Khan interested in developing shipyards

[thelakelander]

Just like Fort Lauderdale. However, they've figured out how to at least make Las Olas active.

[pierre]

Well. We are the city with a school board building on the river.

and a jail

And a collapsed parking lot

[KenFSU]

Come on guys, Jacksonville has always had a great respect for its riverfront property.

[dp8541]

Philadelphia did just fine in being a major city...all while keeping buildings at less than 25 stories until the late 1980s

1818 Market was built in 1974; it stands 518 ft at 37 floors. The same age, and floor count as our Wells Fargo Center(535 ft). Philly has tons of other buildings that were built in the early 80's all the way to the Roaring 20's over 25 stories. I get the gist of what you're saying though. Washington and Baltimore are currently notable for not having very tall buildings.

There is a height restriction on buildings within the district limits of DC.   Believe me if not for that they would have built up a long time ago.  Almost every office building in the district is built to the max height allowable.  Neighboring northern VA and the DC suburbs of MD have built up to the 20-30 story range.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Height_of_Buildings_Act_of_1910

[brainstormer]

While we are at it, wouldn't this be a good time to drop the Hart Expressway down to ground level after you cross the bridge heading into downtown? The life expectancy of it can't be much longer anyways. Connectivity could be significantly improved.

[Marle Brando]

I'm frustrated that the city is giving up riverfront property for the prActice facility. Why not put it on one of the massive surface lots around the stadium? It could go over the Pepsi fun zone or whatever it's called. They could buy the property from Tailgaters bar and grill and put it there. Unless this thing is going to get constantly used and is open to the public, we're wasting a few acres of the riverfront. Plus, how does it even make sense for the jags to put it there? It will be over 400 yards from their outdoor practice fields and almost a half mile from the locker room. They'll have to bus players over or duplicate a number of facilities and functions.

I'd rather see the fields on the parking lot, a 3-4 story garage on one of the remaining lots, and lot J turned into grass covered event space. This is Jacksonville though, even our football team needs to have a sprawling campus.

Just wait till you see the bill for all this.

I'm holding judgement until the plan is presented. I have no problem with the practice facility on the shipyards property so long as it's integrated properly and it's design is a khan described mind blowingly good. I too would have like to see something done with the sports complex sprawling lot such as new garages with ground floor bars/retail/bowling alley, arcade, sports oriented store like academy, dicks, or bass proshops, etc. And I believe it would have been best to build the indoor field next to the current fields. However I believe we should all just exercise a little more patience before we judge a plan we have not yet seen.
BTW, I have still not gotten a figure from any of you complaining about price. If the man said it will all be privately funded, why insist on pushing this costing tax payers agenda. No where has it been stated yet from Lapine or Khan that city incentives would be needed.  Anyway, that discussion is dead until Khan flips and requests city funds.

[tpot]

I'm sorry but I find this comical.........JAX is considering giving away River front property because nobody wants to invest in the city and FPL just sold a parking lot right by the interstate in downtown Miami for 21 million.......,,a tale of two florida cities......

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2015/01/27/fpl-sells-downtown-miami-development-site-for-21m.html

[Rynjny]

I'm sorry but I find this comical.........JAX is considering giving away River front property because nobody wants to invest in the city and FPL just sold a parking lot right by the interstate in downtown Miami for 21 million.......,,a tale of two florida cities......

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2015/01/27/fpl-sells-downtown-miami-development-site-for-21m.html

I find it comical that you're comparing Jax to Miami..tbh

[tpot]

Not really comparing Miami to JAX....but in reality.....the rest of Florida is taking off with development, but JAX is really struggling compared to the state.....

[heights unknown]

Not really comparing Miami to JAX....but in reality.....the rest of Florida is taking off with development, but JAX is really struggling compared to the state.....

tpot...in all due respect, everything north of Orlando is the real, sleepy, redneck, state of Florida; everything south of Orlando is Ohio, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Connecticut.......should I go on? Tourists bring the millions south of the Central Florida North Florida border. They keep on going through the gateway city of Jacksonville (the real Florida), down to their Northern tourist vacation bungalows. Unfortunately, this is ONE of the reasons why Jax is struggling. And yes, there should be no excuses. Regardless of Jax being in the good ole boy, red neck, real Florida, North Florida, Georgia in disguise, whatever you want to call us, we, Jax, should be able to jump onboard and reap the benefits of just being in the Sunshine State of Florida. Hang on tpot, we are desperately trying to adapt, hang on, and get on board with the rest of the other major Florida Cities down in the tourist/vacation areas; it's hard, but have some sympathy. Lastly, remember, when Jax was the number 1 city in Florida, Miami, Orlando, and other big cities outside of Tampa, were not even laid down. So just chill out, be nice, and try to understand the reasons why Jax is always struggling while development seems so easy for the other major Florida cities.

[tpot]

Hey Heights Unknown,
That's funny, I consider everything North of Orlando to be South Georgia......lol.  I lived in JAX for many years, JAX has sooo much potential, but the elected officials, elected by the MAJORITY of the JAX population keep this city stuck in the dark ages.....which makes this city a bad bet on investment.........JAX has a great forum board with a great following of innovative thinking people.........unfortunately the innovative thinkers are out voted at every election...........

[Marle Brando]

Not really comparing Miami to JAX....but in reality.....the rest of Florida is taking off with development, but JAX is really struggling compared to the state.....

Why is this? Because there isn't anything here. Miami has everything from beaches to fame, Orlando has attractions, Tampa has the gulf shore beaches and tourism. Jax has......I'll wait. For us to ignite development on par with our state it will take great vision and great sacrifice. If the development reaches it's potential and is the catalyst behind more after, then maybe Jax wouldn't struggle in attracting people because they're now given something to do. Simply put, more people=more housing= equals more developments=happy people with things to see and do

[iMarvin]

Not really comparing Miami to JAX....but in reality.....the rest of Florida is taking off with development, but JAX is really struggling compared to the state.....

Why is this? Because there isn't anything here. Miami has everything from beaches to fame, Orlando has attractions, Tampa has the gulf shore beaches and tourism. Jax has......I'll wait. For us to ignite development on par with our state it will take great vision and great sacrifice. If the development reaches it's potential and is the catalyst behind more after, then maybe Jax wouldn't struggle in attracting people because they're now given something to do. Simply put, more people=more housing= equals more developments=happy people with things to see and do

Jax has miles of riverfront land, beachfront land, and blocks of emptiness in the core (not to mention all of the golf courses, natural activities, and actual historic neighborhoods), and for a lot much cheaper than the rest of those cities. The problem is not the city itself.

[Marle Brando]

iMarvin you are right, the problem is not the city itself. I also couldn't agree more about the beachfront land and riverfront land, but that's just it. What good is beachfront or riverfront land in attracting development IF it is not activated? It's just land. South Beach minus the hotels, nightlife, resorts, culture is just Plain Beach.

[iMarvin]

iMarvin you are right, the problem is not the city itself. I also couldn't agree more about the beachfront land and riverfront land, but that's just it. What good is beachfront or riverfront land in attracting development IF it is not activated? It's just land. South Beach minus the hotels, nightlife, resorts, culture is just Plain Beach.

I agree. That all falls back onto the city planners and governing body. If they actually cared about the city itself and changing it to attract development, they would actually do something.