Retail garage project proposed for downtown

[jaxnyc79]

If I recall correctly, several entire blocks in that immediate vicinity are covered by garages.

I was walking around downtown today, and if you really stop to notice, it's staggering how much dead space there really is. There are pockets of storefronts here and there, but it feels like for every two or three active uses along the street, there are seven or eight parking garage walls, or banks, or government buildings, etc. Even with all the new residential going up, I worry that the existing infrastructure and tenet mix really handicaps our ability to achieve a truly vibrant 24/7 downtown, particularly in the central business district.

I'm thrilled to see the Trio + Barnett happening (though Chase on the ground floor creates another dead zone on nights and weekends in a highly trafficked area), but I really do think we need to follow other city's leads and require maybe 40% of street frontage for all new development to be active. Even if it means sticking to our guns and losing out on something. Otherwise we're going to - quite literally - box our downtown into a corner.

I agree with that, and thanks for this posting.  I've consistently and continuously posted about this issue - that few people really get to know Downtown Jax by foot.  Sometimes you'll hear suggestions about taller buildings, etc, so that downtown looks great on a postcard or to passersby on the Fuller Warren, but the key ingredient that will make downtown a fundamental draw is the vibrancy of the pedestrian experience...the streetscape and all of its features and allures to engage the pedestrian and to entice him/her to linger and to feel ensconced in the sense of place and pulse of the local community.  Jax needs a Strip, in fact, several Strips, chock full of contiguous active uses at ground level across several blocks, uninterrupted by walls and "dead space."

[KenFSU]

The key ingredient that will make downtown a fundamental draw is the vibrancy of the pedestrian experience...the streetscape and all of its features and allures to engage the pedestrian and to entice him/her to linger and to feel ensconced in the sense of place and pulse of the local community.  Jax needs a Strip, in fact, several Strips, chock full of contiguous active uses at ground level across several blocks, uninterrupted by walls and "dead space."

My parents live in Southwest Florida, down in Fort Myers. I went down to visit this weekend and what they have done with their downtown in the last 15 years by embracing the principals you list above (the same principals that Ennis constantly harps on) is staggering. When I was growing up, it was pure blight. Nothing but government offices, a handful of run-down dives, and shuttered storefronts. In the early 2000s, they decided that enough was enough. They master-planned their urban core (around 20 blocks), with a focus on active uses, outdoor seating, public art, and nightlife. Ten years later, 60 restaurants and bars are open, there's no vacancy to be found, and the area is exploding so much that the surrounding neighborhoods are having to rewrite their density ordinances to accommodate the growth (https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2017/04/12/fort-myers-midtown-plan-inspires-fear-loathing-and-love/100317968/).

Here are some pictures that I took walking around last weekend, on a rainy off-season night, at midnight.

Notice how everything opens out the street, and how there's outdoor seating everywhere, and there's so many interesting nooks and alleys, and how well lit and maintained their downtown is.

https://imgur.com/a/L3qiWaI

That compact, densely clustered, active streetscape is what's needed for true vibrancy, and I do wonder how we achieve that, even on Laura Street, with so much dead space and so many 9-to-5 uses (including Chase, in such prime real estate at the Barnett). That's why, for the love of God, you can't give Snyder Memorial to a 9-to-5 tenet.

[thelakelander]

I've said it for years but I believe the city really needs some type of program where it aggressively works to revamp the street level of existing buildings and office towers. Many of our "dead" spaces at street level do have some sort of active use....they just aren't integrated with the sidewalk and street. Baptist literally has a Morrison's cafeteria style restaurant on Laura open every day but you can't tell from the street because its a brick wall with glass block. One would think of it as a warehouse moreso than a place where anyone can buy and eat lunch. All the new stuff on the edges of downtown is great (and needed) but if we don't get the Northbank right, Downtown's overall image will remain a sleepy one. If we can flip some of the interior activity of these spaces to the sidewalks, the Northbank would have more pedestrian traffic, creating opportunity for adjacent vacant spaces and the visibility of active sidewalks would naturally change the entire core's energy and image.

[jaxnyc79]

I've said it for years but I believe the city really needs some type of program where it aggressively works to revamp the street level of existing buildings and office towers. Many of our "dead" spaces at street level do have some sort of active use....they just aren't integrated with the sidewalk and street. Baptist literally has a Morrison's cafeteria style restaurant on Laura open every day but you can't tell from the street because its a brick wall with glass block. One would think of it as a warehouse moreso than a place where anyone can buy and eat lunch. All the new stuff on the edges of downtown is great (and needed) but if we don't get the Northbank right, Downtown's overall image will remain a sleepy one. If we can flip some of the interior activity of these spaces to the sidewalks, the Northbank would have more pedestrian traffic, creating opportunity for adjacent vacant spaces and the visibility of active sidewalks would naturally change the entire core's energy and image.

I fully agree.  In fact, when I first moved to NYC years ago, neighborhoods like Chelsea had very old building stock and you could tell that much of the building was fairly decrepit and being used as storage space, but at street level, it was some sort of glass-covered retail or bar or nightclub use that opened up to the street.  Jax could do the same thing, and it really should be demanded of most developments.  At least this latest garage is attempting to do that on the Forsyth and Main Street sides, but I just hate the idea of surrendering so much of Laura Street to concrete and front bumpers.  One side of Laura will be nicely renovated, and the other side will be a wall. 

[thelakelander]

You mean Forsyth? Yes, it will basically be a concrete wall between Laura and Main. A far cry from the days when it was a theatre district.

[KenFSU]

I've said it for years but I believe the city really needs some type of program where it aggressively works to revamp the street level of existing buildings and office towers. Many of our "dead" spaces at street level do have some sort of active use....they just aren't integrated with the sidewalk and street. Baptist literally has a Morrison's cafeteria style restaurant on Laura open every day but you can't tell from the street because its a brick wall with glass block. One would think of it as a warehouse moreso than a place where anyone can buy and eat lunch. All the new stuff on the edges of downtown is great (and needed) but if we don't get the Northbank right, Downtown's overall image will remain a sleepy one. If we can flip some of the interior activity of these spaces to the sidewalks, the Northbank would have more pedestrian traffic, creating opportunity for adjacent vacant spaces and the visibility of active sidewalks would naturally change the entire core's energy and image.

First of all, WTF on the Baptist cafeteria? Just Googled it. I walk that way multiple times a week, and literally had no idea this was a thing.

Secondly, do you know of any examples of cities who have successfully carried out a project like this?

Third, just want to point out that seeing so much genuine dead space in downtown Jacksonville gives me new respect for what Mike was able to accomplish with the food truck court. Great example of turning a dead block into a lively, active asset. 

[howfam]

Here's a better rendering:

Nice building, but design would be enhanced with palm trees instead of those other trees shown. It's time Jax stopped denying it's Florida setting, and landscape accordingly.

[acme54321]

YES!!!  PALM TREES!!!   

[heights unknown]

Jax actually has two identities; it is in Florida and is a Florida City, and it also has a southern/Midwestern feel, don't know the reason for that, but that's what I see. In the above photo, and I think those are oak trees, how about a palm, an oak, a palm, etc.? The florida feel with the palms, and the southern/Midwestern feel with the oaks, give em both! Just saying.

[remc86007]

^I'm not sure I agree on the palm trees. I may be wrong, but I don't think they are native to this area. A couple clustered around a new development when the rest of downtown is covered with other types of tress would be strange looking.

[Lostwave]

Secondly, do you know of any examples of cities who have successfully carried out a project like this?

Seattle.  The CBD in the 80s was mostly office buildings and parking lots/garages.  The office buildings were mostly tenant only types of buildings that the public couldn't enter with the exception of maybe a bank branch or a Starbucks or similar. 
In the 90s they made a rule that you had to have X% pedestrian oriented retail frontage in all construction projects.  Now its one of the most walkable vibrant cities I know of. 

[thelakelander]

Yes, it's pretty common. Most of America's major cities were filled with self contained 80s and 90s boxes. Another was Uptown Charlotte's Tyron Street. Raleigh's Fayetteville St is another. A good streetscape project combined with a building facade improvement program would do wonders. In Jax, we've seen some of this recently from the new owners of Suntrust (the cafe on Laura St in a former office space) and Profit Investments (Hotel Indigo, FSCJ Dorms). These are the things that will ultimately change downtown's image, no matter how much money we throw at the District or in the Stadium District.

[Tacachale]

^Downtown Orlando has done a good job exposing hidden retail in its office buildings. Not all of it has been remodeling, some of it is just better signage. Unfortunately, the Jax sign ordinance, which has been positive in other neighborhoods, hinders doing that in Downtown Jax.

[Tacachale]

^I'm not sure I agree on the palm trees. I may be wrong, but I don't think they are native to this area. A couple clustered around a new development when the rest of downtown is covered with other types of tress would be strange looking.

Several palms are native to this area. They can be a nice addition in some areas. But shade, as from oak trees which are also native, is a better objective in tree planting than making the place look like a Jimmy Buffet album cover.

[jaxnyc79]

I've said it for years but I believe the city really needs some type of program where it aggressively works to revamp the street level of existing buildings and office towers. Many of our "dead" spaces at street level do have some sort of active use....they just aren't integrated with the sidewalk and street. Baptist literally has a Morrison's cafeteria style restaurant on Laura open every day but you can't tell from the street because its a brick wall with glass block. One would think of it as a warehouse moreso than a place where anyone can buy and eat lunch. All the new stuff on the edges of downtown is great (and needed) but if we don't get the Northbank right, Downtown's overall image will remain a sleepy one. If we can flip some of the interior activity of these spaces to the sidewalks, the Northbank would have more pedestrian traffic, creating opportunity for adjacent vacant spaces and the visibility of active sidewalks would naturally change the entire core's energy and image.

Can someone e-mail Lori Boyer?  In addition to "activate our waterfront," can she proceed with "activate our streetscape" for downtown?  I think this is why I'd love to see a seat on Council strictly for Downtown, just on principal, even if the population doesn't justify it.  It's significance is out of proportion with its population, and it should get its own representative.

First of all, WTF on the Baptist cafeteria? Just Googled it. I walk that way multiple times a week, and literally had no idea this was a thing.

Secondly, do you know of any examples of cities who have successfully carried out a project like this?

Third, just want to point out that seeing so much genuine dead space in downtown Jacksonville gives me new respect for what Mike was able to accomplish with the food truck court. Great example of turning a dead block into a lively, active asset.