T-U building for sale

[Overstreet]

Start a new?   You can do anything with enough time and money.  Like many DT river fill sites the UG holds surprises for the unwary.

[UNFurbanist]

Best case: TU sells the building to become a great mixed use development on the river then moves its offices into SunTrust building where it will bring it to almost full occupancy which will then require the parking garage next door to add street level retail. Is it possible?

[jaxjaguar]

It would be possible, but I don't know if they'd be able to move their printing operations to the SunTrust building. Everyone else should be able to though. That's a good idea as well UNFurbanist

[CoastalJax]

Makes sense. T-U has, like most newspapers, moved onto focusing on their digital assets; therefore they need a space that's going to attract younger, more tech-savvy personnel. Their current building sure as hell isn't doing that.

I agree with the consensus that tearing it down is the only viable option. The building is way too old and outdated for any other business to want to occupy it.

[spuwho]

Morris does own one of the few FAA registered helipads in downtown. The riverwalk takes a little detour around it.

I say let Flagler buy it and develop it as part of their Jacksonville gateway for the future AAF portal.

I've always been curious about the history of that heliport. Surely it was used a time or two for something, but sometime as the riverwalk got used more, using it turned into a huge liability.

Bfair, here was our last conversation on it.

   http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=9971.0

[spuwho]

Carl Cannon, the retired publisher of the Times-Union apparently has maintained the registration for the pad after the T-U was bought out by Morris. With Carl retiring in 2014, and now volunteering on the Sports Council, I would assume that it will be delisted and removed when the property sells.

The kink in the riverwalk will probably dissappear shortly after.

[lastdaysoffla]

I would like to see that awful surface lot over McCoy's creek removed. A mixed use development that includes a kayak launch.. that'd be cool.

It is such a shame that McCoy's creek is buried like that.

[Kerry]

First things first - any chance this thread can be moved to the Brooklyn section since this is where the T-U building is located.

Second, I would love to see this building torn down and McCoy Creek daylighted, then have the Union Army Civil War camp that was once here recreated so the urban core could have another cultural/tourist attraction.

[thelakelander]

There was a Union Army Civil War camp at the TU site?

[jaxlongtimer]

My recollection is the Times Union site was the location for Riverside Chevrolet ("Big R") which became Nimnicht when it moved to Blanding.  I remember they had wires strung along Riverside Avenue with those colorful whirlybirds spinning in the wind.  Kind of ironic, given today the T-U is a regular "car lot" with its Cars & Coffee events .

I also remember visiting the old T-U newsroom downtown before moving to their current site.  It was right out of an old Hollywood movie set with its cramped paper filled open-layout offices and hustle and bustle of clanking typewriters, etc. 

[Kerry]

There was a Union Army Civil War camp at the TU site?

As far as I know the exact location isn't known, but it was somewhere on the south bank of McCoy Creek between the St John's River and Park St.  I think the unit stationed there was from Michigan (Correction - New York).

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,20765.0.html

[spuwho]

There was a Union Army Civil War camp at the TU site?

As far as I know the exact location isn't known, but it was somewhere on the south bank of McCoy Creek between the St John's River and Park St.  I think the unit stationed there was from Michigan (Correction - New York).

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,20765.0.html

The link references SteveW's work researching New York Regiments in Jacksonville.

Two possibilities:

a. Could be Fort Foster, immediately south of McCoy's Creek, on top of hill near the present intersection of Magnolia and Jackson Streets in Brooklyn.  The hill had, until recently, a beautiful canopy.  It is possible that Miles Price, who purchased the surrounding property in the late 18[6]0s and who platted Brooklyn in 1869, may have had a residence in the area, but not sure.  He also had a plantation called Gravelly Hill in west Jacksonville around the intersection of Normandy Boulevard and Riverside Park Memorial Cemetery.

b. The best possibility is the Rural Home Plantation of Colonel Lucius Hardee.  I believe his plantation house was located immediately north of McCoy's Creek around the Swan Street, Cantee Street, Harper Street area, south of Dennis Street and east of Stockton Street.  Even today this area has a beautiful live oak canopy on a slight hill that slopes down to McCoy's Creek.  Before the war and after, Lucius Hardee had a reputation for having beautiful and extensive gardens and groves.  After the war, he rebuilt as the Honeymoon Plantation and became known for his work in developing a more cold resistive citrus stock that he marketed across the country.  Because of his reputation in gardening and citrus, Honeymoon was visited by Harriet Beecher Stowe, who mentioned her visit in Palmetto Leaves.  Related to noted General William J. Hardee, Lucius was a die-hard Confederate to the end.


~


Many thanks to all who are helping me solve this mystery!  Every time I discover another collection of correspondence from soldiers of the 169th N.Y., the first thing I do is look for letters from Jacksonville to see what I can find out about the camp's location.

Re-examining the clues, I now suspect that the camp was just south of McCoy's Creek, because of the following statement: "Upon the completion of these the regiment was shifted across a creek emptying into the St. John's below the town, and went into camp in a grove of oaks, – a deserted planter's house making excellent regimental headquarters."

At first I thought the following statement, mentioning going over "the river," was referring to McCoy's Creek, but I now believe it is a reference to the St. Johns River, and that the orange grove was in Southbank or San Marco:

"We can get plenty of oranges here, for the picking of them.  We have to go over the river and then walk about a half of a mile before we come to the grove."

[Kerry]

Whatever it was, it would be nice to recreate it on the T-U site along with daylighting McCoy Creek.  The land between Riverside and the water should be open to the public.  Private ownership of waterfront land should have never been allowed in the first place.  There are lots of urban planning mistakes that need to be undone.

[acme54321]

You really think that recreating a civil war camp on that property it the best use? 

[camarocane]

  Private ownership of waterfront land should have never been allowed in the first place. 

Really??