still be sitting on approximately $13.4 million (minus $750k for the 2016 EPA assessment) from our settlement with Landmar that's earmarked specifically for Shipyards remediation, but who knows if that money is still there or not.