Lenny Curry wants state money to remove Hart Bridge ramps near Everbank Field

[KenFSU]

^Love it.

Also, $50 million is the exact figure that Curry is seeking.

[acme54321]

I like it

What will all of the riff raff do on the Friday before FL-GA if RV city is no more???

[JBTripper]

Oh, wow. Who could have guessed. If the ramps are removed and traffic is diverted to the stadium I wonder who benefits? Yup, Shad Khan gave $100,000 to the Curry campaign. What a shock! http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2016-01-11/story/jaguars-owner-shad-khan-gives-curry-political-committee-100000-boost

Grrrrr if Shad Khan benefits, it must be bad! Eat the rich!

Do you honestly think traffic diverting to the stadium benefits the Jaguars and their owner in any way? How much drive-by patronage do you think the NFL gets? I'm picturing a family of four, driving across the Hart Bridge on a Sunday morning:

"Hey kids, look! An NFL stadium! What's say we we pull over and take in a quick game!" "But honey, we can't get off this elevated expressway until we are approximately one half-mile away from the parking lot!" "Oh well, nevermind."

[vicupstate]

Of course it benefits Khan. It dramatically improves the property he lease/controls. It makes his plans for a hotel/convention center work must better.

But the benefit is not just to him but the public at large (unlike a stadium swimming pool or practice facility), and the cost of eliminating the ramps is probably the same or less than repairs the elevated expressway will need.   

[Tacachale]

Of course it benefits Khan. It dramatically improves the property he lease/controls. It makes his plans for a hotel/convention center work must better.

But the benefit is not just to him but the public at large (unlike a stadium swimming pool or practice facility), and the cost of eliminating the ramps is probably the same or less than repairs the elevated expressway will need.   

Correct.

[Adam White]

Of course it benefits Khan. It dramatically improves the property he lease/controls. It makes his plans for a hotel/convention center work must better.

But the benefit is not just to him but the public at large (unlike a stadium swimming pool or practice facility), and the cost of eliminating the ramps is probably the same or less than repairs the elevated expressway will need.   

Yeah - just because it benefits Khan doesn't mean it doesn't benefit Jacksonville.

[thelakelander]

Like the courthouse parking deck over the river, the cost to remove is most likely a lot less than the cost to eventually replace.

[acme54321]

No one has even mentioned how the elimination of the 4 feeder ramps west of A Phillip Randolph will benefit the eastern end of downtown.  The view out of the north side of the jail is going to be so much more pleasant!

Seriously though, I wonder what they will do with the land that those ramps are on?  It'd be great if they restored the original parcels and sold them off.

[Tacachale]

No one has even mentioned how the elimination of the 4 feeder ramps west of A Phillip Randolph will benefit the eastern end of downtown.  The view out of the north side of the jail is going to be so much more pleasant!

Seriously though, I wonder what they will do with the land that those ramps are on?  It'd be great if they restored the original parcels and sold them off.

From what I can see, taking out all of the ramps would free up:

*An entire half-mile long, 4-lane (plus access road) wide strip of space running from Randolph to the bend in Gator Bowl Boulevard
*Most of a full block behind the police department on the SE corner of Liberty and Adams, now only used for ramps, some parking, and a single bail bond office
*The north half of the block between Washington, Monroe, and Catherine, which is now just a ramp and some trees
*The entire Duval Street streetfront on the block between Washington and Catherine
*The western lot behind Intuition Ale Works, now used for parking

I'm *really* glad we are looking into this now to plan for the future.

[KenFSU]

Curry wants the project underway next year, per the Daily Record.

[lowlyplanner]

I agree that this is a great idea - and much sooner than I would have anticipated.

I'm a little curious that there doesn't seem to be any DIA involvement - there's no quote from Aundra, and I don't think anything has been presented at a board meeting.

Doesn't make it less of a great idea, but it does give a clue about the City and the DIA are working together (or not).

[finehoe]

It'd be great if they restored the original parcels and sold them off.

Maybe giving the original owners first dibs.

[acme54321]

No one has even mentioned how the elimination of the 4 feeder ramps west of A Phillip Randolph will benefit the eastern end of downtown.  The view out of the north side of the jail is going to be so much more pleasant!

Seriously though, I wonder what they will do with the land that those ramps are on?  It'd be great if they restored the original parcels and sold them off.

From what I can see, taking out all of the ramps would free up:

*An entire half-mile long, 4-lane (plus access road) wide strip of space running from Randolph to the bend in Gator Bowl Boulevard
*Most of a full block behind the police department on the SE corner of Liberty and Adams, now only used for ramps, some parking, and a single bail bond office
*The north half of the block between Washington, Monroe, and Catherine, which is now just a ramp and some trees
*The entire Duval Street streetfront on the block between Washington and Catherine
*The western lot behind Intuition Ale Works, now used for parking

I'm *really* glad we are looking into this now to plan for the future.

Overall its a huge area that no one probably looks at seriously for redevelopment because of the ramps.  This has the potential to really morph into another major gateway from downtown into the stadium district.

[acme54321]

It'd be great if they restored the original parcels and sold them off.

Maybe giving the original owners first dibs.

Certainly for the owners that didn't get completely bought out and ended up with goofy lots that had the corners lopped off.  Does anyone know what the deal is with the parts that actually go over buildings, like Sulzbacher?

I'd be really concerned that the block bounded by Adams/Washington/Forsyth/Liberty would be given to the Sheriff's office. 

[thelakelander]

Much of that low lying land under those ramps is contaminated from its days as a railyard and an industrial waste dump. It also floods.  Get ready to break out the piggybank when it comes to cleaning that property up.

Usually, the Downtown Development Review Board evaluates proposals for apartment buildings, streetscape improvements and other major projects.

Sometimes, it's just a parking lot — and unraveling a paper trail of rezoning that goes back more than 15 years.

That was the case Thursday when the board approved a surface parking lot at 601 E. Adams St., on the west side of Hogans Creek, between Catherine and Palmetto streets.

The owner, Duval County Land Trust, applied for exceptions to Downtown surface parking lot landscaping requirements.

It also sought from the board, acting as the planning commission for Downtown, authorization to use the property as a parking lot, which had not been obtained by the previous owner before it was purchased by the trust in a foreclosure sale.

Attorney Wyman Duggan, representing the owner, said the property has been used as a parking lot since at least 1977. He produced an aerial photograph from that year that showed numerous vehicles parked on the 7.42-acre site.

In 2001, the property was zoned as a Planned Unit Development, which allowed a commercial surface parking lot with 614 spaces. At the time, the property was leased to Central Parking and was a parking lot.

The property was rezoned in 2006 to Commercial Residential Office. That designation allows use as a parking lot only after an exception is approved by the city.

In 2010, the city enacted new regulations for surface parking lots Downtown that included landscape and streetscape standards.

One change was that existing parking lots, if left unimproved, would be deemed as meeting the standards until purchased by a new owner.

The trust bought the parking lot in November 2012.

Duggan said the owners want to conform to the standards and sought the landscaping exceptions due to environmental issues.

Decades ago, when East Bay Street was a maritime shipping district with docks, piers and warehouses, the property was used for disposal of hazardous waste.

The site was paved over to seal the contaminants and excavating the parking lot to plant trees and shrubs would not be advised, Duggan said.

"The whole site was used as an industrial waste dump for decades. We don't want to break the cap," he said.

Full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=547551&searchtext=parking%20lot%20hart%20bridge%20ramps