Downtown starting to take shape?

[duvaldude08]

Is is just me, or the arrow pointing way up for downtown? It seem as if downtown is organically taking form. City Hall has had many master plans to fail, yet downtown is starting to progress on it's on. I believe there is just a geinunine interest in downtown among the citizens and everyone is tired of waiting on the city to make things happen. the slew of small businesses opening or relocating their current operations downtown, The Everbank move, all the developments on Riverside ave, the possiabilty of Lat 30 opening up downtown, etc etc. It seems when the DIA come up with their plan for downtown, they will actually have something to work from. Thoughts?

[Noone]

Things are happening. I still have concerns as to access to our St. Johns River Downtown our American Heritage River a Federal Initiative with the new eyes of a DIA.

Yesterday's Jacksonville's Waterways Commission Artificial Reef Subcommittee meeting was very positive.

DD how about a tactical organic urban kayaking paddle and you can tell me about the Jags and I'll share with you my concerns about access and economic opportunity.

Are you all In? Friendly Invitation.

[thelakelander]

In my view, momentum for downtown has always been there.  It's a national wide trend.  You really have to screw things up to not see positive growth.  However, if we really want to see strong growth, the type that results in a 24/7 vibrant atmosphere, we'll have to smartly and strategically invest in ourselves.  By this, I mean better mobility, parks, schools, maintenance of public right-of-way, and connectivity between downtown and the surrounding core neighborhoods.  We'll also need to allow personal creativity and innovation to take place within a compact setting through the relaxation of regulations and concepts at the public level that may limit this. These are the types of things that separate the cream of the crop from the has beens.  Our work is cut out for us but as long as we don't trip over our own two feet, we should see positive growth.

[thelakelander]

As for the recent announcements (Latitude 30, Laura Trio, Fresh Market, etc.), I'd be cautiously optimistic.  During the boom these types of projects were being announced on a weekly basis. 



http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-results-of-the-boom-dead-projects

However, there is a lot that can go one between signing a letter of intent, doing due diligence and actually moving forward with construction.

[Dapperdan]

The city is helping alot. I don't think it is as organic as you think. Lat 30 said they were taking full advantage of some tax breaks to open in the Library. We had to basically pay Everbank to move downtown. I think in this economy however, these are the right things to do. Do all you can to get anyone downtown now.

[John P]

The mayor has staked his reputation and political future on improving downtown so you better know hes trying to pull out all the stops. He will be judged on 2 things Downtown and pension reform.

[Captain Zissou]

I knew someone was going to say something like this eventually.  Downtown is seeing more growth than it has in the past 2-3 years, but we are still behind our peer cities.  What is happening now is that we are finally getting a couple daring investors to join in the cause of caring about downtown.  The stone is just barely starting to roll and at this point it is at a very fragile place.  If the city impedes these projects or makes it unprofitable for these few investors, the momentum will grind to a halt and we will see another 3 years of stagnation.  If the city facilitates growth and does a great job supporting these guys and the developers see success, then the real projects (some of the smaller projects proposed in the boom) might take notice.  We're not going to be seeing tower cranes any time soon, but we have a chance to build some positive momentum.

[duvaldude08]

Maybe its just me, but I see it different than the projects proposed post 2008 were alot of "pie in the sky" " I cant believe its true" projects. The developments that have taken place lately are.. well.. realistic. Someone wanting to open a store on Riverside ave is not exactly a pipe dream. Nor is building a McDonalds or 7-11. I just see a general interest in making downtown somewhere attractive to visit and stay. I could careless about skysracpers and high rise condos.

[Captain Zissou]

Despite the "pie in the sky" projects that fell through, downtown  still added Berkman, The Strand, The Peninsula, San Marco Place, Everbank, and a number of smaller projects in La Villa and around DT during the boom.  We still haven't seen growth anywhere close to that since 2008.  Small stores are good and needed, but transformational change and momentum hasn't happened yet.

[chipwich]

As the cliche goes: "No one harmless snowflake believes it was the cause of an avalanche"

[acme54321]

As for the recent announcements (Latitude 30, Laura Trio, Fresh Market, etc.), I'd be cautiously optimistic.  During the boom these types of projects were being announced on a weekly basis. 



http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-results-of-the-boom-dead-projects

However, there is a lot that can go one between signing a letter of intent, doing due diligence and actually moving forward with construction.

The city should sell Sleiman than land, get out of that whole parking lot agreement and push for something like this on that site.

[Keith-N-Jax]

I'd be cautiously optimistic as well.

[Tacachale]

Despite the "pie in the sky" projects that fell through, downtown  still added Berkman, The Strand, The Peninsula, San Marco Place, Everbank, and a number of smaller projects in La Villa and around DT during the boom.  We still haven't seen growth anywhere close to that since 2008.  Small stores are good and needed, but transformational change and momentum hasn't happened yet.

I'm more impressed with the growing small business interest right now. Just looking at restaurants and bars there has been a complete reversal for the better. As recently as a year ago one owner told me they'd never look at downtown for any reason. But they changed their mind and are now contributing to a growing nightlife scene. And several more have opened up in a similar time frame. These are people who get no incentive packages and are putting their livelihoods on the line, but have decided that downtown is where they want to be.

[ben says]

As for the recent announcements (Latitude 30, Laura Trio, Fresh Market, etc.), I'd be cautiously optimistic.  During the boom these types of projects were being announced on a weekly basis. 



http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-results-of-the-boom-dead-projects

However, there is a lot that can go one between signing a letter of intent, doing due diligence and actually moving forward with construction.

The city should sell Sleiman than land, get out of that whole parking lot agreement and push for something like this on that site.

or, as our local history has pointed out, get sleiman to guarantee something like this, put part of the money in escrow, come up with a good faith deposit, and then sell the land to him with a contract reverting the land on failure to perform.

Great idea!

[finehoe]

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-results-of-the-boom-dead-projects

Wow.  If only half of those projects had been built, downtown would be a very different place today.