Results of the Boom: Dead Projects

[thelakelander]

CARD TWO:  We also have a very unique item in the Skyway, and used to our advantage, rather then sitting back - arms folded - saying NOT ONE MORE CENT, would attract many new faces to our development picture. Imagine the Shipyards or __________ being able to seek out new investors with the perk that we'll get an internal Skyway station. Simply lay out the route to the stadium or Riverside and get that land and those projects before the $$.

I believe the Shipyards property is no longer in city control.  There was a deal a few years ago that ended up with LandMar taking over all 44 acres.  They had a pretty impressive development planned that went up in smoke when the market turned sour.

[Lunican]

Can the Landing redevelopment failure be directly attributed to John Peyton?

[avonjax]

Im curious "Stug" what would be marred on Riverside ave...
That project looks like a really nice one...
Oh yeah it would mar the view of another of the plethora of empty lots in and around downtown...
You never see people on the streets of these areas but there IS NOTHING BUT VACANT LOTS....

[jason_contentdg]

I hadn't seen a few of these, Ocean Square is one of those rare cases where the plan looks far better then what we have. Though I love history, the Burns Library can't touch that for style.

Otherwise the St. John, Shipyards, St. James, JEA and City Center-Landing would indeed change downtown forever.

However take heart Jacksonville, we still have a full deck of cards to play if our leadership will lead (or just get out of the way).

CARD ONE:  That new Courthouse will spur a rash of new development all through the neighborhood as large construction attracts more construction.

CARD TWO:  We also have a very unique item in the Skyway, and used to our advantage, rather then sitting back - arms folded - saying NOT ONE MORE CENT, would attract many new faces to our development picture. Imagine the Shipyards or __________ being able to seek out new investors with the perk that we'll get an internal Skyway station. Simply lay out the route to the stadium or Riverside and get that land and those projects before the $$.

CARD THREE: Water taxi service to YOUR PROJECT, "Ya know, fellas we've been looking for a space to land 50-60 passengers at a time... such a deal."

CARD FOUR: That streetcar study, get those rails moving NOW, we can't stand in line forever waiting to do... we'll talk this to death, or we'll ride to victory. Remember about 80% of all TOD is Light Rail Related.

CARD FIVE: A darling NFL team, great location, fantastic weather, and this financial crash won't-can't last forever... Hey and if it does, and it all ends in war-smoke and ruin, give us about 7 years and JESUS will have some great financial plans!

OCKLAWAHA

I'm glad we at least agree on the mass transit front because that design for Ocean Square is horrendous, minus the interaction they were creating at street level.

[alta]

What is the current status of the Ambassador Hotel?  This building has a lot of potential.   

[jeh1980]

I believe that despite of this list, I think that most of these projects can still become a reality. Keep the Faith.

[nicktooch]

walking around at Art Walk, as i did Wednesday, was very eerie due to bills posted in every vacant window, with only a few hot spots: burrito gallery/old library/florida theatre, hemming plaza/main library, and that "wonderful" bay street nightlife "district".  seems like so much empty space, so much time gone by, so little (fill in the blank)? 

[downtownjag]

while most of those projects look great, lets keep in mind that it would have been a disaster if they all, or even a few too many, went vertical at the same time.  Traffic issues would have no time to be resolved, our city would absolutely not have given any ground to aspiring developers, and once all the projects were completed the core would be understaffed, overcrowded, and would have left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.  What I take out of this article is that while the projects are dead or delayed, it as we all know was more a function of the collapse of the market nationally; not the potential of the core of our city.  The developers are still out there and I believe we will get some of these projects in a more manageable order.  Keep your heads up!  We want the core to grow steadily, not an un-sustainable boom of artificial demand.

[Ocklawaha]

I'm glad we at least agree on the mass transit front because that design for Ocean Square is horrendous, minus the interaction they were creating at street level.

Joe, and others, my comments on Ocean Square are based on this one and only image that I saw. You might be comepletely right and I might have joined in the fight to stop it. But on the surface, it looked so much better then what we now have in the same locale. Remember I was building MASS TRANSIT at darn near 13,000 feet at the time, so maybe the altitude had something to do with my comments! hee hee.

OCKLAWAHA

[thekillingwax]

I go by the place that was supposed to be the Liberty Lofts quite a bit and for the past couple of weeks they've been cleaning it out, anyone know what's going on? Looks like all the window panels were taken out and I've seen people carrying stuff out into a dumpster.

I guess at least for the Liberty Lofts, it wasn't so much the economy as it was the neighbors that did it in.

[Bewler]

Something absolutely has got to take form in the Brooklyn area eventually. Every day that I drive past there to work, (I work for the bad guys, FIDELITY) I just can't get over how beautiful the whole strip is. To me it has such amazing walkablilty, and would be the perfect place for just about any kind of retail or to even simply turn into a park. It's a real shame the project didn't come to fruition. Has there been anything else proposed for it somewhere down the line?

[Keith-N-Jax]

   Once again the story of Jacksonville, well atleast all is not to blame on city leaders, you can hope things will get better in the market and city leaders will work with and not againts projects and get moving along quicker. I always wonder if the court house, landing and shipyards had been built on schedule what else might have also.

[heights unknown]

To me it's more frustrating than depressing thinking what could have been; however, I feel that our City leaders could have moved forward on the majority of these projects, much more quickly, before the boom busted and the floor collapsed; then at least half or more of these projects would have been gracing our skylines today, and, we could have used many of these great projects, had they been built, as a marketing tool to lure more people into the City.  I firmly believe that though most or even possibly all of the Country is suffering right now from this severe economic downturn and housing bust, Jacksonville is faring way better than most major cities.

Our City Leaders are too slow, and too lazy when it comes to new projects such as these.  Now the Kuhn projects I believe are the ones that would not have come to fruition even if City Leaders had rushed them through to possible approval; anyhoo, frustrating and a bit angry to see this.  Quite a lot of cancelled and dead projects...such a shame.

Heights Unknown

[heights unknown]

while most of those projects look great, lets keep in mind that it would have been a disaster if they all, or even a few too many, went vertical at the same time.  Traffic issues would have no time to be resolved, our city would absolutely not have given any ground to aspiring developers, and once all the projects were completed the core would be understaffed, overcrowded, and would have left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.  What I take out of this article is that while the projects are dead or delayed, it as we all know was more a function of the collapse of the market nationally; not the potential of the core of our city.  The developers are still out there and I believe we will get some of these projects in a more manageable order.  Keep your heads up!  We want the core to grow steadily, not an un-sustainable boom of artificial demand.

We can live with most of the "fuss," that would occur with numerous construction projects going at once, that you list in your post.  Eventually, after construction is complete, everything would be sorted out.  The key is to ensure that City Leaders carefully plan, way in advance, to sort out these problems before construction begins. That's why we  pay people in City Government to plan and invent ways to prevent the type of disorder that you mention during major construction projects and phases.  Miami is a prime example.  I'll bet at present there are 20 or more cranes in the air which indicates numerous projects under construction at one time, and all of the debacles you mention are not a huge issue in Miami.  That's why the people in power get paid the big bucks, to take care of these type issues as required.  We can live with these things if City Leaders plan carefully BEFORE they begin construction on them.

Heights Unknown

[downtownjag]

while most of those projects look great, lets keep in mind that it would have been a disaster if they all, or even a few too many, went vertical at the same time.  Traffic issues would have no time to be resolved, our city would absolutely not have given any ground to aspiring developers, and once all the projects were completed the core would be understaffed, overcrowded, and would have left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.  What I take out of this article is that while the projects are dead or delayed, it as we all know was more a function of the collapse of the market nationally; not the potential of the core of our city.  The developers are still out there and I believe we will get some of these projects in a more manageable order.  Keep your heads up!  We want the core to grow steadily, not an un-sustainable boom of artificial demand.

I agree that we may have been able to sort out the mess and life would go on, but there are a few things we may not see eye to eye on.  I don't believe that Miami is a good example of the amount of construction our city can handle at once.  Miami has seen a boom before and has an established core which can handle an influx of population.  Jacksonville currently has almost nothing in place to please downtown residents; I live down here and I love it but friends from established cities wouldn't consider moving because of the necessities not in place.  I know that you didn't mean Jacksonville could literally handle 20 cranes at once but I think even half of that would have been an overload of product and a relfection of over-estimated demand.  Another discussion worth looking into is the influx of crime we would have see, with the northside breathing down the neck of affluent downtown residents, but that is besides the point.
I also agree that it is important to have city leaders in place that can plan for the influx before it occurs; and I believe in our leaders, but there is only so much they can do.  Don't get me wrong, I am on the same side of the fence as you when it comes to downtown development, I am just arguing that we should grow smart and for the longterm.   
We can live with most of the "fuss," that would occur with numerous construction projects going at once, that you list in your post.  Eventually, after construction is complete, everything would be sorted out.  The key is to ensure that City Leaders carefully plan, way in advance, to sort out these problems before construction begins. That's why we  pay people in City Government to plan and invent ways to prevent the type of disorder that you mention during major construction projects and phases.  Miami is a prime example.  I'll bet at present there are 20 or more cranes in the air which indicates numerous projects under construction at one time, and all of the debacles you mention are not a huge issue in Miami.  That's why the people in power get paid the big bucks, to take care of these type issues as required.  We can live with these things if City Leaders plan carefully BEFORE they begin construction on them.

Heights Unknown