Is Jacksonville Ready for an Urban Medical District?

[Metro Jacksonville]

Is Jacksonville Ready for an Urban Medical District?



Metro Jacksonville begins the process of looking at certain elements of 2011 mayoral candidate's visions and how they relate to sustainable economic development and urban revitalization.  Today, we examine Rick Mullaney's vision to build around Jacksonville's medical industry.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-sep-is-jacksonville-ready-for-an-urban-medical-district

[vicupstate]

I don't much about it, but I know Birmingham AL has created a Medical district in conjunction with the U of Alabama to great success.

[SecularHumanist]

Boston's Longwood neighborhood is a similar example, although a bit sterile for my taste.   The fact that Harvard Medical School co-resides with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess, Harvard Dental School, the Dana Farber Cancer Center, and the Joslin Diabetes Center, all within one compact walkable neighborhood which is also filled with shops, restaurants, hotels and mass transit (bounded by at least three subway stops) make it a very effective medical district.   

[reednavy]

A few others are the Vanderbilt University Med. Center and vicinity in Midtown Nashville and Louisville's Hospital Curve area jsut SE of downtown.

[fieldafm]

To me, the most similar example to Jacksonville is USC's Medical Center and the adjoining Radcliffeborough neighborhood in Charleston.





Here's a peak at a massive planned TOD community that Dallas wishes to build around it's medical district



Seems to me, not only is there an incentive to encourage a bigger urban medical district from a jobs standpoint... there is also an economic incentive as it relates to a revitilization of a historic urban neighborhood.  Imagine Springfield historic home restorations rivalling that of the radcliffeborough neighborhood in Charleston, streetcars linking Main Street/8th Street with DT, and the empty 8th Street commercial district being reborn with TOD-type housing and commercial buildings filled with medical research-based companies?

[Jason]

Looking at the Southbank, it would be ideal!  With three hospitals and other support clinics in conjunction with the skyway and future transit infrastructure the area could grow like crazy in an already urban section of town.

All it would need is a skyway spur from Prudential station down to the Baptist/Nemours complex.  A future transit route (skyway) could then run north from the Rosa Parks station up to Shands connecting it all together.

[Keith-N-Jax]

UMI was nice, just finished some training there in Ann Arbor.

[simms3]

Emory, Emory Medical, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and CDC are all located adjacent to each other in a dense area East of Atlanta.  It's not the most walkable environment, but it's a very dense environment and pleasing to the eye.  It is not served by MARTA rail either, though that is only a mile or two away.

[Keith-N-Jax]

simms3 Marta and a buse will get you there. I forgot about Emory the last past I worked before moving back to Jax. I had to ride Marta for a while until I got a new car. That whole district has really grown quit a bit.

[Coolyfett]

The answer is No, Jacksonville is not ready.

[thelakelander]

Looking at the Southbank, it would be ideal!  With three hospitals and other support clinics in conjunction with the skyway and future transit infrastructure the area could grow like crazy in an already urban section of town.

The idea of an urban medical district could work for just about every major medical facility in Jacksonville.  All tend to have a mix of medical related uses nearby and all are major destinations with large workforces.  All that is needed is a focus to cluster future medical uses near existing major pockets, along with implementing walkable based urban design practices around these campuses as they continue to grow and renovate.  From a transit standpoint, we should attempt to link them with "RELIABLE" and "ATTRACTIVE" transit spines.  Do this and we may find out that our home grown healthcare industry could be the driving force behind major job stimulation, transit ridership growth and economic development/revitalization throughout our entire city.

[urbanlibertarian]

Southbank?  I was thinking LaVilla.

[thelakelander]

^It's probably best to focus on clustering around existing medical facilities such as Mayo, Shands, St. Vincents, Baptist, Memorial, St. Lukes, etc. before attempting to create one from scratch.

[reednavy]

The answer is No, Jacksonville is not ready.

care to explain your reasoning?

[Jdog]

Any thoughts from the mayor's transition teams on getting a medical school?  Didn't hear anything.