Developer proposes 13-story Southbank apartment tower

[Metro Jacksonville]

Developer proposes 13-story Southbank apartment tower



In October 2016, the Ventures Development Group announced plans to build a 250-unit apartment tower on the Southbank. Now armed with a larger project, the development group is prepared to go before the Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) in order to gain conceptual design approval for 300-units. If successful, this project could become the first Southbank high-rise built since 2008.  Here's a look at their January 2017 DDRB Application Package to get a better idea of what this project could look like. Let us know what you think!

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/developer-proposes-13-story-southbank-apartment-tower/

[acme54321]

Looks a lot better than the last rendering!

[Captain Zissou]

I agree that it's a big improvement.  My question is why didn't they also get the land where the sales office for the St John is? It seems to me like they could reconfigure the entrance and improve the parking if they use that land too.  I still think this site is crazily configured and will be tough to pull off, but I'm really hoping they can make it work.

-David

[acme54321]

I think I read somewhere that they were leasing that sales office from Basptist or whoever owns the Aetna building and it was never part of the actual property.  Getting in and an out of this place at rush our is going to be exciting!

[pierre]

Getting and an out of this place at rush our is going to be exciting!

That was my first thought as well.

[Dapperdan]

Or if there is a train blocking the track. Wish that skyway track station had a walkway that went over to this area.

[Kerry]

I love it - I already see the unit I want.  As for comments about getting in and out, people who live here that work outside downtown will be coming in at 5 - while all the employees headed back to the burbs will be going out.  Besides, have you ever seen I-295/I-95 at 5PM?  For those of us who either work downtown, or work from home, traffic is 100% irrelevant.

[acme54321]

I love it - I already see the unit I want.  As for comments about getting in and out, people who live here that work outside downtown will be coming in at 5 - while all the employees headed back to the burbs will be going out.  Besides, have you ever seen I-295/I-95 at 5PM?  For those of us who either work downtown, or work from home, traffic is 100% irrelevant.

You've clearly never tried to drive around Baptist's campus, especially that very spot where the entrance to the building will be, at rush hour.

[Kerry]

I love it - I already see the unit I want.  As for comments about getting in and out, people who live here that work outside downtown will be coming in at 5 - while all the employees headed back to the burbs will be going out.  Besides, have you ever seen I-295/I-95 at 5PM?  For those of us who either work downtown, or work from home, traffic is 100% irrelevant.

You've clearly never tried to drive around Baptist's campus, especially that very spot where the entrance to the building will be, at rush hour.

Yes I have.  Everyone is trying to leave.  Getting in isn't bad.  South across the Acosta Bridge, right turn on Prudential, right turn into the driveway...super easy and no traffic.  Anyhow - I work from home so traffic is other people's problem.

[JaxNative68]

I believe there are many other river front lots where this project would be better suited. It seems like they are trying to shoehorn to much into this tight site. In their rendering, they conveniently do not show the elevated Acosta bridge to the north, the Aetna building (if it is still named that) sitting window to window about forty feet away on the south. Also throw in the round the clock noise from ambulances and helicopters going to Baptist hospital, the noise from the trains clanking on the bridge and the highway noise. I also agree it will become a traffic nightmare in that area with site being cut off by the rail lines and sharing the only in and out with an office building and hospital. Increasing the building to 300 units with 359 parking spaces just might be pushing the envelope a little to much on the traffic count.

[Kerry]

Clearly urban living isn't for some of you.  It is a different lifestyle that people who have only lived in a sprawling subdivision have a hard time relating to.

In urban living the more people the better, because each new person increases the demand for more services that people need on a daily basis, which businesses then move in to meet that demand, thus increasing the quality of life for everyone living there because we can walk to those businesses.  In suburbia it is the exact opposite.  Each new person decreases the quality of life for people already living there because of increased traffic - which is why some of you seem to be focusing on traffic in your opposition.

This project will bring the number of Southbank residences to 5.  It won't take long until retailers start to be attracted to the area.

[JeffreyS]

Just one more thing I wish would connect to the skyway in that area.

[remc86007]

Looks great!

[JaxNative68]

Sorry to burst your bubble Kerry, but I know what urban living is all about. I have lived for many years in urban cities that make the Jacksonville downtown area look like an outskirt kind of town. The site for this project is shaped like a long handled field hockey stick for a reason; that reason being that it has very poor accessibility by bus, train, auto, bike, foot, skates, or any other mode of personal or public transport you can think of. Poor accessibility is the greatest reason why this project would be better suited for many of the other empty riverfront parcels of land scattered along the St. John's River in the urban core. Next to the new YMCA, the soon to be abandon Times Union building, the parking lot adjacent to CSX, the parking lot adjacent to the Landing, the Shipyards site, across the street from Maxwell House, the old JEA site are a just few from off the top of my head without looking at a map and I am sure there are plenty more. As vacant as our downtown is, there is no reason to start wedging the building stock on top of one another at this point in time.

Yes remc, I agree it looks great, I just don't agree with it's location at the moment.

[Tacachale]

Sorry to burst your bubble Kerry, but I know what urban living is all about. I have lived for many years in urban cities that make the Jacksonville downtown area look like an outskirt kind of town. The site for this project is shaped like a long handled field hockey stick for a reason; that reason being that it has very poor accessibility by bus, train, auto, bike, foot, skates, or any other mode of personal or public transport you can think of. Poor accessibility is the greatest reason why this project would be better suited for many of the other empty riverfront parcels of land scattered along the St. John's River in the urban core. Next to the new YMCA, the soon to be abandon Times Union building, the parking lot adjacent to CSX, the parking lot adjacent to the Landing, the Shipyards site, across the street from Maxwell House, the old JEA site are a just few from off the top of my head without looking at a map and I am sure there are plenty more. As vacant as our downtown is, there is no reason to start wedging the building stock on top of one another at this point in time.

Yes remc, I agree it looks great, I just don't agree with it's location at the moment.

I would assume the project fits the space because that's the land available to them. Given that, it seems like a good use of the space, better than an underused parking lot. But yes, it's going to be a nightmare coming in and out during traffic.