Jaguars amphitheater, flex field construction to begin next month

[Tacachale]

Metro Park had a good run as an outdoor concert venue, and that was really a pretty good use for the space. Unfortunately its limitations mean it was never going to live up to its full potential as a venue, without an amount of money and effort that was pretty difficult to justify. The issue now is finding something else to do with the space. I'm skeptical that it will ever work as a true park, given its distance from any residential areas. Perhaps as the stadium district continues to fill in, it can take off.

[Tacachale]

Metro Park had a good run as an outdoor concert venue, and that was really a pretty good use for the space. Unfortunately its limitations mean it was never going to live up to its full potential as a venue, without an amount of money and effort that was pretty difficult to justify. The issue now is finding something else to do with the space. I'm skeptical that it will ever work as a true park, given its distance from any residential areas. Perhaps as the stadium district continues to fill in, it can take off.

I disagree with literally every point that you just made, and would truly like to hear your reasoning and justification (if any) behind the following statements:

1. "I'm skeptical that it will ever work as a true park, given its distance from any residential areas."

A riverfront municipal park doesn't necessarily need a nearby residential base (although there is one). It needs design, programmed use, access and maintenance.  I spent a lot of time in both Golden Gate and Gasworks park, and met a lot of people, very few of whom lived nearby.

Why would a prime piece of riverfront real estate (right at one of the most scenic bends in the river) have a disadvantage based on location?

A great example is Belle Isle Park in Detroit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Isle_Park_(Michigan)
But it was well designed, and served as a public use focal point. 

Consider this:

"The island is home to the Belle Isle Aquarium, the Belle Isle Conservatory, the Belle Isle Nature Zoo, the Detroit Yacht Club on an adjacent island, the James Scott Memorial Fountain, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, a Coast Guard station, a municipal golf course and numerous monuments. It also previously housed a Nature Center where visitors were able to traverse wooded trails and view wildlife natural habitats, a former Belle Isle Zoo, riding stables and the Detroit Boat Club. The island includes a half-mile (800 m) swimming beach."

These are all amenities that justify a giant piece of land like Metropolitan Park, and were part of the original plan when it was conceived.  The problem is that it became more fashionable for our local politicians to cut taxes and do things on the cheap than to actually do anything that helped the future of the city or succeeding generations in my opinion.  One of those casualties has been the shocking underfunding of our natural environment and parks services.

And lets take a recent example of how upside down our priorities are.  Just a few months ago, our current mayor raised a couple of million very easily to promote his pension plan to add an additional billion and a half dollars to the debt.  If a couple of million for marketing and a billion.five dollars can be found to fund a political stunt, then the money can be found to design and create major parts of the civic infrastructure.

2. "without an amount of money and effort that was pretty difficult to justify."

I know you seldom choose your words lightly, so i suspect you may be speaking of a specific amount of money, for a specific purpose.  Are you?

I haven't been to Bell Island Park, but I've heard good things about it. However, it's much larger than the space of Metro Park, and obviously has lots to draw people to it. Even if Metro Park got an incredibly well designed makeover as a park, it would suffer from not being closer to people or even many workers.

As far as the money and effort goes, I'm talking specifically about the past plans to renovate it as a music venue - the amphitheater plan from the '90s. As has been discussed here before, there was a lot of pushback from noise complainers across the river, as well as a lot of hoops to jump through with the feds (who actually own the property) and city interests, plus the cost of actually building the structure. That was really the only way to really save the park as a music venue; as that never jelled, it's time to find another use for it.

[Elwood]

The city of Detroit no longer runs Belle Isle Park. The state took control due to the city be unable to financially support it following bankruptcy.

[KenFSU]

I can totally see both points of view. Certainly Met Park has the potential to flourish in its existing spot, with an iconic design, frequent programming, and careful upkeep. It's beautiful riverfront property with a great view of the city. But to Bill's point, it will likely remain a commuter park for years to come until residential increases. I do think it would have a much better chance at success, and have more positive externalities on the surrounding areas, if it was moved/swapped to the Shipyards property where it had a better chance of being a signature, truly urban park.

Now that Curry's pension tax has passed, I'm really curious to see how this all shakes out. We've potentially got Metro Park and the Shipyards in play. Lamping has said that the Jags want to start developing the area east of the stadium, presumably including Metro Park, as soon as possible. Specifically, they have their sites set on a luxury hotel, a pedestrian bridge to the stadium, public spaces, some retail, and a spot for the USS Adams. With the stage about to come down and Daily's Place set to open next spring, it kind of feels like the city has given up on the Met Park experiment. Meanwhile, the Shipyards is likely at least two years away from being habitable, assuming remediation started yesterday.

It'll be really interesting to see how this is all reconciled. Will the state say no to a potential land swap? Would remediation need to be completed before such a swap could take place? Will the city be up in arms and cry corporate welfare? Beyond the scoreboards and new amphitheater/flex space, I can't imagine the Jags will be able to ask the city for any more bed money in the near future for development. Would there be more or less of an outcry is we offered free land to be developed by Iguana?

It'll be a fun story to follow.

In fact, I really have a feeling that the next five years or so might be the most interesting time period for the downtown area since maybe the mid-to-late 80s.

[JaGoaT]

Am I the only on that would like to see the fairgrounds moved elsewhere ?

[thelakelander]

I'd like the fairgrounds to stay downtown. I was never a fan of the plan to move it to Cecil.

Also, Architects don't really design parks. Maybe the structures in them but not the entire spaces. I'd be fine with a swap of Metro Park with the Shipyards. However, neither will be the "centralized" vibrant place that "Springfield Park" would be if we restored and cleaned it up. Centered around the Hogans Creek Promenade....that was and is Jax's most authentic version of a "Central Park" type of space.

[RattlerGator]

Of course, swapping MetroPark down to the Shipyards brings the possibility of a restored "Springfield Park" back into play via a logical connection of both to Hogan's Creek.

No one tell Stephen but plenty of new and exciting possibilities exist downtown, thanks in large part to that billionaire NFL owner.

[KenFSU]

Haven't seen this render before, which paints a clearer picture of what the connection to the stadium will look like.

Exposed steel girders "inspired by the city's bridges" seems a bit of a stretch.

I"m not blown away, but I'm confident the finished product and the effect it has on the surrounding area will far outweigh the city's contribution.

[KenFSU]

That spider:

[acme54321]

Looks like Kahn is in town to see the construction of his new practice field...

[copperfiend]

I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. But the renderings look pretty 'meh' to me. Which is odd since most of the stadium upgrades under Khan have been pretty good.

[KenFSU]

And, she's gone vertical.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Imagine that area with the ramps gone and Metro Park and Shipyards done. Will be a major hurdle for Jax to get all these done, but atleast then we can move on and focus more into the DTcore

[JaxAvondale]

Getting ready for the 2020 NFL Draft site!

[Keith-N-Jax]

Do we have enough hotels for this event?