Reimagining the Springfield Warehouse District

[Jim]

It's both nice and painful to look at those pictures.

The saddest part is the in all the old photos, Jax looks like a proper big city.

The warehouses I was thinking about are most likely the ones in the aerial below.


As I said - it's a bit hard to remember as this was 20+ years ago and I was driven home after partying downtown, so my memory is a bit fuzzy :-)

Today.

[RattlerGator]

The horror. The disgusting horror! Open spaces in downtown Jacksonville.

Good grief.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property? Y'all sound like you would much prefer an existing abandoned building be there that might constrict what could be economically placed there. Like you want (and prefer) that developers hands be tied so only one approach makes sense.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property -- period. This fixation, essentially, with water that has long since passed under the bridge is just weird. And don't even twist this into a lack of appreciation for historic preservation or the density, density, density mantra because the people in Orange Park, Mandarin, Nocatee, the Beaches, Oceanway, etc., will just say talk to the hand, man.

We've lost the possible creative use of those buildings, true, but we've gained flexibility for developers to more inexpensively do something else.

[fieldafm]

The horror. The disgusting horror! Open spaces in downtown Jacksonville.

Good grief.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property? Y'all sound like you would much prefer an existing abandoned building be there that might constrict what could be economically placed there. Like you want (and prefer) that developers hands be tied so only one approach makes sense.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property -- period. This fixation, essentially, with water that has long since passed under the bridge is just weird. And don't even twist this into a lack of appreciation for historic preservation or the density, density, density mantra because the people in Orange Park, Mandarin, Nocatee, the Beaches, Oceanway, etc., will just say talk to the hand, man.

We've lost the possible creative use of those buildings, true, but we've gained flexibility for developers to more inexpensively do something else.

In defense of this 'fixation', it took 25+ years to rebuild roughly 5% of the workforce housing that was razed in LaVilla, and even that has come in the form of an affordable housing project that is receiving taxpayer money to build and will receive taxpayer money to subsidize the rent needed to keep the building occupied.

Coming from someone that is actually employed in this field of work, there's just no way to defend the complete taxpayer-funded destruction of LaVilla.

[Jim]

The horror. The disgusting horror! Open spaces in downtown Jacksonville.

Good grief.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property? Y'all sound like you would much prefer an existing abandoned building be there that might constrict what could be economically placed there. Like you want (and prefer) that developers hands be tied so only one approach makes sense.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property -- period. This fixation, essentially, with water that has long since passed under the bridge is just weird. And don't even twist this into a lack of appreciation for historic preservation or the density, density, density mantra because the people in Orange Park, Mandarin, Nocatee, the Beaches, Oceanway, etc., will just say talk to the hand, man.

We've lost the possible creative use of those buildings, true, but we've gained flexibility for developers to more inexpensively do something else.

1. Empty lots for 30 years.  If interest in empty lots for development were high, they'd not have sat empty for 3+ decades.

2. Density is a facet of a vibrant core.  Don't like it, stay in the exurbs.

3. Other cities have kept their building stock and have experience a resurgence in their downtown's that Jax only dreams about because we razed most of ours.  Tell me how their model for resurgence wouldn't have worked here.

[Adam White]

What developers?

[Gunnar]

The horror. The disgusting horror! Open spaces in downtown Jacksonville.

Good grief.

Is there, or is there not, interest in doing something with that property?

Not sure which property you are talking about but speaking in general terms - since many of older buildings in dt - especially the  smaller and mid sized ones that would be easier and cheaper to restore are gone, that's kind of hard to tell. And the ones that are left - especially on the edges of downtown are in somewhat of a wasteland. Being in the middle of surface parking lots with not much else around does imho not make a property more attractive.

Y'all sound like you would much prefer an existing abandoned building be there that might constrict what could be economically placed there. Like you want (and prefer) that developers hands be tied so only one approach makes sense.

Well, the empty lot approach has been tried for what - over 20 years  ? And we all see what kind of a roaring success that has been.
If a building is still there you have two choices - demolish and build new or restore / reuse (even without fully restoring it by just doing the minimum necessary at first).

With an empty lot you also have a choice - rent it as a surface parking lot or build new and guess what the choice has been most often...

We've lost the possible creative use of those buildings, true, but we've gained flexibility for developers to more inexpensively do something else.

Yeah - the reason why not that much has happened in a long time is probably because developers were busy fighting each other over who gets to invest first so they haven't had much time to do any actual investing.

[Bill Hoff]

Things are moving along swimmingly at the Phoenix Arts District (aka Springfield warehouse district):

It took Christy Frazier almost a year and around 10,000 pieces of mirror to finish a massive mosaic that spans the featured wall of The Phoenix Arts District.

The outdoor walls have been painted and adorned with art by Frazier and others since she first bought three warehouse buildings near the intersection of 14th and Market streets in 2016 for a total of $685,000. Over the next year, more changes are expected to transform the roughly 100,000 square feet of space in the buildings.

When complete, The Phoenix Arts District is expected to have 20,000 square feet of event space, 20,000 square feet of art studio space, a 5,000-square-foot restaurant, an arts school and a market where artists can sell their work.

The development was inspired in part by Miami's Wynwood Walls, a collection of former warehouse buildings with walls that are covered in graffiti art and that has become a major attraction in the city's Wynwood neighborhood. It has also revitalized the neighborhood; retailers and restaurants continue to spring up around the outdoor art gallery.

Frazier hopes The Phoenix Arts District will become a similar sort of gathering place in Springfield.

The first phase of development – the event space – will begin construction soon and is expected to be completed by the fall. The space will have movable walls so that users can bend the space to their needs.



Full story:
https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2019/04/24/phoenix-arts-district-takes-shape-to-become-event.html