Is Riverside/Avondale Ready For Mellow Mushroom?

[sheclown]

Standing room only at HPC.  I left before the lawyer and designer had finished. 

Looks like a L O N G night.  Speakers cards were a flyin'.

[fsquid]

How can they oppose their OWN site plan?

The building, which they proposed, has 'too long of a store frontage'.

If you dig deep, you'll see what's happening... and it's certainly not on the 'up and up'

someone put it laymen's terms for someone who is not familiar with the politics of the neighborhood.

[mtraininjax]

When are we as a community going to stop taking the path of least resistance and start to eliminate the waste and inefficiency of constantly striving to increase parking supply in the neighoborhood instead of better managing existing parking supply?

When you vote in new city council members and a new mayor!

Why the long faces? MM is coming to Avondale, and we all knew MM would have to compromise, after all, they tried to be all nice and friendly with people who HATE change.....wait is this the thread about LBGT vote or is the MM thread.....the theme is consistent, many of the so called "establishment" dislike change, I don't like change either, unless it benefits me. So MM is coming to Avondale, this is great, we will open our arms to them and welcome them, but we are also THANKFUL for the other restaurants who grace Avondale and thrive.

There is enough of a money pie in Avondale for everyone. Glad to see the Valentino family work this out with the parties involved. Will be great to ride the bike or walk to MM.

[John P]

Is Riverside/Avondale Ready For Mellow Mushroom? I guess the answer is kind of.

[BridgeTroll]

Is Riverside/Avondale Ready For Mellow Mushroom? I guess the answer is kind of.

In hindsight... Is Mellow Mushroom ready for Riverside/Avondale...?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

When are we as a community going to stop taking the path of least resistance and start to eliminate the waste and inefficiency of constantly striving to increase parking supply in the neighoborhood instead of better managing existing parking supply?

When you vote in new city council members and a new mayor!

Why the long faces? MM is coming to Avondale, and we all knew MM would have to compromise, after all, they tried to be all nice and friendly with people who HATE change.....wait is this the thread about LBGT vote or is the MM thread.....the theme is consistent, many of the so called "establishment" dislike change, I don't like change either, unless it benefits me. So MM is coming to Avondale, this is great, we will open our arms to them and welcome them, but we are also THANKFUL for the other restaurants who grace Avondale and thrive.

There is enough of a money pie in Avondale for everyone. Glad to see the Valentino family work this out with the parties involved. Will be great to ride the bike or walk to MM.

Didn't you say you were 'friends' with John?  What happens when someone gets on your bad side?

I've been following this since the beginning, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this is considered a 'compromise'.  And reading between the lines of Field's last comment, it seems that WLA is prepared to really run this thing through the ringer a few more times - Suggest is too mild a word, Demanding a 'compromised' site plan only to turn around and refuse it. 

I suppose their willing to see how long MM is willing to put up with their BS before just giving up on the project altogether.

Mellow Mushroom really needs to stop being so, eh, 'mellow' about this situation and turn the tables.  I'm sure there's other avenues that they could use to circumvent this whole WLA schill job and probably RAP as well.  I'd start with officially fixing the record over whether the gas station is actually a contributing structure or not. 

[mtraininjax]

I suppose their willing to see how long MM is willing to put up with their BS before just giving up on the project altogether.

Mellow Mushroom really needs to stop being so, eh, 'mellow' about this situation and turn the tables.  I'm sure there's other avenues that they could use to circumvent this whole WLA schill job and probably RAP as well.  I'd start with officially fixing the record over whether the gas station is actually a contributing structure or not.

Next time you shell out $800,000 for a dump of a gas station, let me know, if you are willing to give up on your investment! That would be ludicrous!

MM is not being mellow, they are working to get the business operational, every day that the DUMP sits standing, the Valentino family is losing money. WLA is for the restaurant, and so am I, there is no reason to circumvent the opposition, you only throw gasoline onto a fire that is beginning to die down. Work with your opponents, compromise, and move on. This is a business deal, its not a professional war between adversaries. The Valentino  family has been professional about the entire process and the MM party has been very above board with everything, which is commendable. No need to ignite a new backlash. There is enough envy out here on MJ, no need for it between these 2 willing parties.   

[ben says]

Mtrain....continuing to call the gas station a "DUMP", as you say, over and over, does not change the fact that the DUMP of a gas station could be a great instance of adaptive reuse. Just because its a DUMP now doesn't mean it would be a DUMP after the Valentino's took over.

Your views on the MM "compromise" are myopic at best. We get it...you live in Avondale and think there are parking issues. Great. Doesn't change the fact that this plan only nets four more parking spaces and turns the Shoppes into another strip mall-esque environment. That DUMP of a gas station, when remade, was going to make the difference between strip mall and unique environ.

[tufsu1]

^ the new design may not be ideal for some (and I also prefer the first version), but calling it strip mall-esque is off-base...as noted, the building is still up against the sidewalk with parking behind....and as also noted, there seem to be 11 more spaces, not 4.

[Adam W]

^ the new design may not be ideal for some (and I also prefer the first version), but calling it strip mall-esque is off-base...as noted, the building is still up against the sidewalk with parking behind....and as also noted, there seem to be 11 more spaces, not 4.

I'd say the Publix development in Riverside is a strip mall (or strip mall-esque) and it has a lot of parking behind it. I think the "esque" is the key there.

It's obviously a matter of personal opinion, but I can see how the new design evokes images of strip malls.

[ben says]

Excuse me, 11 spaces, not four. My bad.

That being said, my point remains that same. That "dump" of a gas station, while in disrepair, is a truly unique characteristic of Avondale. The adaptive reuse options there are endless. So yeah, when I said strip mall-esque, I meant "esque"

It's just a huge f'ing shame that the "compromise" is a building gets knocked down for a few spaces. If this were in downtown, I highly doubt Mtrain would be screaming about a DUMP and how it's a great idea to demo it for parking spaces.

Myopic/hypocritical. End of story.

If I knew how to post pictures, I would, but here's what I mean re: gas station not being a dump (I'm sure THIS one was a DUMP before they redid it, too): http://www.flickr.com/photos/smart_growth/4080998721/

[Adam W]

^agreed.

[JHAT76]

Excuse me, 11 spaces, not four. My bad.

That being said, my point remains that same. That "dump" of a gas station, while in disrepair, is a truly unique characteristic of Avondale. The adaptive reuse options there are endless. So yeah, when I said strip mall-esque, I meant "esque"

It's just a huge f'ing shame that the "compromise" is a building gets knocked down for a few spaces. If this were in downtown, I highly doubt Mtrain would be screaming about a DUMP and how it's a great idea to demo it for parking spaces.

Myopic/hypocritical. End of story.

If I knew how to post pictures, I would, but here's what I mean re: gas station not being a dump (I'm sure THIS one was a DUMP before they redid it, too): http://www.flickr.com/photos/smart_growth/4080998721/

To echo this.  I am sure the latest design will look nice.  Likely in that modern take on retro look style.  Reusing the gas station, however, would have created a unique look for the shops. A place you would notice as you drive/walk through rather then just another flat front building.

[Gators312]

I suppose their willing to see how long MM is willing to put up with their BS before just giving up on the project altogether.

Mellow Mushroom really needs to stop being so, eh, 'mellow' about this situation and turn the tables.  I'm sure there's other avenues that they could use to circumvent this whole WLA schill job and probably RAP as well.  I'd start with officially fixing the record over whether the gas station is actually a contributing structure or not.

Next time you shell out $800,000 for a dump of a gas station, let me know, if you are willing to give up on your investment! That would be ludicrous!

MM is not being mellow, they are working to get the business operational, every day that the DUMP sits standing, the Valentino family is losing money. WLA is for the restaurant, and so am I, there is no reason to circumvent the opposition, you only throw gasoline onto a fire that is beginning to die down. Work with your opponents, compromise, and move on. This is a business deal, its not a professional war between adversaries. The Valentino  family has been professional about the entire process and the MM party has been very above board with everything, which is commendable. No need to ignite a new backlash. There is enough envy out here on MJ, no need for it between these 2 willing parties.   

Mtrain,

WLA isn't for the restaurant.  They wouldn't have put out all the lies they did in their "informational" flyer.   

WLA and RAP haven't asked what the neighborhood wants, they just are pushing for what a small handful of individuals want in the name of the neighborhood.   Did RAP formally ask for neighborhood input?  If RAP is looking out for the neighborhood as they did with Kickback's why the need for the splinter group WLA? 

And what about the requests that MM acquiesced to?  Was there any research into what was the best design for the parcel, or was it just the opinions of the squeaky, dishonest wheels who want the place totally contained by walls, and placed under restrictions that NO OTHER business in the shoppes are ?

And I would think that 14 parking spots won't solve the "parking issues" that you seem to insist that are going on in the neighborhood. 

All in all I think that WLA and RAP just have to be sure they get to dictate some changes to anyone's plans.  Who cares if the changes make sense, or if they address the "issues".  Just as long as new businesses respect the authority of RAP and maybe a few well connected attorneys and keep them happy.

As much dishonesty and backroom dealing WLA was involved in, I wonder how accurate the accounting is of their attorney trust accounts.  In my opinion, if they are willing to lie about a restaurant going into their neighborhood, why not lie IF they are stealing funds from their clients.    See what I did there...

[thelakelander]

Last night, I hung out at Dogwood Brewery and Big Tex in Decatur, GA and happened to pass Leon's Full Service in the process. Like the original MM proposal, they converted an old "dump" gas station into a restaurant, turning the old apron into outdoor dining/courtyard space. It's a game changer for that area. MM's original plan was a visionary concept that is rarely seen in Riverside and Jacksonville, due to the centralized public green space component. This could have been much more than just a pizza restaurant. That's the largest tragedy here and urban Jax's plight in general. Oh, and it appears the parking apocalypse situation still hasn't been properly addressed.