Urban Core Construction Update - November 2009
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A look at the status of various projects under construction in and around Downtown Jacksonville during the month of November.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-nov-urban-core-construction-update-november-2009
You should wear an INS hard hat and approach the courthouse when you take pictures. I bet there would be some funny ones of the big scatter that ensues. Don't you love the security at the construction of our courthouse? Any terrorist can go work on the jobsite for cash and a fake ID and potentially plant an explosive for future terrorism. I'm exciting that we're finally building the building, but I never thought that security on the jobsite would be that bad. Turner Construction deserves more than a slap on the wrist for employing a 1/3 of the job's workforce with fake ID's. (Even though the subcontractors are at fault, Turner is in charge of everyone...)
Courthouse project is going in the right direction, UP! I drive by it almost everyday and I am impressed with the progress.
I love the new look of Main Street. It is not finished yet but it looks 100% better than what it did before the project began.
Almost anything is an improvement of what Main Street in Springfield used to look like. The improvement and reconstruction bodes well for future business and residential projects along that corridor in Springfield. Good to see the Courthouse finally, after almost 7 years going up, but not without hiccups along the way. Turner Construction needs to be more militaristic and security minded in their hiring process; this is not 1969. Anyhoo, a couple of real projects going up in "Big Jax;" wish there were more, but hopefully as the economy improves some of the "on hold" projects and even cancelled projects will be revived.
Heights Unknown
What and exactly where is the Dragon Fly Bar? Another entertainment option for downtown?!?
Dragon Fly will be a bar. Its right off the corner of Bay and Ocean.
Dragon Fly Bar is on Ocean, near Bay, next to the Bostwick Building (the empty old bank building with the jaguars painted in the windows).
That first picture of Main in the thread is terrific.
Main Street really is looking great. Anyone know what kind of landscaping is planned for the medians? More palms or just grass?
You know, I don't have as much of an issue with the Main Street project, but the medians are terrible. While the residents are affected, I'm more concerned about the businesses that it can hurt.
They really need to get the medians finished if they want to keep the cycle of putting them in and pulling them out running smoothly.
OK I will try to be less negative the rest of the day.
Plantings are great, but maintaining it is another issue. The lighting and irrigation needs to be kept up with. Nothing wrong with palms, look at the old streetcar pictures on Main St. Cabbage/Sabal palms lined the way.
I swear I saw young oak trees that were about to be planted, dont know what else though
Palms in a narrow roadway median make a lot of sence. The shade trees need to be long the sidewalks where they can be enjoyed and more easily maintained.
50 years from now a row of mature oaks and magnolia leading to Downtown would be spectacular.
What is the construction project in the Shoppes ofAvondale going to be? I heard it was to be a restaurant, but I didn't trust the source.
Quote from: Jason on November 17, 2009, 10:40:37 AM
Palms in a narrow roadway median make a lot of sence. The shade trees need to be long the sidewalks where they can be enjoyed and more easily maintained.
Jason, I agree. I would have liked to have seen live oaks, magnolias, etc. down the sides and our indigenous sabal palms (the State tree) down the center. As FSU mentioned, sabal palms were the original landscaping for Main Street decades ago so it would have evoked the Old Florida, a unique part of our past, as well.
I also wonder, like others, about having medians built in such a way as to psychologically and physically divide the street into "separate" communities.
I do agree it is far better than the recent past but, once again, I just don't understand the "thinking" that goes into these plans.
Quote from: Steve on November 17, 2009, 10:31:38 AM
You know, I don't have as much of an issue with the Main Street project, but the medians are terrible. While the residents are affected, I'm more concerned about the businesses that it can hurt.
I agree, they should rename it Main Highway instead of street...
Main Street is a huge improvement already. The trees are awesome. The only thing I can think of better would be a street car rail system like Canal Street in New Orleans.
Main Street just looks pretty. When I saw it today, after being gone for a week, I wanted to jump up and down. HOORAY!
I noticed yesterday that the front facade for the Dragon Fly bar is being reconstructed
I ate on top of the BofA tower after the parade on veterans day (awesome views!) and took a picture of the Courthouse from above.
Click for larger
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2611/4114100894_2b6ec6846a_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichos79/4114100894/sizes/l/)
Nice shot!
Does anyone know what they're doing out behind St. Vincents? They've got a lot construction equipment doing a lot of digging right by the river. It's like maybe some sort of patio eating area maybe?
Quote from: Fallen Buckeye on November 18, 2009, 01:21:01 AM
Does anyone know what they're doing out behind St. Vincents? They've got a lot construction equipment doing a lot of digging right by the river. It's like maybe some sort of patio eating area maybe?
Its a remodel of the coffee shop at the breezeway between the main building and the parking garage doctors office buliding. Sorry building names are escaping me at this time.
Quote from: coredumped on November 17, 2009, 10:23:45 PM
I ate on top of the BofA tower after the parade on veterans day (awesome views!) and took a picture of the Courthouse from above.
Click for larger
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2611/4114100894_2b6ec6846a_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichos79/4114100894/sizes/l/)
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but that pic shows how much wasted, or at best poorly used, space there is on site.
Quote from: Captain Zissou on November 18, 2009, 10:22:25 AM
Quote from: coredumped on November 17, 2009, 10:23:45 PM
I ate on top of the BofA tower after the parade on veterans day (awesome views!) and took a picture of the Courthouse from above.
Click for larger
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2611/4114100894_2b6ec6846a_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichos79/4114100894/sizes/l/)
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but that pic shows how much wasted, or at best poorly used, space there is on site.
Agreed, Captain. It should have gone vertical like the Feds. Check out the MJ Courthouse threads to see how silly this plan is. A Downtown killer for the next 50 to 100 years! Maybe it should be nicknamed "Peyton Place"! How appropriate.
Wikipedia:QuotePeyton Place is a 1956 novel by Grace Metalious. "Peyton Place" has become an expression to describe a place whose inhabitants have sordid secrets.
P.S. It was also a sequel book, movie, and two soap operas. The Courthouse has certainly been a soap opera and a very expensive one at that. And now, another blight on Downtown.
with the many different designs/previous project teams, you might call it a sequel as well.
Deco Bistro looks awesome!
Am I the only one that hates how they have main st set up? I bloody hate medians, all they do is get in the way of turning left. Roads are supposed to be for driving and getting from point A to point B is the most efficient way possible, not to look "pretty." I can only imagine the amount of gas that is wasted each year trying to get around the damn things.
Main Street - if it were not for those "hated" medians, Main Street would never have gotten done. It is a state highway and the state paid for much of it so the state got to say how it got done. Now, accept the medians for what they should be....where the future street car tracks will go! Meanwhile, as Main street grows commercially, parking options will have to be addressed. The medians may make/ force Main Street to be more walkable in the end.
The Court house....too bad the contractors can't be forced to use the legal workers who are here in jacksonville and have the experience. We know many who have applied but the illegal ones work cheaper.....even in todays depressed rates... the word was put out long ago that you could apply but would not get hired as the vast majority of the workers would come from other areas...we keep seeing the reports of the crackdown on illegals but none of the guys we know get called up.
Re: the courthouse...
And so in the meantime, instead of working, the men who live here and have worked here all of their lives, are watching the city use illegals and other workers from out of town.
In these times, it is a bitter pill for these hard working men (and women) to swallow. It will not make a stronger Jacksonville, that is for sure.
If you want local workers, you need to hire local general contractors! Something the city did not do.