Wanted: Tenants for AT&T Tower in Jacksonville

[mtraininjax]

I really loved seeing that the JEDC was working to bring two 100 job companies to Jacksonville. Our incentive packages must really SUCK if that is all they can get to come to downtown Jacksonville.

[ChriswUfGator]

This just can't be, tufsu! A 40%+ vacancy rate?

Nooooo...I thought me and Stephen were liars and there is no vacancy problem anywhere downtown?

dude...I never said there weren't pockets of emptiness....but you claimed that downtown was 90% vacant (because one was)...and that AT&T tower was one of the worst ones...so, considerin g that this UPCOMING vacancy will put AT&T at 42%, what was it last year...maybe 25%?

btw..have you chosen to turn a blind eye to the news that the Modis building is close to signing a major tenant?

as fsujax said, let it go

meh.  Im with Chris on this one.

A year ago, you were doing your best to discredit every word that either of us had to say on the crisis in downtown vacancies.  You ridiculed, dismissed, and the (embarrassingly I might add) tried your best to disprove every word that either of us posted about the failure of downtown.

And for what reason?

You were totally wrong, as the outcome has amply demonstrated.

I suspect you were hoping that a little pr, and not bringing attention to the downtown negatives would somehow allow downtown 'time to recover'.

But the only thing that happened, TUFSU, as a result of your hollow denials and the constant spin coming from others in the downtown conversation, namely DVI and others is that you delayed any real response to the actual problem.

I told you many times that it was apparent that the downtown would have to completely collapse before you would admit to it, and this happens to be one of those very buildings which was discussed at the time.

Hopefully, you can see the plain truth in front of you and can agree that none of what we printed was 'alarmist', 'overstating the case', or any other such nonsense, and we can all get to the task (finally) of fixing the underlying problems that led to this disaster.

Yes, poor Tufsu has not had a very good couple weeks has he?

His claims, arguments, and accusations just keep exploding one after the other...

[tufsu1]

right back at you Chris

[wsansewjs]

-radio crackles- We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news: The Hindenberg has... -radio whistles and warped- Tufsu just threw an acknowledgement right back at Chris after a long debate of whose validation is sufficient for their topic. Follow up story will occur at an end of the day.

-Josh

[ChriswUfGator]

right back at you Chris

Well, except mine aren't.

The positions and viewpoints I've had on Downtown for the past couple years, including the number of occupants, the commercial vacancy issues, the policy reasons behind it, parking, etc., etc., have all turned out to be exactly as I said they were, despite your popping into every discussion to call me everything from an exaggerator to a fabricator.

A year ago, you were still arguing there were 30k workers downtown, and year before that, you were still arguing the current parking policies were absolutely awesome. When someone pointed out the lack of liveability and restaurants Downtown, you tried to say he was wrong and presented a list that included gas stations and Winn-Dixie as "Dining Options." You've gone back and deleted most of your award-winningly embarassing posts on these issues, which I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't actually deleted one of them at the exact same time I was trying to quote it.

But time is the test, isn't it?

Since then, just about every major employer downtown aside from CSX (which not coincidentally, has its own parking) has abandoned downtown for the suburbs, citing the asinine parking policies you defended as a main reason. DVI was finally forced to admit that Downtown has become largely vacant, with a full 1/3 of all structures being either completely vacant or less than 1/3 occupied, and the rest not far behind. And the truly shocking thing is that this is after they've torn down most of the commercial structures in the core, so these dire figures are even more frightening when you realize it's that bad even after overall capacity has been so severely reduced.

And finally, the individual landlords downtown are no longer able to hide behind nonsensical C&W reports that somehow always manage to show a rosy 80%+/- occupancy rate, when every building you walk into is half-empty and getting worse. The Independent Life tower faces likely foreclosure, and the AT&T building, the largest office building in the city, just admitted they have a staggering 40%+ vacancy rate.

Unfortunately, my statements haven't blown up, Downtown has. You, and many others like DVI until recently, have worsened the problem by at every turn confusing, conflating, and covering up the true state of the problem, and for what reason I don't know. Such tactics went a long way towards sidetracking any productive debate, and delayed public awareness of the issues at a time when public awareness and support were critical.

Moving forward, I would hope we do not have to go through this period of fiddling while something burns again.

[tufsu1]

right back at you Chris

Well, except mine aren't.

of course not...you're never wrong

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

right back at you Chris

Well, except mine aren't.

of course not...you're never wrong

i think you're both kind ov silly at this point.  while i tend to agree with chris' points a lot more, the extent to which you two turn almost any thread about downtown into 'i'm not a liar, you are!' is getting a little embarassing.

[Timkin]

Ouch.    And on that note, I ll go to another thread ..............

[fsujax]

This would be so great. Fingers crossed!

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=533416

[JeffreyS]

Now that the cat is out of the bag I can confirm they are very serious.

[ChriswUfGator]

That would be great if this happens. Let's all cross our fingers that COJ and the Parking Cartel's normal policy of throwing as many monkey wrenches and money-grabs into the works as possible can be put on hold long enough to get this deal done. One step at a time, and this is certainly a step in the right direction.

[duvaldude08]

It would be a very smart move for Everbank. The headquarters and operations center will be literally up the street from each other almost. The more workers downtown the better. If we can have more companies to relocate downtown, that would the start of something really good. The only negative about the AT&T building is you pay a heafty amount for parking. I knew someone who worked for AT&T and was telling me how much is taking out of her paycheck for parking.

[Timkin]

Awesome news if it becomes reality .

[fsujax]

not if they park and ride the Skyway. It could be a ridership boon for the system.

[Wacca Pilatka]

I hope if this becomes reality it'll start a trend, especially among local companies.  I wonder if they would be looking to buy naming rights too.