Town Center Construction

[carpnter]

I agree ... after all, how much more can it cost to run one bus to Orange Park 24 hrs?  It would have a two hour wait between buses because of only one running the route, but I am sure they would have ridership ... heck WalMart has people in it at 3am so obviously people need to go somewhere in middle of night.  And I think they would only need four ... WS2 to OP, A continuous line to the beaches, the S1 OR L7 to Avenues and the L8 to Lem Turner and I-295 for the Northside.  And does anyone know why, when you have entertainment on the northbank with residential apartments and condos on the southbank, with more to come ... why an unmanned SkyRail closes at sundown or shortly after ... if it is open at all? 

Also, on another topic ... in Jersey when a contractor buys land and says I am building a shopping mall here.  The town says "no problem, you may build your mall as long as you build this fire station in the corner of the property or build a roadway or improve this intersection".  So how come, when these grand plans come into the city of Jacksonville for a place called St Johns Town Center ... why didn't someone say okay, build us a light rail to southside blvd and gate parkway establishments for people who work and live there.  Or something to alleviate the need for car traffic and parking.  After all, if you buildings with businesses make more money than parking spaces right?  I know there is a name for those types of deals, but not that knowledgeable.

You cannot make a developer build a public light rail system to allow them to build on their property.  You can make them pay to run water/sewer lines to the project if none exist as well as any necessary road improvements(traffic lights/road widening) at the project to accommodate the additional traffic load.  Those are part of the impact fees that a developer pays to the city.  You could even require them to pay for a station for an existing light rail system if there was light rail already there (if there was light rail already there, they would probably want to build one to drive more traffic into the businesses at the center), but you cannot make them build a light rail system for public use and on top of that they most likely don't own any portion of the necessary right of way required to build that system. 

You can make them pay mobility fees which would provide a funding mechanism to help pay for transit.  We have a mobility plan in Jax, or we did, until our City Council decided it would be a good idea to put a moratorium on it.

True, I just considered those fees as part of the impact fees that a developer might pay to construct their project.

[Captain Zissou]

Finally I found some solid info on the second multi-family development being built on town center property.  http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/money_makers/2012/03/tribridge-residential-to-build-20m.html

They are putting in a 2 story parking structure, at a cost of $2 million.  I wonder if the city required this, they did it to maximize their space, or just as a good business practice.  Regardless of the reason, i am glad they did it and it will be a good example to follow for future developments.

[Captain Zissou]

The units look to be pretty compact, but well adorned.  I am surprised that the developer has not done more to market the property.  The website looks great: http://liveattheuptown.com/

[jcjohnpaint]

Very nice indeed.  As for the mobility fee, I believe Oct of last year the moratorium was voted on (it seems in secret).  Should we be hearing something soon, or not.  Maybe now would be a good time to hound our council. 

[comncense]

Hmm that'll be right around the time my lease is up downtown next year. It'll be a choice between there and the new apartments being built in Brooklyn for me.

[thelakelander]

Very nice indeed.  As for the mobility fee, I believe Oct of last year the moratorium was voted on (it seems in secret).  Should we be hearing something soon, or not.  Maybe now would be a good time to hound our council. 

Now is a great time.  If we don't, those who want to see the moratorium extended, will have the council's ears all to themselves.

[jcjohnpaint]

I don't know if anyone read this article today, but mention of the Mobility Fee at the end.  I don't know if it clears much up. 

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=537132



07/31/2012

by Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor

Calling it “the last significant parcel in this part of town,” City Council member Richard Clark met with the developer and community residents Monday to hammer out suggested improvements to plans for the proposed 781-acre “Tamaya” residential and commercial development along Beach Boulevard.
The site is north of Beach Boulevard between Kernan and Hodges boulevards.

Beach Boulevard Venture LLC has asked the City to rezone the property, in Clark’s Council District 3, to permit 3,500 residential units, up from the 2,400 units earlier approved.

Agent T.R. Hainline, a shareholder and land-use attorney with the Rogers Towers firm, explained at the community meeting that the project, formerly called Meditierra, had been approved in 2005, before the recession, and that the developer had already contributed funds to develop a fire station, toward Patton Park and to move JEA electric lines.

A site plan shows nine residential areas, a 10-acre amenity center and, at Beach and Kernan boulevards, a commercial town center.

Residents, as well as former district Council representative Jerry Holland, now Supervisor of Elections, asked Hainline, engineer Hugh Mathews, president of ETM Inc., and executives with ICI Homes, to agree to several changes before Tamaya returns to City Council reviews for approval.

Clark suggests capping the number of units at 3,100 and Holland wants developers to define the maximum number of units for single-family and multifamily development.

“Define better what you want to do,” he said. “I get no comfort level when it says ‘condos’ and ‘townhomes,’” he said.

ICI Homes executives David Haas, chief operating officer of Intervest Construction of Jax Inc., and Don Wilford, North Florida Division president, did not indicate any immediate development plans for the project, saying the housing market needed to be strong enough to warrant construction.

Intervest is a managing member of Beach Boulevard Venture. State records also list Beazer Homes Inc. a managing member.

About 14 people attended the 1 ½-hour meeting at the Pablo Creek Library, which sits in the center of the proposed project. They discussed issues that included traffic signals and access, the main Meritage Boulevard that would start at Kernan and end at City property to the east and the main Tamaya Boulevard that would start at Beach Boulevard and connect with Meritage Boulevard.

At the end of the meeting, Hainline summarized what he called a resulting “laundry list” of suggestions.

Those included internal parking and driveway access to Patton Park, which is adjacent to the east side of the property, right of way retention, a stated maximum cap to the types of residential units and other items.

Among other ideas, Holland suggested that the developer provide a driveway to City property at Patton Park so that the park’s gate can be opened when needed to Tamaya residents.

“That’s an idea that has some real merit,” Haas said.

One issue discussed at more length was extending Meritage Boulevard to Hodges Boulevard rather than ending just before Patton Park.

Developers considered offsetting their former City “fair share” assessment by building the road, but costs exceeded the assessment. Fair share assessments have been replaced by “mobility fees,” but those fees have been waived by Council for now.

Haas said the fair share assessment would have been at least $14 million while the mobility fee is estimated at $4.7 million. Although Council voted in October to waive mobility fees for a year, Hainline said developers would be paying the fee when permits were pulled, indicating construction would not start until the waiver ends.

Haas said the first phase would be 184 lots.

kmathis@baileypub.com

[tufsu1]

except folks like Hainline are lobbying to extend the moratorium for another year

[fieldafm]

Anyone have any info on the development behind Mitchell's Fish market.?  The way they are building that site seems so strange to me.   They have one area of a huge raised platform, what looks like the base of a parking structure, and then what looks like the plumbing hook ups for a bunch of units.  5000 town is coming along nicely.  It's nice to see some good ole' concrete construction for residential, and it's not even tilt up!!!  Haven't seen that in a while around here.  Too many stick built suburban complexes for me to take lately.

There are three multi-family starts going up on the Town Center land.  That's one of them. 
There is also a restaurant that is being constructed on the Markets property (still no sidewalk to connect to)
And a rezoning application for traffic circulation was just approved for the PUD on the Costco site.  (was basically the best of three bad options, the street grid originally planned should have never have been discarded and a million curb cuts been allowed to be constructed with virtually no pedestrian connectivity)

I've mentioned on here and privately about an existing entitlement that was about to get sold for more residential.  Well here it is:

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2012/08/08/orlando-area-developer-plans.html

If there was a form based code that encouraged building like Tapestry Park, I think this area would really benefit in the long term (just look at the commercial land close to two condos at Southside/Touchton, and think of what that could look like- a walkable, compact development.  You can't even walk from your condo to Publix the way the entire site is laid out now).

Must be because of that moratorium  (they couldnt get a building permit pulled quick enough if the moratorium expires in October, nor can another 4 of those projects proposed... further proof that the boom in multi family starts on the Southside had nothing to do with the mobility fee moratorium and everything to do with demand and favorable credit for these types of projects).

[fsujax]

Brooklyn/DT -  1, Southside/SJTC -  7

[I-10east]

Three more stores are coming to the SJTC; Bose, Steve Madden Shoes(where Betsey Johnson was at) and Carter's Childrens Wear. My bad if someone already posted it, yall are so damn quick. LOL

www.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/472000/roger-bull/2012-09-07/three-stores-slated-open-st-johns-town-center