OUR FUTURE SKYSCRAPERS....ANY IDEAS????

[vicupstate]

But I wouldn't score any of them above Jacksonville's even as it stands today. People here don't seem to appreciate the beauty of our city as seen from the Fuller Warren... You could hardly reproduce it with all of the talent in Disney!

I am much less traveled that Oklawaha, but within the US, I have seen a fair number of skylines, and Jax is at or very near the top. 

Unfortunately, the value of it is not appreciated locally.  Otherwise the bridges and buildings would be lite up every night.  Also  the properties with skyline views would have a 'view premium' added to their  rent and resale values.   That doesn't appear to be the case.     

Jax skyline is very nice at night, but to say its near or close to the top sounds like home town cooking. Not trying to be rude but I think you should travel a little more.

Well Jax isn't my hometown (although my parents lived there for a few months 12 years before I was born -- does that count?) nor have I ever been a resident.  I have been to NYC, Chicago, LA, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando,  Indy, Tampa, Atlanta (dozens of times), Philadelphia, SAn Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Kansas City, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Columbia SC, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston Salem, Washington DC.

Of those, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco and more recently Miami, beat Jax.  Given how much bigger those cities are, I think that puts Jax in pretty good company.   

[Ocklawaha]

Keith, don't confuse quantity with quality, certainly ours is not as big, not as high, not as... But I'd still rank it near the very top. For example Bartlesville, Oklahoma has a skyline dominated by a single Frank L Wright office tower... all Bartlesville needs to be beautiful is ONE FRANK L WRIGHT TOWER. Here are some others that I like.

Bartlesville



Panama City


Rio


MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA


Santiago, Chile

The beauty of these last two is that on a crystal clear Andean morning you can look out your window and watch the condors soar off the tops of the surrounding mountains... Yeah, they ARE big enough to see and they ride the thermal up drafts that come off the cliffs and the skyscrapers. One day whilst watching TV (it was near the window) we saw this enormous wing dip past right outside of our apartment (19Th floor) balcony. Unfortunately even though we scrambled to get a better look the giant bird had apparently circled the building and we didn't see it again that day.




OCKLAWAHA

[Tacachale]

I agree with Vic and Ock that we have a very nice skyline. The cityscape isn't a problem for us, IMO. Our real problems are in the towers (or rather, not in in a great enough quantity) and on the street level below.

[Coolyfett]

I feel that city officials should seriously consider filling in the gaps in Downtown. Instead of grass Parking lots, corner stores and gas stations............how about a 600-700 foot skyscraper. I feel  downtown Jacksonville has tooooo much potential!!!! we have a beautiful waterfront downtown, a prime location in the center of the city.....WHY CANT JACKSONVILLE REALIZE THIS? but anyways, what type of skyscrapers do you all feel would suit downtown well???

I wish thing were this simply. There are many office parks near the belway that could easily be downtown towers...but they choose to build out instead of up. Id like to see a really big peace of art work in the city. Something big enough to fill the skyline like a statue or

[Keith-N-Jax]

No I agree with u guys I just saying intoday society people.  wanna see booming skyline, add so innfill and street level activity well help as well but at what part floor we final move into a first tierc ity

[Ocklawaha]

IMAGINE JACKSONVILLE!

I AGREE, FLORIDA HAS FEW IF ANY MONUMENTS THAT MATCH THOSE OF LATIN AMERICA
HERE ARE JUST A FEW (with the exception of the first photo) ALL LOCATED IN MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA.



Okay team, Colombia has a LONG HISTORY of building amazing monuments. Little is known about the pre-hispanic tribes that inhabited the area around San Agustín (St Augustine)  from 3300 BC to about the turn of the millenium.  However the society that sprung up around the first century AD that flourished until about the 8th century AD left behind hundreds of huge stone monuments which comprise  “The largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America” -(World Heritage website) and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.













Botero Statues in Medellin, Colombia, are omnipresent.  Arguably the two most famous living sons of Medellin are both named Botero: Santiago and Fernando.  Both Botero's are famous. Santiago, for his other-worldly feats on a bicycle, and Fernando for his other-worldly feats with bronze, and a paintbrush. All Botero statues and paintings are named very literally.  This piece, for example, is “Woman Lying Down”.  He is a creative genius. Maybe we could import a few?










This is the Pantano de Vargas (Vargas Swamp) monument. Although no longer a swamp, this place is famous for a decisive battle that took place a couple of days before the one in Puente de Boyacá (Boyacá Bridge). Outnumbered by the Spanish army, the republican army was able to win this battle thanks to the bravery of the 15 soldiers honored here, who penetrated the Spanish cavalry in a strategic and "suicidal" move, armed only with lances. It is over 100 feet high.





Luis 'Lucho' Herrera was one of the finest grimpeurs to come from Colombia. He was the winner of five King of the Mountain Jersey's and the first South American to win a Grand Tour (1987 Vuelta a Espana). Grimpeurs are a group of cyclists raising money for cancer charities.







PLAZA DE CISNEROS â€" PARQUE DE LA LUZ
Former Plaza de Cisneros, later known as “El Pedrero” and used as Medellín's main marketplace through the first half of the 20th, century has been converted into the Parque de la Luz (Plaza of Lights). This site owes its name to the 300 light poles, 2100 spotlights, and 170 in-ground lights that turn this into a magical wonderland at night.





http://www.youtube.com/v/08FbXv_1qb4?version=3&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/4yjuqGb7wLo?version=3&hl=en_US
Interestingly, the Medellin EPM Fuente (EPM Fountain) is a product of Colombia, California and Atlanta... One would think we could do this along the Riverwalk in the north bank area.

IMAGINE JACKSONVILLE!

[BackinJax05]

More skyscrapers would be nice, but as so many have already said - the ones already downtown are mostly vacant.

This is not true. They are not mostly vacant. Enterprise Center probably has the highest vacany rate now. Everbank Center will be 70% occupied when Everbank moves in. CSX fills two buildings alone. I get so tired of hearing no one works, lives or does anything Downtown. Those myths continue to perpetuate a negative view of Downtown by many.

Point taken. However, you only mentioned 3 buildings. The Laura Street Trio, Barnett Building, and other historic downtown landmarks continue to remain vacant - and slowly crumbling.

Out of curiosity, what are the occupancy rates for Helmut's Pencil (BofA) & Wells Fargo/Modis/AccuStaff/Independent Life buildings?

And JFRD's ladders will still only reach so high.

[Jason]

I've always loved Santiago's skyline.  I swear it looks like it should be sitting along the US/Canada border though.  Looks very northern. 

My other favs are Hong Kong and Dubai (moreso because of the cool architecture of the buildings).  But as far as sheer beauty, you can't have this discussion without mentioning our Oz friends outback.... Perth, Melbourne, and Adelaide.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Melbourne is very nice. I have always enjoyed watching the Aussie Open because of tennis of course and their skyline.

[BackinJax05]

IMAGINE JACKSONVILLE!

I AGREE, FLORIDA HAS FEW IF ANY MONUMENTS THAT MATCH THOSE OF LATIN AMERICA
HERE ARE JUST A FEW (with the exception of the first photo) ALL LOCATED IN MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA.



Okay team, Colombia has a LONG HISTORY of building amazing monuments. Little is known about the pre-hispanic tribes that inhabited the area around San Agustín (St Augustine)  from 3300 BC to about the turn of the millenium.  However the society that sprung up around the first century AD that flourished until about the 8th century AD left behind hundreds of huge stone monuments which comprise  “The largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America” -(World Heritage website) and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.













Botero Statues in Medellin, Colombia, are omnipresent.  Arguably the two most famous living sons of Medellin are both named Botero: Santiago and Fernando.  Both Botero's are famous. Santiago, for his other-worldly feats on a bicycle, and Fernando for his other-worldly feats with bronze, and a paintbrush. All Botero statues and paintings are named very literally.  This piece, for example, is “Woman Lying Down”.  He is a creative genius. Maybe we could import a few?










This is the Pantano de Vargas (Vargas Swamp) monument. Although no longer a swamp, this place is famous for a decisive battle that took place a couple of days before the one in Puente de Boyacá (Boyacá Bridge). Outnumbered by the Spanish army, the republican army was able to win this battle thanks to the bravery of the 15 soldiers honored here, who penetrated the Spanish cavalry in a strategic and "suicidal" move, armed only with lances. It is over 100 feet high.





Luis 'Lucho' Herrera was one of the finest grimpeurs to come from Colombia. He was the winner of five King of the Mountain Jersey's and the first South American to win a Grand Tour (1987 Vuelta a Espana). Grimpeurs are a group of cyclists raising money for cancer charities.







PLAZA DE CISNEROS â€" PARQUE DE LA LUZ
Former Plaza de Cisneros, later known as “El Pedrero” and used as Medellín's main marketplace through the first half of the 20th, century has been converted into the Parque de la Luz (Plaza of Lights). This site owes its name to the 300 light poles, 2100 spotlights, and 170 in-ground lights that turn this into a magical wonderland at night.





http://www.youtube.com/v/08FbXv_1qb4?version=3&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/4yjuqGb7wLo?version=3&hl=en_US
Interestingly, the Medellin EPM Fuente (EPM Fountain) is a product of Colombia, California and Atlanta... One would think we could do this along the Riverwalk in the north bank area.

IMAGINE JACKSONVILLE!

Medellin looks pretty, but Id be willing to bet most of that stuff was paid for with laundered money. (Remember Carlos Ledher & the Medellin Cartel?)

[fsujax]

More skyscrapers would be nice, but as so many have already said - the ones already downtown are mostly vacant.

This is not true. They are not mostly vacant. Enterprise Center probably has the highest vacany rate now. Everbank Center will be 70% occupied when Everbank moves in. CSX fills two buildings alone. I get so tired of hearing no one works, lives or does anything Downtown. Those myths continue to perpetuate a negative view of Downtown by many.

Point taken. However, you only mentioned 3 buildings. The Laura Street Trio, Barnett Building, and other historic downtown landmarks continue to remain vacant - and slowly crumbling.

Out of curiosity, what are the occupancy rates for Helmut's Pencil (BofA) & Wells Fargo/Modis/AccuStaff/Independent Life buildings?

And JFRD's ladders will still only reach so high.

I am not the expert on vacany rates, but last I heard the Wells Fargo building was over 90% occupied, BofA was somewhere in the 80% range. I know we do have lots of empty, mostly historic structures

[WmNussbaum]

There will be another skyscraper here when the present ones are close to fully occupied and some large company which can occupy a large percentage of the floors in a new one decides to make the investment - thereby showing us the money.

I'm voting with the ground-level activity folks and those who think Paris is at or near the top of the list of great cities of the world. For a good read about how it was saved from total destruction on Hitler's orders at the end of WW II, try "Is Paris Burning."

I wonder: If someones wanted to, would it be possible to convert a floor in one of our skyscrapers to residential use? For instance, Wells Fargo just vacated the _ _ _ Building for the Wells Fargo Building, leaving the _ _ _ Building with a number of vacant floors. Convert one floor to a condominium and sell off portions for residential use.  Or long-term rent 'em out.

[downtownjag]

More skyscrapers would be nice, but as so many have already said - the ones already downtown are mostly vacant.

This is not true. They are not mostly vacant. Enterprise Center probably has the highest vacany rate now. Everbank Center will be 70% occupied when Everbank moves in. CSX fills two buildings alone. I get so tired of hearing no one works, lives or does anything Downtown. Those myths continue to perpetuate a negative view of Downtown by many.

Point taken. However, you only mentioned 3 buildings. The Laura Street Trio, Barnett Building, and other historic downtown landmarks continue to remain vacant - and slowly crumbling.

Out of curiosity, what are the occupancy rates for Helmut's Pencil (BofA) & Wells Fargo/Modis/AccuStaff/Independent Life buildings?

And JFRD's ladders will still only reach so high.

I am not the expert on vacany rates, but last I heard the Wells Fargo building was over 90% occupied, BofA was somewhere in the 80% range. I know we do have lots of empty, mostly historic structures

That's correct friend.  WFC is doing very well, thanks to WF.  B of A is doing well too, and is now LEED certified, which alot of big name companies look for.  Enterprise is leased but empty (WF lease) so I hope and expect them to market to a big, multifloor tenant that wants signage.

[downtownjag]

There will be another skyscraper here when the present ones are close to fully occupied and some large company which can occupy a large percentage of the floors in a new one decides to make the investment - thereby showing us the money.

Agreed, and I believe it may be closer to happening than is perceived.

[fsujax]

I am definately for activating the street scene. I have noticed lots of scaffolding atop the Enterprise Center and other work going on there. Guess they are trying to get the building spruced up in the hopes they can attract a large tenant with naming rights.