Design approved for city’s new transit center

[thelakelander]

An important step toward the July 2011 opening of the Jacksonville Transportation Center (JTC) took place Thursday afternoon. That’s when the Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC) approved the conceptual design of the first phase of the project.

The project will mean a significant design change and improvements to the existing Skyway station adjacent to the Osborn Center. When complete, the first phase will have added two Bus Rapid Transit stations, 12,000 square feet of retail space and a three-story parking garage.

Phase 1 also includes 95,000 square feet of office space that will be occupied by JTA offices, the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Regional Transportation Management Center.

Bruce Robbins, senior landscape architect at Reynolds, Smith and Hills, said the development will be built around public space on the north and south sides of the JTC.

The area on the north side will provide access to the retail space for passengers waiting to board buses or the Skyway. Robbins said there will also be three areas designated for outdoor sculpture and a “fountain that will cascade into a pool with seating areas around it.”

DDRB chair Chris Flagg stated the director of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Art in Public Places program was aware of the outdoor sculpture aspect of the design and has suggested a “competition among artists” to determine who will create the art for the JTC’s open space.

On the south side of the center a more “passive” park will be constructed. The four large live oaks that are currently on the site will be preserved and cabbage palms and other landscaping will also be installed, Robbins said.

“That will be more of a shady, secluded area,” he added.

Architect Ethan Loubriel, associate vice president of DMJM Harris, said his firm worked closely with state and local historic preservation agencies to ensure the design of the JTC would be compatible with the existing historic architecture in the area around the project.

“The exterior design combines red brick similar to that found in the nearby historic buildings as well as limestone and precast concrete,” he said.

After the board approved the conceptual design, Steven Arrington, JTA director of resource development, said, “We have been working on this project since 1992. We’ve gone through many phases with this project.” Arrington added the design has been modified over the years in order to reflect changes in development plans for the surrounding blocks.

“This is as good a situation as there can be and I’m confident it (the JTC) will be a win-win for all involved,” he said.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=50325&text=parking%20garage

[jason_contentdg]

"Architect Ethan Loubriel, associate vice president of DMJM Harris, said his firm worked closely with state and local historic preservation agencies to ensure the design of the JTC would be compatible with the existing historic architecture in the area around the project."


Well thank goodness.  I mean obviously that whole neighborhood is a precious historic district...

Can someone please push the envelope a little bit and not worry about copying or relating everything back to historic architecture.  Sure, this needs to be done sometimes, but does everything going up in Jacksonville need to be some sort of architectural mutt...

[thelakelander]

I was secretly hoping they would push the architectural envelope, but I guess we'll have to wait for another high profile project to do so.  I wonder when they expect to break ground?  If it opens in 2011, it will have to be soon.

[Joe]

I was secretly hoping they would push the architectural envelope, but I guess we'll have to wait for another high profile project to do so.

Speaking of hoping for another high profile project ...

I didn't realize that the First Coast MPO would use this new center. This means that their absurd little building on that triangle of Southbank land will now become vacant in 2011.

Some government agency must own the land, because it wasn't even listed as a parcel on the city's property records. Even though the site is sandwiched between off-ramps, it is far enough back from the freeway to build a great office or even residential building.

But unless someone kicks the city in the ass and advocates for development, they will probably ignore the parcel and just landscape  it.

[Ocklawaha]

Nice to see they included a bath for the homeless and secluded "mugging pockets" in the design. LOL. Shame they didn't use MORE of the history and duplicate the red tile and stucco of the older part of Union Station that fronts Bay.

Why not extend the tunnel system, simple cut and cover, from the current location through the back side of Union Station "The old concourse" and out to the new terminal.

Note as argued in the meetings with FDOT, there is NO... ZERO...Nada...Nunca...Zip...Zilch...provision for LIGHT RAIL OR STREETCAR ANYWHERE IN THE PLAN...Kind of makes you wonder about the serious talk about JTA's so-called Streetcar "Study". Smoke and Mirrors, sit down, shut up, go to the back of the bus, and hang on Jacksonville.

Ocklawaha

[rjp2008]

So the BRT plan is unstoppable at this point?

[Charleston native]

Will this transit center be a mere renovation for the Skyway's beginning terminus, or will this provide an extension for it?

[Lunican]

BRT in its original form probably won't happen (elevated busways), but JTA is still planning to do an express bus form of BRT.

[rjp2008]

So doesn't that defeat the purpose (putting faster buses into normal traffic routes?)

Never been much of a bus fan.

[vicupstate]

I didn't realize that the First Coast MPO would use this new center. This means that their absurd little building on that triangle of Southbank land will now become vacant in 2011.

Some government agency must own the land, because it wasn't even listed as a parcel on the city's property records. Even though the site is sandwiched between off-ramps, it is far enough back from the freeway to build a great office or even residential building.

But unless someone kicks the city in the ass and advocates for development, they will probably ignore the parcel and just landscape  it.

It will probably become the Southbank version of the Main St. Pocket Park (across from the Library)

[Seraphs]

Maybe I overlooked it, but I didn't see rather Greyhound was going to be included in this first phase.  Does anyone know?

[gatorback]

I'm slow, but did they say, "occupied by JTA offices, the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Regional Transportation Management Center?"  So, the BRT busses will run downtown.  Where only those people work?  So, correct me if I'm wrong, it's a billion dollar transportation system for only a few people who work for the transportation department department.

[Ocklawaha]

Just for fun, OCK is up to bat... and the count is...

Will this transit center be a mere renovation for the Skyway's beginning terminus, or will this provide an extension for it?

This will be a complete encirclement and inclusion of the current end of the track with a new garage, new office building and set the stage for the metro-bus terminal, which FDOT AND JTA say won't be built high enough or big enough to ever allow for Streetcar or Light Rail (but we're doing a study of it...) Hummm?

Lunican
BRT in its original form probably won't happen (elevated busways), but JTA is still planning to do an express bus form of BRT.

BRT in the original form is called QUICKWAY BRT - The version (THANK GOD!) that we are headed for and frankly NEED is called BRT - LIGHT RAIL LITE. Quickway BRT uses exclusive right of way and is as costly as rail in every detail except perhaps the vehicles. BUT rail vehicles have a life 4-5 x that of BRT, and electric operation on LRT is cheaper in M&O costs. LRL-BRT is great, uses mostly HOV lanes, very little construction, some que jumping lanes, swing out stations, real time information etc... Los Vegas is a prime example and something we need at EVERY Commuter Rail station to get us to the burbs. WE WON! Remember us showing the slides of Vegas?

rjp2008
So doesn't that defeat the purpose (putting faster buses into normal traffic routes?)

rip2008, see the above, except for some weird major 18 wheeler pile-up or traffic from hell that spills into the HOV lanes, this is really the best way to go with bus without spending enough to buy a train. Frankly JTA is right that in some places you want bus, in others train. Where traffic is dense, and swift, such as along the "S" line, Roosevelt-CSX, or the FEC along Phillips, you want train. In primary downtown and close in burbs you want LRT or Heritage Trolley (or a mix). At the end of either of these you want LRT-Lite-BRT bus, and every little connecting street that has vital residential, business, industrial, recreational puropse, you want a local bus.

vicupstate

Joe: I didn't realize that the First Coast MPO would use this new center. This means that their absurd little building on that triangle of Southbank land will now become vacant in 2011.

Some government agency must own the land, because it wasn't even listed as a parcel on the city's property records. Even though the site is sandwiched between off-ramps, it is far enough back from the freeway to build a great office or even residential building.

But unless someone kicks the city in the ass and advocates for development, they will probably ignore the parcel and just landscape  it.

It will probably become the Southbank version of the Main St. Pocket Park (across from the Library)

Southbank is on the grow, I doubt ANYTHING sits still down there with both Baptist and Crown Plaza moving dirt, toss in Jackson Square, Kings Avenue Station, and improvements to the Skyway, bus, streetcar or skywalks and that place will explode... The VU nor the St. Johns are dead, just on hold.

Seraphs
Maybe I overlooked it, but I didn't see rather Greyhound was going to be included in this first phase.  Does anyone know?

Greyhound and Amtrak are both in line to move, the sad part is our local MPO doesn't really get the concept of a TRANSPORTATION CENTER and IMO, has screwed it up by moving inter-city bus far from inter-city rail.
I would use the current Convention facility (the back or new PRIME) for the bus and Greyhound, even if it ment taking it down and starting over, The long arched roofed "concourse" begs for a transit connection. Both carriers will come aboard if we fund the next phases. Also as an urban "THINK TANK" we need to push like hell to get the railroad pedestrian subway extended to the new bus-Skyway station, again, even if it means rebuilding them. Jacksonville is full of tunnels, and urban underground tunnels are simple cut and cover construction jobs.

gatorback
I'm slow, but did they say, "occupied by JTA offices, the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Regional Transportation Management Center?"  So, the BRT busses will run downtown.  Where only those people work?  So, correct me if I'm wrong, it's a billion dollar transportation system for only a few people who work for the transportation department department.

It won't be quite so functional with just the offices and parking garage there, the garage is far too small for park and ride and most will be taken by staff that DRIVE. It will however set the stage for a dandy phase two bus building, which I'd love to push SOUTH between this building and Amtrak, as I said right smack in the middle of the PRIME, "Where God intened transportation to be..."

OCKLAWAHA

[Charles Hunter]

To answer a question a few posts back - JTA owns that triangle of land that the MPO sits on.

[gatorback]

OK.  Given it wont work let me ask this question.  Do JTA employee's ride for free?  Do they get a pass that allows them to ride and park for free or do they pay like the other common folks...like me?