TU does not want USS Charles F. Adams Downtown

[Jason]

^ The ships could be active air defense....  Just a thought. 

To make the ship a museum really doesn't leave you much room for creativity, however, if the ship was used as a hotel or entertainment complex we might then have something unique.

[apvbguy]

^ The ships could be active air defense....  Just a thought. 

To make the ship a museum really doesn't leave you much room for creativity, however, if the ship was used as a hotel or entertainment complex we might then have something unique.

I have never seen the navy give a ship to a city for that purpose, if if can be done, why not?
But then again the big question in if JAX could support a venue like that? the experience of the landing doesn't bode well

[thelakelander]

An entertainment complex with a small museum sounds interesting, but I wonder if it could survive on its own.  It would probably be better off if it were a part of a larger experience.

[Noone]

I guess to each his own.  I'm amazed that even when a group proposes to pay for something worthwhile, with their own money, people still complain big time.  I'd make the argument that the ship enhances the beauty of the river.  Afterall, ships have more in common with the river and Jacksonville's history, than the surface parking lot that we are currently blessed with.  Luckily, the Council has already given them their approval.

5years later.
Wanted to bump this because the USS Adams is a positive project for Downtown. DIA Board meeting today. We now have people jumping in the river, Swimming in the river, paddle boarding in the river, Kayaking in the river, fishing in the river. Let's have a Navy ship in the river Downtown. This project is time sensitive and shovel ready like mile point.

This project will tell everyone to Visit Jacksonville.

[Rocshaboc]

Uh no. In Mayport? Another bone head idea to hurt downtown tourism. Its called the "Shipyards" for a reason.

[urbaknight]

I heard that the ship is going in the shipyards. I think that's the best possible place, much better than on the southbank.

[Noone]

I heard that the ship is going in the shipyards. I think that's the best possible place, much better than on the southbank.

+1
It was on the agenda at today's DIA meeting.
Mike Saylor gave a committee update on the USS Adams to the entire DIA Board.
Remember it was an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge recommendation.
Shared some positive benefits during Public comment and let's hope that the DIA gets ahead of this game changer project that will make Downtown a Destination and not a pass through.

[Mike D]

I don't have an opinion one way or the other about the ship's home.  But, referring back to the TU editorial, can we please once and for all dispense with the idea that a cruise port at Mayport will inevitably lead to tourists flocking to the area?  Why does this argument persist when more tourist-oriented cities like Tampa and Miami appear to get virtually no additional tourist traffic due to their cruise ports?  Anyone who knows better, please set me straight, but my observation is that cruise passengers fly or drive into town, get on the boat, and set sail.  I've read many accounts of the chamber of commerce types in those other towns coming up with one scheme after another to get passengers to spend just one or two nights extra in port.  To my knowledge, they've never managed to do it.  What in the world makes anyone believe Mayport would be any different?

[edjax]

I believe the Mayport Cruise Terminal ship has already set sail and not going to happen.

[thelakelander]

I don't have an opinion one way or the other about the ship's home.  But, referring back to the TU editorial, can we please once and for all dispense with the idea that a cruise port at Mayport will inevitably lead to tourists flocking to the area?  Why does this argument persist when more tourist-oriented cities like Tampa and Miami appear to get virtually no additional tourist traffic due to their cruise ports?  Anyone who knows better, please set me straight, but my observation is that cruise passengers fly or drive into town, get on the boat, and set sail.  I've read many accounts of the chamber of commerce types in those other towns coming up with one scheme after another to get passengers to spend just one or two nights extra in port.  To my knowledge, they've never managed to do it.  What in the world makes anyone believe Mayport would be any different?

A cruise port in Mayport would significantly increase the amount of traffic using the Mayport Ferry.  Without it, don't be surprised if the ferry disappears for good in a few years.

[simms3]

But the ferry should be completely separate from the cruise terminal.  In fact, it would be a bad argument to bring the ferry into the discussion when forecasting the impacts of a cruise terminal.  The ferry is a negligible operation - building an expensive cruise terminal and the related infrastructure where a benefit is that the totally unprofitable ferry business worth a few grand may survive is like saying let's build a convention center so we get a major show just once (and to me it's like saying let's spend millions to extend the Skyway to Brooklyn so we can serve just a few more potential passengers).

I can understand there being difficulty convincing a material amount of passengers to stay an extra night or two in a homeport.  But most cruise ship passengers are pressed for cash as it is, and have saved up for the cruise, not for the town.  Other wealthy cruise ship passengers don't come in numbers, but also wouldn't spend time in Jax.  They might drop a few thousand at Bal Harbor Shops in Miami Beach and stay an extra night at a 5 star hotel, using the spa, buying a few drinks and a nice meal.  Those one/two people who do that are spending a lot more in the local economy than 10 Carnival/Royal Caribbean cruise line economy passengers staying 2 nights extra.

But there are certainly intangible benefits to more visitors of any net worth having to drive through the city on the way to Mayport.  Jax doesn't get lots of visitors outside of the TPC, and I don't think a cruise terminal would necessarily bring more far reaching visitors who don't already come from adjacent states to go to the Gator Bowl or the FL-GA game, but it never hurts.  Make the stretch from the airport/95N/95S over to Mayport very attractive and user friendly with well-placed CVB billboards to local attractions and you could have return visitors.  You won't convince them to come otherwise until someone manages to make Jacksonville an automatic destination like Tampa, Charleston, New Orleans, FTL, MIA, and other nearby home ports are.

The disadvantage that Mayport has is its location.

New Orleans - they dock right downtown
Charleston - they dock right downtown
Miami - they basically dock right downtown and 5 minute drive from South Beach
FTL - they dock somewhat close to downtown, 5-10 minute drive max?
Tampa - they dock right downtown

Jacksonville - they dock in a poor shipping village somewhere in the city limits but it doesn't feel like it...kind of a tough sell to keep visitors in if they already aren't doing it in more logical places like Miami

[Noone]

USS Adams part of the Jaxtoberfest celebrations today at Shipyards. A POSITIVE event. Starts at 5:30

Rumor has it Khan is All In.

[Kerry]

I am looking forward to the USS Adams being downtown.

One mistake many communities make is spreading their cultural and civic attractions over a large area when it is intuitive that they attract more visitors and are more successful when they are closer together.  Jacksonville has a limited number of attractions to begin with so I think it is better if the ones we have are clustered together.  It would also make things like a CityPass (a single ticket that gets people into Cummer, MOSH, Maritime Heritage Center, and Museum of Modern Art) more attractive to visitors and even residents.  They can park once and get to most attractions on foot.

At some point in the history of this thread the concern of river current was brought up.  Several cities have ships permanently docked on rivers.  The HMS Belfast is docked on the River Thames in central London, the USS New Jersey is docked on the Delaware River across from Philadelphia, NYC has the USS Intrepid on the Hudson River, and there are literally countless others.  This concern is a non-starter for me.