Downtown Gainesville is Looking Up

[Captain Zissou]

Yup, I'm really blown away with the uber megalopolis that is Gainesville! I'm really in awe of it's very impressive high-rise architecture, bustling nightlife, and world-renowned prominence. G-ville is quickly becoming one of the major tourist destinations in FL, esp for a glimpse of Timmy Tebow's statue at the Swamp, and Albert the Alligator. Someone said that G-ville is WAY ahead of J-ville, hell yeah, I couldn't 'agree' more! Miami, Tampa, and Orlando better watch out, here comes G-ville!!!!

Great Post!! What year did you graduate from FSU?

[Captain Zissou]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

[Tacachale]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

And neither got into UNF, judging by this year's freshman admission rate!

[tufsu1]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

what that tells me is UF students don't choose wisely

[Captain Zissou]

Sorry to derail the thread, but I had to draw attention to the absurdity of the FSU grad's post.

Nobody was comparing Gainesville to Miami or Orlando, because there is no point to it.  Comparing a city of less than 200,000 to two cities over 2 million is not a fair comparison.  However, a city of any size can admire the connectivity, the vibrancy, and the beauty of Gainesville's downtown, be it ever so small.  There have been good decisions made and money well allocated that have resulted in a picturesque downtown that is very fun to be in.  Anyone can appreciate and learn from that, no matter where you live.

However, I would say that from a street level perspective and in terms of new businesses opening in the past couple years, Gainesville has far outpaced Jacksonville, which is unacceptable.  Tall Paul's, Rocky's, Ichiban, Mochi, Urban Flats, Boca Fiesta, Half Corked, Blue Water Bay have all opened since 2009 in a compact 3-5 block area.  If that happened in Jacksonville, that would have far reaching effects on the metro area.  That is basically like building a new Avondale strip in an already vibrant area. It would create vibrancy and synergies that currently we only see in Jax Beach. That kind of culture and activity center would start to pull people towards the core and away from some of the fringe suburbs. 

Like a magnet, the cultural epicenter would eventually be drawn back into its home in the city core.  The process has already started, but the city and the various agencies and groups in support of downtown need to keep feeding the fire.

[CityLife]

Part of Jax Beach's success over the past 10 years is tied to the growth of UNF. A great deal of UNF students either live at the beach or frequent its bars/restaurants. That is why it is so much easier for Gainesville and Tallahassee to revitalize their downtown's and urban neighborhoods. Both UF and FSU are in the shadows of downtown. FSU's Law School and basketball arena are virtually downtown. UF's historic part of campus and University Avenue strip are right next to downtown. Developer's and businesses just have to look at the universities projected enrollments to know how many potential users they have and will have.

Look at UCF. They are located in the burbs, further from downtown Orlando than UNF is from DT Jax. Yet there is a Downtown UCF Campus, focused mostly on business and MBA's. There is also a "UCF Center for Emerging Media" in Downtown Orlando. Orlando and some developers are trying to create a "creative village" that is near UCF's new center of emerging media. Of course UCF is a lot further ahead of UNF, but I'm sure UNF could find a way to create a downtown presence if they wanted.

JU is located in a dying part of town, that has seen decline, and will likely see worse. They should be looking to create a second campus. Either downtown or at the beach. Downtown Brown is a JU guy...perfect opportunity for him to make something happen.

I believe Florida Coastal just re-signed their lease. However, they need to get their heads out of their ___ and open a downtown branch. It makes no sense to have a law school away from the courthouses and law firms. Oh and by chance our city owns a ton of unused property in close proximity to the new courthouse....hello Coastal. I know you are trying to make a profit and all, but time to start thinking about a downtown campus.

Downtown and the urban core can and will still "come back", but it would be a lot easier with the involvement of our universities.

[finehoe]

Both the Gainesville Sun article and the Gainesville today article mention Innovation Square.  I wasn't familiar with the project, so I did more research and it absolutely blew my mind.  Trimark properties is a company that has bought up most of the land east of campus and has put in some really great student housing in mid density apartment buildings, historic homes, and adaptive re-use multi family properties.  Some of them are just genius.  Anyway, from the looks of it they partnered with UF to masterplan a 40 acre office campus on land that used to be owned by shands.  It has office, retail, residential, the works.  They maintained the street grid throughout and have dedicated some blocks for green space.  It will obviously have phased development.  The first phase is complete I believe. 

Read more here: http://www.trimarkproperties.com/commercial_rentals_gainesville/innovationsquareuf/

The entire second avenue corridor has been exploding since 2006 when Jefferson 2nd Ave was underway.  If I had more time I could do a huge write up on the transformation of that corridor and the partnerships between UF and the City of Gainesville that made that happen.

Thanks for this.  I lived near the intersection of SW 2nd Ave. & SW 12th Street my senior year at UF, so it is quite interesting to see the big changes in store for this area.

[CityLife]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

And neither got into UNF, judging by this year's freshman admission rate!

I know this is only a joke, but come on...

[Tacachale]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

And neither got into UNF, judging by this year's freshman admission rate!

I know this only a joke, but come on...

While it was indeed a joke in the spirit of the Captain's earlier comment, UNF does in fact have a lower freshman admission rate than UF and FSU. USF and FAU are even lower than that.

[Tacachale]

Sorry to derail the thread, but I had to draw attention to the absurdity of the FSU grad's post.

Nobody was comparing Gainesville to Miami or Orlando, because there is no point to it.  Comparing a city of less than 200,000 to two cities over 2 million is not a fair comparison.  However, a city of any size can admire the connectivity, the vibrancy, and the beauty of Gainesville's downtown, be it ever so small.  There have been good decisions made and money well allocated that have resulted in a picturesque downtown that is very fun to be in.  Anyone can appreciate and learn from that, no matter where you live.

However, I would say that from a street level perspective and in terms of new businesses opening in the past couple years, Gainesville has far outpaced Jacksonville, which is unacceptable.  Tall Paul's, Rocky's, Ichiban, Mochi, Urban Flats, Boca Fiesta, Half Corked, Blue Water Bay have all opened since 2009 in a compact 3-5 block area.  If that happened in Jacksonville, that would have far reaching effects on the metro area.  That is basically like building a new Avondale strip in an already vibrant area. It would create vibrancy and synergies that currently we only see in Jax Beach. That kind of culture and activity center would start to pull people towards the core and away from some of the fringe suburbs. 

Like a magnet, the cultural epicenter would eventually be drawn back into its home in the city core.  The process has already started, but the city and the various agencies and groups in support of downtown need to keep feeding the fire.

I don't think it's a bad comparison. It's on a much smaller scale and there are a lot of factors that don't compare (for instance, there's much less to do outside the core city in Gainesville than in Jacksonville), but like Jacksonville, Gainesville's downtown has its struggles and problems. They've made some great strides doing the kind of things that help regardless of size: encouraging infill, residential developments, and small business growth in the CBD, as well as cleaning it up, promoting the area, and establishing regular programming. Those investments are starting to pay dividends.

[CityLife]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

And neither got into UNF, judging by this year's freshman admission rate!

I know this only a joke, but come on...

While it was indeed a joke in the spirit of the Captain's earlier comment, UNF does in fact have a lower freshman admission rate than UF and FSU. USF and FAU are even lower than that.

Apples and Oranges. UNF's applicant pool is completely different than that of UF and FSU.

I think I remember you posting a bit about UNF in the past. Does Delaney or the University have any interest in a branch or center Downtown?

[acme54321]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

And neither got into UNF, judging by this year's freshman admission rate!

I know this only a joke, but come on...

While it was indeed a joke in the spirit of the Captain's earlier comment, UNF does in fact have a lower freshman admission rate than UF and FSU. USF and FAU are even lower than that.

What does the admission rate really matter.  What I would say matters is the average GPA and testing scores of those admitted.  FWIW I heard UF's average GPA for admission this year was 4.3

[Tacachale]

Q: What do a UF student and an FSU student have in common???

A: They both got into FSU!!!

And neither got into UNF, judging by this year's freshman admission rate!

I know this only a joke, but come on...

While it was indeed a joke in the spirit of the Captain's earlier comment, UNF does in fact have a lower freshman admission rate than UF and FSU. USF and FAU are even lower than that.

Apples and Oranges. UNF's applicant pool is completely different than that of UF and FSU.

I think I remember you posting a bit about UNF in the past. Does Delaney or the University have any interest in a branch or center Downtown?

Not as completely different as you'd think.

At any rate, for downtown, there has long been talk about establishing more of a downtown footprint, and we've made some headway with that, but we're probably a good way off from having anything like dedicated center (or branch campus). The downtown presence was a big part of the motivation to purchase MOCA Jax. The Art & Design department has been using that more and more for both classes and programs, and hopefully that will expand in the future. Everyone that I've talked to at UNF regards the purchase as a big success. Another thing currently in the works is the takeover of WJCT. But this may have limited opportunity to establish a downtown footprint.

Part of the problem is that we're just now catching up with appropriate facilities on the campus (we were really left behind in the first few waves of state university building booms, and there's very little comprehensive vision in the university system), and trying to shake off the commuter vibe. Another issue is the consistent state cuts to the university budgets, which make it harder and harder to get anything done.

In the end, there's considerable interest, but barring things like MOCA that just sort of fall into place at the right time, it's still a matter of when and how.

[I-10east]

^^ Knew this response was coming.

It's funny that you said that Keith; I KNEW as soon as I saw this thread that anti-Jax remarks are were gonna quickly follow. Believe me, I HATE to be predictable with posts (I love to be spontaneous) but unfortunately I'm forced to be predictable when I hear dumb comments like 'Fill in the blank'_______(hicktown) is blowing Jax away'. Most of yall love to dish out anti-Jax comments, but yall can't take it when someone put things into perspective. Geez, why would me standing up for my city annoy anyone? Esp comparing Jax to Gainesville-freaking-Florida!!!!   

[I-10east]

Great Post!! What year did you graduate from FSU?

Nope, I didn't go to FSU. Back in the day, I did a lil' bit of college at Jones College, never graduated though, although I'm a proud Raines High School grad.