Metro Jacksonville

Downtown Jacksonville is in crisis but it can "turn the corner" if the city recognizes the best path to a vibrant urban scene is focusing improvements on a small, walkable area instead of a scattershot approach, according to a report to be released Tuesday today by a downtown advocacy group.

Downtown Vision says $1.1 billion of public and private investment in downtown over the past decade has been spread too broadly across a 2.72 square-mile area.

The report says the city will get the most bang for its buck by concentrating redevelopment in a 25-block area centered by Laura Street on the Northbank, and Friendship Fountain and the Southbank Riverwalk on the other side of the river.
"We simply do not have the resources to undertake the rehabilitation of our entire downtown," the report says.
Downtown Vision Executive Director Terry Lorince said other cities have succeeded with a block by block approach.
"We absolutely believe that it starts in the core and works out," she said in an interview. "Let's make what we have work better."

Downtown Vision's strategy differs from the suggestions compiled recently by the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce after chamber members toured downtown Kansas City.
The chamber's report suggests creating an entertainment district of clubs and restaurants around the sports complex, which contains the arena, baseball park and football stadium.

But Lorince said the sports complex is too far from the urban core. Downtown Vision's report says a February survey of downtown club owners showed that with the exception of the Florida-Georgia football game weekend and some events at the arena, activities at the sports complex generate little spin-off business.

Lorince said it's better to fill vacant and under-utilized buildings with businesses and residences so people feel there is more activity as they walk through downtown, rather than encountering "dead zones" between inner city attractions.

Mayor John Peyton met with Downtown Vision officials as they worked on the white paper and supports redevelopment in the core, said spokeswoman Misty Skipper. She pointed to the ongoing reconstruction of Laura Street, which Peyton has said will emerge as the most walkable street in Jacksonville.

Skipper said Peyton will take a detailed look at Downtown Vision's call for creating dedicated funding sources for downtown from money collected through parking fees and fines, parking taxes, permit fees and other fees associated with downtown services.

Skipper said parking revenues generally pay for parking facilities and enforcement.

Lisa Daniel, spokeswoman for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, said chamber officials will be interested in reading Downtown Vision's report. Downtown redevelopment is one of the chamber's top six priorities for 2010.
Ray Rivera, who lives part of the year in Berkman Plaza, reacted to the report's focus on filling dead zones by saying he
thinks the city should purchase vacant lots and then sell or lease them to retailers and department stores.

"Once you have big department stores downtown, you'll have restaurants and coffee shops and theaters," he said.

Milton Mavros, owner of Cafe 331 on Forsyth Street, said he disagrees with the creation of a dedicated funding source for downtown unless the entire downtown, not just the core, benefits.

"We'd like to get downtown more alive, but it seems like they want everything" to happen around The Jacksonville Landing area, he said.

The report - "Turning the Corner: Rethinking and Remaking Downtown" - harkens back to a 1992 study by the Chamber that decried the decline of downtown. Downtown Vision says several indicators show the core is still in crisis:
- The workforce has fallen from an estimated 60,000 jobs to 51,000.
- Downtown used to account for 13.5 percent of the city's tax base. Now it's 3.2 percent.
- Retail is "virtually nonexistent," with more than 40 vacant retail storefronts in the core.
- No major commercial tower has been built since 1990, the longest period of stagnation since World War II.
- Half the 25-block area in the heart of downtown can be described as a dead zone - with vacant properties, buildings less than 25 percent occupied, and surface parking lots and garages.

In addition to concentrating redevelopment in a smaller area, Downtown Vision says a successful downtown will require more attention to the "fit and finish" of the core's appearance, creating a "downtown experience" that gives people a reason to go there, focused and ambitious leadership, dedicated funding sources, more jobs and housing, and better management of parking.

Downtown Vision represents property owners in a 90-block area of downtown. They pay an assessment equal to $1.10 for each $1,000 of property value to support Downtown Vision.

The organization's report cites The Times-Union series, published in December, that examined the reasons behind Jacksonville's ailing downtown and showed how other inner cities across the country have rebounded.
Lorince said Downtown Vision officials began discussions last fall about recommending a game plan for how the city could best pursue revitalization at a time when the recession choked off private investment and the city faced a budget squeeze.


http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-03-29/story/downtown-groups-say-jacksonville%E2%80%99s-core-crisis-needs-new-strategy

You must be kidding me.  The people who have been collecting downtown tax revenues just came up with this, after 10 years?  This report should have come out 10 years ago!

Thee fact that people are still bouncing around these basic points about downtown is that from a governmental perspective, we are no closer to a vibrant downtown than we were 10 years ago.  Did DVI just wake up and realize that considering the billions of dollars that have been spent, we're still missing the basics.

No Steve..................they have just realized that they need some more studies.......consultants.......and some fancy new three letter acronyms that have not been used yet! Next study will come up with some! We don't need no stinking basics............yea .....right, Idiots $1.1 Billion and nothing to show for it!

This city is a big joke.

Is it too late to pull back the funds for metro park and use them at Klutho?!?!?!

^We've been saying this since we started this site four years ago.  Connectivity and clustering were major reasons for us supporting Sleiman's old plan to open the center of the Landing up to Laura Street.  They're also major reasons behind our fixed mass transit push.  No study is needed for this.  It should be common sense.

Quote from: stephendare on March 29, 2010, 10:21:45 PM
Now where is that old thread that TUFSU kept weighing in on...Something about my opinion being 'alarmist', and 'exaggerating' when I said this was the case two years ago.

I guess merely owning and operating businesses in the downtown for 20 or more years made my opinion less relevant at the time, when compared to the experience of living in a downtown apartment for a couple of years.

1. I live in a townhome, not an apartment..and I've been here for 4 years
2. I have been involved in urban planning for almost 20 years
3. I stand by my contention that you were/are being 'alarmist'
4. From what I understand, you have owned/operated businesses in Downtown, Springfield, 5 Points, and San Marco...so what made Downtown different from the others?

As to the issue about DVI just coming to this...I suspect it was known by staff for quite some time...but theyhave to respond to what their Board wishes to do...and they've been playing a delicate balance with JEDC that has been interested in doing projects all over downtown.

I agree with every comment made above (Late Correction:  Except TUFSU1).  In addition, Downtown Vision Incorporated is nothing more than a parasite on downtown.  They remind me of a dishwasher I once employed, and the moment he realized that the slower he worked, the more his pay check would be.

You know, I wasn't born this way.  10 years in downtown Jacksonville will do it to you.

Working on a new video that may premier later tonight.  Stay tuned.

Gee..............not to kick a person down, but I think I posted long ago, no vision, no plan and no way to fund it!  We appear to have grandiose plans, studies and lots of Three Letter shorts for this and that, infact so many that one allmost needs a book with all of the listings to keep track of them. We appear to spend,spend and spend more without thought for tomorrow and still can not get something started and then get it finished.............is it we the taxpayers, who just pay for ineptitude, mismanagement or stupidity, or is it the people in the positions who run things and prove beyond a doubt they are just amateurs? DVI is just one more example, sponges at the trough!

Ock.................you can knock on City Halls door all day long but ain't nobody home! Or atleast no one with any sense or vision!

stephendare..........you do have a point big fella!  I just look at the current administrations track record over the past 6 years and am not turning cartwheels of joy! I look at all of the wasted money, GOB networking and all the wheeling and dealing that has taken place that has cost us taxpayers money.....Ship Yards, Tony Nelson,Clark@JAA,Council members that had lawyers at that Grand Jury whohaw(which we got to pay for)Low cost loans to Vescor totaling $34.5 Million.......I mean I could go on and on! I am trying to maintain a positive outlook but the track record to this point leaves me kinda cold!

If DVI and City Hall visited our previous extensive thread on what would revitalize downtown, I am sure they would find most any idea any consultant is likely to cook up with discussion of their relative merits on the forum below.  As stated, so much of this is common sense.  Just put yourself Downtown as a visitor, resident, or employee and imagine what would keep you spending, living, and/or working Downtown.

Topic: Top 10 Things to Make DOWN-town a BOOM-town [ http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,6638.msg108843.html#msg108843 ]

stjr...............lights still have not gone on yet! I wonder if they ever will.

I  think that DVI does 'get it', but has been too timid to really say anything until now for fear of stepping on the wrong toes.  What is past is past, but at least Peyton and DVI understand NOW, even if they didn't before.  THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE CHAMBER !!  I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM THE FIRST TO SAY THIS.

DEpartment stores??!! An entertainment district at the stadium!!


YOU HAVE TO CRAWL BEFORE YOU CAN WALK FOLKS !!!   AIN"T NO DEPARTMENT STORE COMING DOWNTOWN.  YOU CAN"T BUILD  AN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT AROUND 12 EVENTS PER YEAR!!!

You already HAVE an entertainment district in the 'bud' stage.   Been to Bay Street lately??!!!

GOD, do these people ever leave Ponte Vedra?!! 

Make what you have already started (Landing, Riverwalks, Laura St, Bay St) work FIRST, then maybe you can focus on branching out from there.


Keith is right, This city is a joke !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going from 13.2% of the city's tax base to 2.3 % is a HUGE red flag!!   That is unbelieveable.

Quote from: Jerry Moran on March 29, 2010, 11:01:26 PM
You know, I wasn't born this way.  10 years in downtown Jacksonville will do it to you.

If downtown is so bad, why are you still there?

Quote from: vicupstate on March 30, 2010, 08:10:40 AM
I  think that DVI does 'get it', but has been too timid to really say anything until now for fear of stepping on the wrong toes.  What is past is past, but at least Peyton and DVI understand NOW, even if they didn't before.  THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE CHAMBER !!  I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM THE FIRST TO SAY THIS.

EXACTLY!

btw...here's the report itself

http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/_images/_documents/Turning%20the%20Corner%20_%20Rethinking%20and%20Remaking%20Downtown%20FINAL%20low%20res.pdf

Again and again I say it's the Arts community, give it to them (low to rent for a temp period), they will revitalize block by block and the rest will follow. Examples of this can be seen all over this and several other nations even now in Berlin. The mayor knows this and stated as much in his excellent interview here on MJ.

Quote from: vicupstate on March 30, 2010, 08:10:40 AM
THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE CHAMBER !!  I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM THE FIRST TO SAY THIS.

DEpartment stores??!! An entertainment district at the stadium!!

YOU HAVE TO CRAWL BEFORE YOU CAN WALK FOLKS !!!   AIN"T NO DEPARTMENT STORE COMING DOWNTOWN.  YOU CAN"T BUILD  AN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT AROUND 12 EVENTS PER YEAR!!!

You already HAVE an entertainment district in the 'bud' stage.   Been to Bay Street lately??!!!

GOD, do these people ever leave Ponte Vedra?!! 

Make what you have already started (Landing, Riverwalks, Laura St, Bay St) work FIRST, then maybe you can focus on branching out from there.

Keith is right, This city is a joke !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This comes AFTER the trip to Kansas City.  The Power & Light District, the convention center, etc. are prime examples of destinations clustered with complementing uses within a compact area to stimulate further synergy.  It seems like this was another trip where the basic concepts of connectivity and clustering were overlooked again.

Other than the few mudslinging posts, I agree with everything on here.  

One thing I would like to add, is that currently we are killing the potential benefits of the sports complex to downtown by the mass exodus after events.  Yes the complex is far from the core, but events at the arena/ stadium are still the largest events in the downtown area. If we allowed people to venture off bay st and union after events it would add to the activity in the real core.

Artists are great for bringing rebirth to an area.  We should have an administration willing to work with creatives and young professionals to get some projects going downtown.  I have great aspirations for some projects NEAR the core, but downtown itself seems detrimental to small developments.

Quotewe’ve failed to take full advantage of the best years in the current real estate cycle.

Ain't that the truth.  And I'm afraid that anyone who thinks there's going to be a building boom equal to the one during the first half of this decade anytime soon is going to be sorely disappointed.  I hate to say it, but Jacksonville blew it.