Jax Beach ranked most popular in America

[fieldafm]

especially if you can get past that pesky height ordinance the residents pushed through a few years back

Been sounding that horn for awhile, and even city officials are now saying they wish they had more mixed used high density development like the building that houses Chicago Pizza. I was a Jacksonville Beach resident at the time and made a comment at a public meeting stating 'be careful what you wish for'.  Ahem well...

I am impressed with the development off of third that houses the yoga studio and Dick's Wings. Parking on the roof!!

I often site this development in regards to the Park View Inn site in downtown.
However that development was actually meant to have condos above the retail... another high density victim of the height limits.

In fact their goverment has made quite an effort to enhance and promote its downtown.

I would agree with you on that very much so.  Downtown Jax certainly can learn a lot from Jax Beach.  Jax Beach was NOT a great place when I was growing up.  However...

It doesn't seem like there are a lot of empty lots around.

That is not true.  There is a glut of PRIME empty property in Jax Beach.  Many projects did not go through(before the bottom fell out) specifically b/c of the height limits.  I am actually not totally against height limits in theory(Daytona Beach was the most oft cited referance at all the public debates, not so much South Beach)... however Jax Beach still falls very short of its potential IMO b/c there isn't the type of density a place like say downtown Naples has.  You don't have to have 20 story condos to create density, but you have to give some developers the landscape in where high density mixed use developments become profitable(and not just turning a 2 million dollar investment into 2.5 million dollars, the risk of failure is too great for that little of a gain)... otherwise they'll pour their money into communities elsewhere.

Neptune even successfully fought of a Wal-Mart. A Wal-Mart.

To be fair, that was the Aqua East family that really 'fought off' Wal Mart.  Wal Mart technically won but b/c of the backlash Regency properties wound up just making Publix the anchor tenant instead.  It's not really too much better than the original site plan for WalMart to be honest, but whatever.  Pretty remarkable though that the original owner of Aqua East had the foresight in the 70's to protect their set back limits in the way that they did.

I do love the beaches. I was a Jax Beach and Neptune Beach resident at one time.  I always say you have to live at the beach at least once in your life.  Your Jacksonville experience is not complete without that IMO.  I will buy another place out there eventually again.

[cline]

Neptune even successfully fought of a Wal-Mart. A Wal-Mart.

If only the rest of the city had this kind of thinking.

I could have sworn Walmart actually won that battle and almost bankrupt the city in the process?

Neptune did successfully shut them down but you are correct, they almost went bankrupt.  However publix moved from the shopping center at the corner of Atlantic and Penman to the shopping center the previously held Scotty's (and I think the indoor flea market after that).

[Captain Zissou]

What is the Hotel that was proposed for the SE corner of the Beach Blvd-3rd Street intersection??  The lot is huge.  is the project dead or just hibernating??

[thelakelander]

Neptune did successfully shut them down but you are correct, they almost went bankrupt.  However publix moved from the shopping center at the corner of Atlantic and Penman to the shopping center the previously held Scotty's (and I think the indoor flea market after that).

Funny thing is I did the preliminary site plan for that Publix shopping center (Seminole Shoppes) at my last job (Regency was the client), not that I'm a fan of the layout.  You can lead a horse to water but sometimes they just don't drink and you have to give client what they want and are willing to pay for.

[fieldafm]

What is the Hotel that was proposed for the SE corner of the Beach Blvd-3rd Street intersection??  The lot is huge.  is the project dead or just hibernating??

Dead.

I should take a picture this Sunday of all the projects killed.

[thelakelander]

Get ready to spend a full day.  I worked in Ponte Vedra when the height limits were put in place and the economy was bustling.  There are a ton of them at the beaches that died. 

[Tacachale]

Neptune even successfully fought of a Wal-Mart. A Wal-Mart.

If only the rest of the city had this kind of thinking.

I could have sworn Walmart actually won that battle and almost bankrupt the city in the process?

Neptune did successfully shut them down but you are correct, they almost went bankrupt.  However publix moved from the shopping center at the corner of Atlantic and Penman to the shopping center the previously held Scotty's (and I think the indoor flea market after that).

It was a combination of community factors that fended off the Wal-Mart. The first and foremost factor was that residents and neighborhood business owners just didn't want it there (though they wanted something in the spot). Due to the huge outcry the city blocked Wal-Mart's application and then fought it in mediation.

Wal-Mart did win in the mediation, but it's not true it bankrupted the city. Wal-Mart was supposed to pay the city's legal fees; it only didn't pay because it didn't build. It didn't cost the city to fight Wal-Mart; it only cost when Wal-Mart pulled out, which is what everyone wanted. And it's still nothing compared to the amount of tax money that would have been spent on roadwork to handle the traffic a Super Center would have generated. Plus the damage it would have done to small businesses.

Then there was the aforementioned property issue involving Aqua East Surf Shop. Because of the original contract of sale on the property, nothing with its back side facing Aqua East could be built there without duking it out with them. By that time the economy was in the tank, and residents and business owners were still hating on Wal-Mart. Rather than keep going, Wal-Mart finally pulled out. I think it's fair to say the community at various levels was instrumental in there not being a Wal-Mart in Neptune Beach today.

[cline]

Wal-Mart did win in the mediation, but it's not true it bankrupted the city.

Well it did cost them 100k, which for a city that size is not chump change.  But you're right, in the end they don't have a Wal Mart, which is a good thing for that area.  Although I would venture to guess that there are quite a few citizens who just drive up Atlantic to the Wal Mart across the bridge at Kernan.

[iluvolives]

My favorite quote from an editorial was printed during that fight against wal-mart. It was something along the lines of "we don't want Wal-mart coming in here and taking business from the small businesses in the area like the K-mart".

[Dapperdan]

I am still having trouble beleiving Jax beach had more visitors than Ocean City, Miami and Honolulu. Its a good beach, but Ocean City has a world famous boardwalk, Miami is also world known. Do that manay people actually come to Jax beach, when there are really not too manya ttractions and no boardwalk?

[thelakelander]

It didn't.  Miami Beach had 14 million to Jax Beach's 9 million.  Also, no ideal what Miami's numbers would look like with the rest of the beaches down there added to it.  However, I'm sure it would be many more than the numbers Jax Beach would pick up with the addition of the adjacent beach communities.