Expanding Avondale Shops?

[cityimrov]

The single story Avondale Shops is starting to become very full.  Is it possible to add a second or third story to some of the buildings surrounding the shops for more space? 

[thelakelander]

I heard there's still around 15,000 square feet of retail space in that strip that could still be put to better use.

[JeffreyS]

Sounds like unless you were making a second story roof top parking RAP and the locals would have a fit.

[Steve]

I wouldn't seek to "expand' the shoppes. My thought - for denser retail, shouldn't folks look more to Brooklyn?

[thelakelander]

^A streetcar connecting Riverside to downtown would do just that.

[Ocklawaha]

5-Points/Brooklyn circa 2025?




Something old, something new, something....

The more I look at it the more I'm convinced that any streetcar line that runs through the middle of Riverside and Avondale, needs to be anchored on the north at no less then Newnan/Bay. The streetcar that originates at Newnan/Bay would be much more successful if the south end was anchored at St. Johns/Roosevelt, next to Roosevelt Plaza.

The streetcar neighborhoods from north to south would then be:

Downtown - Offices
La Villa - Desert
Brooklyn - New Development
Art's Market - Recreation
5-Points - Retail - Recreation - Dining
Riverside - Dense Residential
King Street - Entertainment/Dining
Avondale - Dense Residential - Dining/boutique shopping
Boone Park - Recreation
Fairfax - Dense Residential/boutique shopping
Roosevelt Plaza - Major shopping Center + A line commuter rail

Such a mix in a fairly short route would guarantee success beyond our wildest projections.

OCKLAWAHA

[Steve]

^A streetcar connecting Riverside to downtown would do just that.

Does fixed-rail transit spur that type of development? Funny, I think I've heard that before.

[thelakelander]

It would be a pressure reliever for Riverside actually by pulling the retail focus to Brooklyn, a centralized spot between Riverside and Downtown.

[Dog Walker]

Park St. in Brooklyn, between I-95 and downtown is really dismal right now.  Put fixed rail down the middle of it and you would have another booming retail and apartment/townhouse district, I bet.

[cityimrov]

Has Riverside/Avondale cashed in it's transit chips yet?  This area has some of the highest property values in Jacksonville.  This means they pay a lot of money in local and state property taxes.

At the same time, transpiration spending is at an all time low for them.  Unless a two lane road cost a fortune to maintain, this area looks like it's getting the spare change of transit spending compared to the multimillion dollar mega interchanges some areas get.

It sounds like now is a good time for Riverside/Avondale to have it's own multimillion dollar transit project.  Unless someone wants to demolish half of Riverside, the only option there is mass transit. 

Also, is it true that Avondale Shops is still on septic tanks?  Any word on moving them to the sewer system?

[thelakelander]

Convince the council to let the mobility fee moratorium expire and the area will have a stack of cash to spend on mobility in five to ten years.

[peestandingup]

Since these areas were built around transit, they'll never reach their true potential without adding transit back to them. You can only add so much automobile infrastructure (parking, roads, etc) to areas like this before it starts to become a real mess. Not to mention, ugly.

[Know Growth]

The single story Avondale Shops is starting to become very full.  Is it possible to add a second or third story to some of the buildings surrounding the shops for more space?

Study the Overlay

[mtraininjax]

It would be a pressure reliever for Riverside actually by pulling the retail focus to Brooklyn, a centralized spot between Riverside and Downtown.

+1

If anyone wants to throw something against the wall and see what sticks, Brooklyn is the best place for it. Nothing there right now, so no RAP crazies to protest. Turn Brooklyn into your playground and prove something will work.

[thelakelander]

Brooklyn would be an excellent economic development case study.  It's not a historic district, there's existing building fabric for small business/residential investment and there are large vacant parcels for major development, all within proximity of the riverfront and I-95/I-10.  Downtown is immediately north and Riverside immediately south.  On top of this, you have thousands of people already working in the area on Riverside Avenue, serving as a built in starter market.  However, for it to effectively blossom as a case study, you would at least need fixed transit connectivity to Five Points, which would serve as a viable terminal spot for a transit investment.