Neighborhoods: Baymeadows

[duvaldude08]

"T-Birds", 50' and 60's venue,  was there and stayed there for years until they moved to the out parcel in the Southside Target shopping center. 

Never knew T-Bird's was there. When it relocated it was no longer a 50's and 60's venue thats for sure. LMAO

[cline]

I would like to add Rib Shack (Bar-b-que) and Los Toros (mexican).

[Tacachale]

There are lots of great restaurants there, that's for sure. The Indian places are just particularly notable because Bombaymeadows has the highest concentration of them in the city.

[KenFSU]

I miss Tango Pizza and Bull's BBQ.

[duvaldude08]

There are lots of great restaurants there, that's for sure. The Indian places are just particularly notable because Bombaymeadows has the highest concentration of them in the city.

Yes they do. I stay on princeton square blvd in Green Tree Place. So I am surrounding by them. They are very active. They are always walking and usually are the only ones on the tennis court.

[duvaldude08]

I miss Tango Pizza and Bull's BBQ.

Bull's is closed!!! It closed late last year. I was very upset about that. I miss the days of Miami Subs, Bennegins, etc.

[SarahTay]

The article and pictures seemed to focus on  Indian food. There are still other places along that strip not serving that style food.

There are only two photos of Indian food shops. I think you mean the recent forum discussion has been. The article was about the expanding cultural diversity and the layout of businesses in that particular area ... ethnic food just happens to be prominent.

[thelakelander]

Why does Baymeadows have to be so f'ing far away from anything 'urban core'...whether I'm driving from San Marco, Riverside, Ortega, Downtown, Springfield, it's alwaaaayyys too long to get there. Love the food, love the international markets--hate the drive & location.

That is the same thing I was thinking. Depsite what people may think, Jacksonville is VERY diverse. Problem, everything is so spread out and hidden that many people do not even know how diverse the city really is.

I think Baymeadows has become what it is today because of several organic factors at play.  These include:

Age

Baymeadows was the Southside's booming retail district in 25-30 years ago.  During that era, the section between Southside and Old Kings filled up with strip malls on nearly every corner and national chain style businesses in the outparcels.  In addition, several multifamily communities and office complexes were developed as well, making the corridor a pretty dense suburban area by Jacksonville's standards.  As time has gone on many of these places have moved on to today's booming latest and greatest, leaving behind a ton of building stock for new uses.

Immigration

At the same time Baymeadows was aging and the first wave of national retailers relocating, our region was (and still is) seeing a major increase in foreign-born population.  Given the location, the availability of affordable housing, cheaper retail leasing rates, access to I-95, etc. the diverse population and businesses we see in the corridor today makes a lot of sense.  That's pure organic growth at play.

Unfortunately, for urban core advocates, its a good drive away but it appears (at least to me) its simply a place that had the right available ingredients at a time when we witnessed major foreign-born population growth.  Other than the era of time, its really no different from the organic growth that resulted in places like Tampa's Ybor or Detroit's Greektown.  If the population wave would have happened 40 years ago, this atmosphere would have probably popped up in an area like Murray Hill or Springfield instead of aging first ring automobile oriented suburban districts.

Nevertheless, long term commuter rail and BRT plans should provide better connectivity between the urban core and the Baymeadows district.

[Wacca Pilatka]

What would you like to know, Wacca?  There are a number of pivotal things that happened as a result of that mall, and its subsequent conversion to the FCCJ Campus.  My mom was on the conversion team for FCCJ when the School decided to purchase the Mall for use as a Campus, and I was pretty involved in the theatre scene during the Jacksonville Actor's Theatre scandal that drove theatre back into the dark ages  for the next 20 years.

A list of the stores?  The development?  What are you interested in?

Thanks for the offer.  I tend to find malls and the reason they live or die to be fascinating, and I know that by '92 there was little left to it but Jacobson's.  I'd be curious to know what stores were there and when the downward sprial began.  I believe you already answered my other question as to how big a factor the blatant snobbery was in contributing to the mall's demise - you made clear that that went far beyond just the slogan in the ads.

[thelakelander]

This is what we have on Grande Boulevard Mall from our 2008 Malling of Jacksonville article:

"Its going to be something very unique, architecturally.  Its not going to be the size of a major mall.  It will be 25 to 40 percent of an Orange Park Mall."
Kennon G. Holmes, Senior Vice President for Project Development - Haskell Company.

It can be argued that Grande Boulevard Mall was the most infamous failure of a developer predicting shopping demands.  Envisioned to serve the upscale market, Grande Boulevard opened at the corner of Southside Blvd. and Old Baymeadows Road.  The 289,000 square foot, two story mall opened with Jacobson's as its anchor along with space for 68 upscale specialty shops.  Grande Boulevard struggled from the start and was immediately labeled as "too ritzy for Jacksonville".  By 1986, the number of open stores had dwindled down to 24.

The 1990 opening of the Avenues Mall would be the final nail in the coffin for Grande Boulevard.  Excluding Jacobson's, which would last until the entire chain was shuttered in 2002, FCCJ took over and converted the complex into a community college campus in 1994.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-the-malling-of-jacksonville

[Charles Hunter]

One no-longer-there place is somewhat of one of those strange coincidences (well, two) - Bombay Bicycle Club at Baymeadows and I-95
Bombay - even though the menu had nothing to do with the subcontinent, and
Bicycle Club - since it was replaced by a motorcycle dealership.

[Ocklawaha]

The Colombian Panderia (Bakery) on the Northwest Corner of Old Kings and Bay Meadows Road is excellent. Anyone wanting a taste of this wonderful international food try the
'pan de yucca', 'pan de queso', and for something meaty but not spicy try the 'empandas'
a sort of fried meat pie. If you get the empanada be sure and ask for lemon juice. Bite the end off your empanada and squeeze in some lemon for a heavenly treat. I agree that this is rapidly becoming Jacksonville's little melting pot neighborhood.

OCKLAWAHA

[Yossarianlives]

Have lived in Baymeadows since I moved here 10 years ago and I agree the diversity in restaurant choices is great.  Noticed no one mentioned Tories Restaurant near Lemongrass nor Gubbio's Italian.  Both are really good and underrated.  Sorry to see Colonel Mustard's Burgers go out of business though.  Col. Mustard's was greasy and low brow but a great "hole in the wall."

[Charles Hunter]

Have lived in Baymeadows since I moved here 10 years ago and I agree the diversity in restaurant choices is great.  Noticed no one mentioned Tories Restaurant near Lemongrass nor Gubbio's Italian.  Both are really good and underrated.  Sorry to see Colonel Mustard's Burgers go out of business though.  Col. Mustard's was greasy and low brow but a great "hole in the wall."

Did Professor Plum do in Col. Mustard with a candlestick in the kitchen?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

There is a TipTum Thai in the Winn Dixie Shopping Center on Baymeadows.

I had totally forgotton about the BBC. - Wow.  Some of J'villes really good beers.

Col. Mustards is still open in Neptune off of 3rd St.  I don't know if there were 2 stores or if he relocated, either way, they're awesome burgers.  The Best - sorry 5 Guys.

I remember eating raw oysters until I was couldn't move at CJs.  Good Times, foggy memories.