Exploring Montréal as a Next City Vanguard

[Metro Jacksonville]

Exploring Montréal as a Next City Vanguard



Ennis Davis, AICP provides a review of Next City's 2017 Vanguard Conference in Montréal and highlights redevelopment lessons that may be applicable for Jacksonville.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2017-jun-exploring-montral-as-a-next-city-vanguard

[thelakelander]

Some waterfront activation observations from Montreal, in comparison to downtown Jax's St. Johns River....

On more than one occasion, I've heard from various people that doing anything with the St. Johns River in downtown is challenging because of the river's width and the current.

Typically, this excuse is used with comparing the downtown riverfront environment to a city with a smaller waterway like San Antonio's Riverwalk.  However, in recent years, visiting revitalized urban waterfronts on wide rivers suggest to me that we've been conditioned to make excuses for ourselves more than anything else.

This was really evident in my Next City Vanguard trip to Chattanooga in 2014 and Montreal earlier this month.  Here's a few images of Montreal's waterfront:


1.

Montreal is located on the St. Lawrence River.  Like the St. Johns River, it's a shipping channel with a pretty wicked current. However, it's roughly two to three times as wide as the St. Johns River through downtown Jax.


2.

We both have some legacy maritime related uses on our riverfronts within the downtown core. We have Maxwell House and Montreal has Molson Brewing.


3.

We have North Florida Shipyards at Commodore's Point and Montreal has a private Talleyrand style port terminal still in operation dab smack in the middle of its downtown riverfront.


4.

Having an active port terminal also means having an active railroad between the riverfront and downtown. 


5.

However, this rail corridor also serves as a linear green space.  Jax once had a similar rail sliding running parallel to the riverfront on the Northbank.  The old rail path is essentially Water Street, Independent Drive and Courthouse Drive today.


6.

Here, some of the old port land became zip line park in 2015.


7.

An old wharf for ships that become a marina protected from the current of the St. Lawrence River.  In recent years, infill mid-rise housing has been constructed overlooking it.


8.

Unlike the St. Johns River, the St. Lawrence River floods. Thus, even old shipping piers that have been converted into green space, still keep the pedestrian pretty disconnected from the river.

9.

Here's what this same stretch of riverfront looks like at night with the use of creative lighting schemes.


10.

The high was 60 degrees while I was there, but on the marina side of the pier, I thought this "beach" was a nice touch to the surface parking lot situated at the higher level.


11.

At night, the adjacent historic clock tower becomes a canvas for light shows.


12.

Cirque du Soleil practices on an old pier in Montreal. Shows perfected here, then head out to other locations across the world.  I found this to be an interesting use of an old Jax Shipyards style pier.


13.

This particular boat tour company also takes advantage of the river's rough current by offering a "rapids" ride.


14.



15.

Unlike us, they didn't tear down old their old warehouses sitting on the old downtown piers.  So a few have been retrofitted into cultural uses like this IMAX theatre.


16.

This old pier is being retrofitted into a public space that interacts with the water.


17.

An old pier converted into greenspace.


18.

We never got our barge but Montreal's riverfront features an upscale spa on a barge.


19.

A row of shipping container retail spaces along the riverfront.  It was late at night when this image was taken, so the few that were still open, were actually in the process of closing.


20.

Bonsecours Basin Park is a park developed in the middle of a pier, similiar in shape to the space created by the removal of the old courthouse parking lot on the Northbank Riverwalk.  It's designed to allow and protect recreational watercraft from the river.


21.

In the winter, it transitions to an outdoor ice skating rink.


22.

If kayaking and paddleboarding is your thing, this is possible on some of the old canals along the St. Lawrence River.  Applied to Jax, consider the opportunities of what can be done with Hogans and McCoys Creeks.


23.

The downtown Montreal riverfront is still a work in progress. This grain silo is the city's largest abandoned building.  However, they don't want to tear it down because the shipping a grain played an important role in the historical development of the city.  A mix of uses are being considered for its future.  A Jax comparable would be like finding a new use for the old Ford Plant or Talleyrant paper mill that was demolished in the early 2000s.


In closing, I felt this was an excellent example of finding a mix of interactive solutions to allow the public to engage the river, despite the river being wider and rougher than the St. Johns River.  While all of these solutions may not be best for our context, they do illustrate the impact of creativity on a riverfront that not radically different from what we have running through downtown Jacksonville.

[thelakelander]

These aerials will give you a good idea of the width of the St. Lawrence River in downtown Montreal, if overlayed on downtown Jacksonville:

[KenFSU]

Really love Bonsecours Basin Park, thanks for sharing.

Sincerely hope that we can develop a similarly clever, active use for that big chunk of river the Coastline project will expose.

[Keith-N-Jax]

How nice I went to Toronto last year now I need to add Montreal.

[ProjectMaximus]

How nice I went to Toronto last year now I need to add Montreal.

You definitely do! Montreal is awesome. God I love Canadian cities...well in the summertime.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Nice write up.  That had the 'feel' of a classic MJ article, but now to counter:

I like many of the uses that Montreal has to activate their river, but some of the things that I feel separate us from them in making some of those same ideas feasible is population.  Now I don't know the breakdown between citizens and how much tourism plays into these things, but don't they have a resident population about 4-5x what we have here in Jax and in a more condensed area?

If those ideas were profitable here don't you think we'd already have some in play? 

If our tax base was greater and more condensed, don't you think we'd have more/better public amenities?

If we hadn't already demolished 80% of our past history regarding the waterfront, wouldn't more of those concepts be feasible?

The past is the past and now the question should be how can we start moving in that direction?

[thelakelander]

I'm past making excuses for downtown Jax.  I believe our struggles are self inflicted.

Nice write up.  That had the 'feel' of a classic MJ article, but now to counter:

I like many of the uses that Montreal has to activate their river, but some of the things that I feel separate us from them in making some of those same ideas feasible is population.  Now I don't know the breakdown between citizens and how much tourism plays into these things, but don't they have a resident population about 4-5x what we have here in Jax and in a more condensed area?

We can implement within a compact area and build density off what already exists right now.....if we wanted too. Instead of looking up Montreal's density, how about I offer you Chattanooga?  Significantly smaller than us and on a pretty wide river itself.  However, it's riverfront is significantly more active than ours. Like Montreal, a similar approach has been taken. 







http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-may-exploring-chattanooga-vanguard-style/page/3

^This graphic illustrates the importance of compact investment. Screw the Shipyards, District and all this other stuff that's a mile away from the heart of the city.  Start by cramming and activating as much stuff as you can along the riverwalk between Pearl and Liberty Streets. You're not starting from scratch, so you improve what you already have and fill in the dead gaps with interative uses.  That's the cheap approach to radically change the area's image at the pedestrian scale level in the short term. 

If those ideas were profitable here don't you think we'd already have some in play?

Since our current downtown conditions are a result of local political whims and archaic public policy, it's hard to say what the real market will support. Case in point, evidently the market wants food trucks but there are those that are actively attempting to limit them, in order of thinking such moves will keep a few poorly operated brick and mortars from ultimately going out of business.  This isn't an example of free market principles.  This is an example of using political football to limit competition and the consumer's options.  Another example would be the Landing, Prime Osborn and Hyatt.  Spread out, they all fail. Placed in a situation where they're all immediately adjacent to each other, you'll get synergy that improves each of them, while also generating additional foot traffic for many of the things you see in Montreal's waterfront.  One more example on a human level.  Place a man in Baldwin and a woman he shares sexual chemistry with in downtown, and they'll probably never meet, despite being in Duval County.  Lock them both in a room for a year with an endless supply of tequila, and you'll probaby find three or four people in that same room when you unlock the door.  In other words, no matter what the size of a place is, you can grow/change the market through deliberately clustering complementing uses within a compact setting.

If our tax base was greater and more condensed, don't you think we'd have more/better public amenities?

We have more than enough money and tax base.  I'd argue we waste what we have and spend millions on things that don't deliver the intended results being sold to the general public.

If we hadn't already demolished 80% of our past history regarding the waterfront, wouldn't more of those concepts be feasible?

Probably 90% of our peer cities have demolished just as much as we have, if not more.  Jax isn't unique.  Most cities have dealt with urban renewal, building expressways through their communities, white flight, black flight, etc.  So we blew up LaVilla and most of Brooklyn.  If we think that hurt, take a look at what St. Louis lost when they ripped out their historic waterfront district for the arch.  Check out the destruction Miami put on Overtown or Tampa on Ybor and West Tampa.  Shit happens.  With that said, we still have an impressive collection of early 20th century building stock making up the Northbank core.  Start there. That's our "Old Jax". Cherish and activate it. It's something you can't find on that scale in the downtowns of Florida's other major cities.

The past is the past and now the question should be how can we start moving in that direction?

Here's four general things we can do...

1. Address everything we do with a clustering complementing uses within a compact setting mindset.

2. Review, modify or throw out much of the current regulations that limit market rate revitalization from taking place.

3. Be willing to get aggressive with returning underutilized public owned properties to the private sector.  This means being willing to give away buildings and land if doing such makes the numbers work for private sector investment.

4. I mentioned earlier, we have plenty money coming in. It's just in different pots and controlled by different public entities (Feds, State, Local, etc.). Figure out what you want to be and start coordinating between agencies in a manner to develop legacy public investments through better utilization of funding already coming in.

[FlaBoy]

I'm past making excuses for downtown Jax.  I believe our struggles are self inflicted.

Nice write up.  That had the 'feel' of a classic MJ article, but now to counter:

I like many of the uses that Montreal has to activate their river, but some of the things that I feel separate us from them in making some of those same ideas feasible is population.  Now I don't know the breakdown between citizens and how much tourism plays into these things, but don't they have a resident population about 4-5x what we have here in Jax and in a more condensed area?

We can implement within a compact area and build density off what already exists right now.....if we wanted too. Instead of looking up Montreal's density, how about I offer you Chattanooga?  Significantly smaller than us and on a pretty wide river itself.  However, it's riverfront is significantly more active than ours. Like Montreal, a similar approach has been taken. 







http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-may-exploring-chattanooga-vanguard-style/page/3

^This graphic illustrates the importance of compact investment. Screw the Shipyards, District and all this other stuff that's a mile away from the heart of the city.  Start by cramming and activating as much stuff as you can along the riverwalk between Pearl and Liberty Streets. You're not starting from scratch, so you improve what you already have and fill in the dead gaps with interative uses.  That's the cheap approach to radically change the area's image at the pedestrian scale level in the short term. 

If those ideas were profitable here don't you think we'd already have some in play?

Since our current downtown conditions are a result of local political whims and archaic public policy, it's hard to say what the real market will support. Case in point, evidently the market wants food trucks but there are those that are actively attempting to limit them, in order of thinking such moves will keep a few poorly operated brick and mortars from ultimately going out of business.  This isn't an example of free market principles.  This is an example of using political football to limit competition and the consumer's options.  Another example would be the Landing, Prime Osborn and Hyatt.  Spread out, they all fail. Placed in a situation where they're all immediately adjacent to each other, you'll get synergy that improves each of them, while also generating additional foot traffic for many of the things you see in Montreal's waterfront.  One more example on a human level.  Place a man in Baldwin and a woman he shares sexual chemistry with in downtown, and they'll probably never meet, despite being in Duval County.  Lock them both in a room for a year with an endless supply of tequila, and you'll probaby find three or four people in that same room when you unlock the door.  In other words, no matter what the size of a place is, you can grow/change the market through deliberately clustering complementing uses within a compact setting.

If our tax base was greater and more condensed, don't you think we'd have more/better public amenities?

We have more than enough money and tax base.  I'd argue we waste what we have and spend millions on things that don't deliver the intended results being sold to the general public.

If we hadn't already demolished 80% of our past history regarding the waterfront, wouldn't more of those concepts be feasible?

Probably 90% of our peer cities have demolished just as much as we have, if not more.  Jax isn't unique.  Most cities have dealt with urban renewal, building expressways through their communities, white flight, black flight, etc.  So we blew up LaVilla and most of Brooklyn.  If we think that hurt, take a look at what St. Louis lost when they ripped out their historic waterfront district for the arch.  Check out the destruction Miami put on Overtown or Tampa on Ybor and West Tampa.  Shit happens.  With that said, we still have an impressive collection of early 20th century building stock making up the Northbank core.  Start there. That's our "Old Jax". Cherish and activate it. It's something you can't find on that scale in the downtowns of Florida's other major cities.

The past is the past and now the question should be how can we start moving in that direction?

Here's four general things we can do...

1. Address everything we do with a clustering complementing uses within a compact setting mindset.

2. Review, modify or throw out much of the current regulations that limit market rate revitalization from taking place.

3. Be willing to get aggressive with returning underutilized public owned properties to the private sector.  This means being willing to give away buildings and land if doing such makes the numbers work for private sector investment.

4. I mentioned earlier, we have plenty money coming in. It's just in different pots and controlled by different public entities (Feds, State, Local, etc.). Figure out what you want to be and start coordinating between agencies in a manner to develop legacy public investments through better utilization of funding already coming in.

Ennis, when are you running for City Council? 

[Tacachale]

^I've been asking the same question for years!

[Seihaku]

It'd be nice for somebody with some vision to be on there.

And.. an article on Montreal and no mention of their strip clubs? Pfft, this place has gotten way too classy.