Avondale Town Center Project Begins
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/812973430_FRjZm-X2.jpg)
As part of then City of Jacksonville's Town Center Program, commercial corridors in the older parts of the city are being revitalized one by one to enhance their appearance. The latest corridor to break ground is at the Shoppes of Avondale, on St John's Avenue.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-avondale-town-center-project-begins
Ah, that explains why when I was going down St. Johns that I thought I was on Riverside with all those damn horrible patch jobs from holes in the street.
I look forward to the improvements, but I hope the maintenance is better than what I see in five points. I'm not impressed with how quickly the landscaping has returned to a mass of weeds and cigarette butts. Even if it is the city's responsibility to maintain that work, I would think the local vendors would make more of an effort as well.
What they need to do first is trim up the dead fronds/skirts on the Mexican Fan Palms. Those can hold rodents and/or diseases unless removed.
Semi-related question. Anyone know the story on the San Marco Blvd improvements?? Weren't they supposed to start in March??
The upgrades should look great. The best that I can see is the relocation of the overhead utilities to the allys and/or underground. That alone will work wonders to improve the looks.
Nice to know that it will look just like Five Points once completed. It would be a sin to let any shopping/dining district retain any type of individuality or uniqueness.
The buildings make the area, not the sidewalks. I have no problem with these improvements, because in the end, they will get more parking, and the lighting will be better (something that I think needs to be improved throuought the sity)
Quote from: Bike Jax on March 22, 2010, 12:12:13 PM
Nice to know that it will look just like Five Points once completed. It would be a sin to let any shopping/dining district retain any type of individuality or uniqueness.
care to explain further?
^I believe that the issue BikeJax is saying is that the improvements are vanilla, and rid the area of character.
Personally, as long as they don't go crazy, I think the improvements are fine, particularly the lighting. To me, you can never have too much lighting in an area that you want people to walk around in.
sounds good to me. the sidewalks and roads have really become an eyesore in the area. this should encourage people to come spend their money at the restaurants and shops (or is it shoppes?), which is what matters to me!
It is incumbent on the merchants to maintain the area around their shops once this project is completed. Something they have not and are not doing now.
As in Five Points, there will be a reduction in parking spaces. Regularizing the spaces on Ingleside will help, but I bet- in the long run- the result will be fewer spaces overall.
I don't but the traffic signal mast arms are expensive argument. They can't be that much more expensive than a traffic signal on poles and wires. You won't find a traffic signal in California hanging across the road on a wire. Many of their traffic signals are over 50 years old. I've also spent extensive time in Brazil and none of their traffic signals are on wires. Whoever decided to put the signals on wires in the first place ended up costing the state more money in the long run.
How is it possible that a shade tree's unit cost is $750? You can drive down the street to Philip's Garden Store, the most expensive private nursery for miles, and buy a large tree for under $200. Furthermore, I understand the city is replacing the hacked up pear trees with Drake Elm's--a cheap, non native species that will be bare of leaves from November to April. I guess if you want something nice to look at, you have to look on the other side of St. Johns where there are 50 foot tall oaks. Uninspired city planning to say the least.
^ Those prices are from the 2005 when the original proposal was made. The reason they are finally going through with this project is because the price has dropped significantly. The orignal price tag was $1.4 million and it now has dropped to $731K.
Here is the link to previous discussion on this and the Time Union article.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,7751.0.html
There is no room on the south side of the road for oak trees and the oaks on the north side are going to need to be replaced in less than 10-years. The 2-5" - 3" Drake Elms (14-16ft. high) actually cost $350 apiece, $200 might buy a 1" tree.
The brochure posted seems to be five years old. Is there somewhere that one can see what is actually going to be done? Ground has not really been broken yet; turbidity barriers are in place around the existing trees, but that's about all that has been visibly done as of 3/27.
Ground has been broaken along St. Johns Avenue for more than a week or so. The interesection at Talbot has been blocked several times by digging on the south side, and the north side at Van Wert by Boone Park has been closed during the day as well. This appears to be water work so far, judging by the blue pipe. I assume it's related to the town center stuff.