A New Look For Fuqua's Brooklyn Retail Project?

[CityLife]

For the same reason the State/Union corridor will not be urban if and when it finaly redevelops. 

Both areas are designed with only auto traffic in mind.  So is it that surprising that the private development fits that mold?

Our city council and planning department could easily change that.

[thelakelander]

Yeah, it's still hard for me to blame the private sector or even Fuqua for what he's being allowed to throw up.  We don't require or demand any thing different.  Thus, the ultimate results are what they are.  If some random place like Birmingham can pull stuff off multiple infill examples like this, we should be able too.

[John P]

Forrest Gump was filmed there. It is a big city.

[thelakelander]

Just smaller than us. That's all.

[Steve]

Wow. If you were to just realigh the thing (i.e. Riverside Publix), it would be immensely better. Not that the Riverside Publix is an architectural gem, but it's WAY better than this.

[thelakelander]

Coming soon to downtown Jacksonville. Fear of a pharmacy not opening on Riverside Avenue led to the DDRB allowing this:



Came across this in Birmingham by accident last week.  It includes a drive thru....Go figure...

[InnerCityPressure]

What?  Why does the DDRB exist?

[icarus]

I've obviously seen the negative comments about the Mediterranean  style, i.e stucco and barrel tile roof, developments in this city but can't help but think that the Mizner inspired Publix/condo development proposed several years ago in San Marco blew this design away.

Honestly, with the relative limited height of the structures across Riverside Avenue, it seems such a design with residential over retail/commercial would have been a better use of the property in terms of both density, design, and walk-ability.

[thelakelander]

While I'm at it, came across this as well:





Pretty different from how this turned out:



All driven by zoning.  These guys will still come if the city reduces front setback requirements in our zoning ordinances....even in the burbs.  Over time, even your suburban areas of town will be somewhat walkable for the residents and people who work there. Such a building pattern means using alternative modes of transportation starts to make sense for a larger population and less public money is spent subsidizing automobile oriented infrastructure.

[vicupstate]

Forrest Gump was filmed there. It is a big city.

I thought Forrest Gump was filmed in Savannah

[thelakelander]

Just to continue to pour salt into our wounds, I passed this in Richmond, VA earlier today. A fairly new CVS built right up on the street and with a brick facade to match the surrounding architecture in Shockoe Bottom.

[I-10east]

Is there such thing as an urban designed building with a drive thru, or are drive thrus the spawn of Satan far as urbanism is concerned? IMO most urbanists complaints with suburban designs are mainly about aesthetics. I'm not totally buying the 'walkability' and 'unsafe auto traffic' arguments; Now there's the rare exception to everything. There's nothing to prove that the average suburban design is more 'dangerous' than an urban one. I don't think that a suburban design will stop any pedestrian (other than the one obsessed urbanist) from getting a Big Mac, or some medicine from Family Dollar, or the Riverside Pharmacy. Hell, urban buildings right on a sidewalk corner (posing blind spots for drivers) is about as dangerous as it gets (regarding pedestrians) but you won't here that from this site for obvious reasons. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing a more urban design (particularly on the State/Union corridor)  for the simple fact that it's between to urban areas (DT & Springfield).

[avonjax]

Is there such thing as an urban designed building with a drive thru, or are drive thrus the spawn of Satan far as urbanism is concerned? IMO most urbanists complaints with suburban designs are mainly about aesthetics. I'm not totally buying the 'walkability' and 'unsafe auto traffic' arguments; Now there's the rare exception to everything. There's nothing to prove that the average suburban design is more 'dangerous' than an urban one. I don't think that a suburban design will stop any pedestrian (other than the one obsessed urbanist) from getting a Big Mac, or some medicine from Family Dollar, or the Riverside Pharmacy. Hell, urban buildings right on a sidewalk corner (posing blind spots for drivers) is about as dangerous as it gets (regarding pedestrians) but you won't here that from this site for obvious reasons. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing a more urban design (particularly on the State/Union corridor)  for the simple fact that it's between to urban areas (DT & Springfield).

It's obvious that  you favor suburban design in every part of the city. The McDonalds and Dollar store on State street are horrible. I guess for you the same horrible design for Brooklyn is ok. If it were up to you all of Jacksonville would look like River City Market Place a suburban nightmare. I would rather see nothing built there instead of a terrible design that will not go away in my lifetime. Jacksonville blows it way more often then we get it right.

[InnerCityPressure]

The shocking thing is that the powers here are not looking at the design concessions that companies are making in other urban cores.  How can the notion even exist that CVS, McDonalds, etc. will not invest in the urban core (outside of their preferred template)?  Ennis is finding example after example of how other "small" cities are luring business and finding common ground.   

[vicupstate]

Is there such thing as an urban designed building with a drive thru, or are drive thrus the spawn of Satan far as urbanism is concerned? IMO most urbanists complaints with suburban designs are mainly about aesthetics.

Downtown Greenville SC has a CVS with a drive-thru, but no dedicated parking, located on it's Main Street. It is built  up to the street corner. The drive-thru is sandwiched between the CVS store and the secondary ground-floor tenant of the building.  Access  to the drive-thru is via the street that runs parallel  to Main, behind the store.  An office tenant occupies the second story of this built-to-suit project. 

I will try to get some pics posted today to tomorrow.