Dog Without A Bone – JTA’S Great Greyhound Deception

[spuwho]

I had to pick up a friend at the Greyhound depot last night and being my first walk through it I wanted to do a visual compare with the planned bus depot by JTA.

Personally I can see why Greyhound might be reluctant to move.

While general ingress/egress in the passenger lobby is dated and constrained (mostly around handicap access), the bus arrival and departure zone is much more functional from what I can tell against the new depot.

Current depot needs a better cab waiting zone that is off traffic (right now they simply took away several parking spots) and possibly a passenger drop off/pick up zone that has a cover for inclement weather.

Having a single terminal that covers Amtrak, AAF, Greyhound, Megabus, JTA buses, BRT, Skyway is much preferred.

Go back to the drawing board.

[JaxNative68]

Really?  Another parking structure downtown?

Actually it is the property managers of the building (EverBank Center) that is promising to build garage there to entice tenants to move into the building. I don't know how serious they are about actually doing it or if it is just a carrot on a stick. If they do carry thru with the garage, there is no reason you can't design it around the footprint of the existing building and using it as ground floor retail.  Could make for a great design and preservation project in one.

[thelakelander]

True, considering most of that block is currently a parking apron. However, the skeptical guy in me says, we'd be looking at the same type of crap Parador is putting up next to the Suntrust Tower.

[JayBird]

Being that El-Ad is selling EverBank Center, any past plans they talked about I'm sure have been shelved. Unfortunately that includes a plan to light the buildings downtown, which El-Ad was a strong supporter of.

[JaxNole]

Before moving to 301 West Bay from Southpoint, EverBank held numerous workshops on what to expect when working downtown. Credit deserved for helping those who've never ventured outside of the suburbs, much less the state, but it backfired to a large degree. Many people still say, "If you park in this garage (one of 5-6 EB has agreements with), stay away from the bus station."

Some are still freaked out at the thought of crossing the street to go to 7-Eleven, much less walking to BG for lunch.