New plans emerge for Jones Brothers Furniture building

[fsu813]

Board debate

The board members overall praised the project during the April 21 meeting, although Craig Davisson said he would like to see the new construction design simplified before it returns for final review to be less "busy."

Davisson, an architect and principal for Studio9 Architecture, said the design can pay homage to the historic Jones Bros. building in a "more sophisticated way."

He said the design is "not far off" from the look he would prefer but the building's accents and stripes in the renderings are "completely overcooked."

"The building, when I see it, just the image it gives off,  it kind of utilizes all the trendy architecture you see today. And I'm saying this a lot, it's already dated before it's built," Davisson said.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/ddrb-advances-new-design-for-jones-bros-furniture-building

Nope, not Vestcor.

Had a discussion about this project with a group of prominent architects/designers a couple days ago, they had the same sentiment - love the adaptive reuse, the new construction portion needed to be more subdued. Would be great to have more actual architects on the DDRB, we'd get better products.

[Ken_FSU]

Taste is obviously subjective, but I like the design the developer proposed, and I personally don't think Jacksonville is in a position to complain that any proposed architecture is "too trendy."

I look down Laura Street every morning when I'm walking into my office, and it literally looks like a bomb went off. This is our showcase street, leading our "explosive downtown momentum," and you've got (in order):

1) A decrepit abandoned billboard

2) The building next to Chamblins, that looks like it's crumbing in on itself

3) A boarded up Snyder Memorial Church with broken windows and caution tape

4) The tattered remains of the Florida Life, Bisbee, and Marble Bank buildings, surrounded by barbed wire and graffiti.

The surrounding blocks are littered with dead corridors and surface parking lots.

Despite all this, you've got a developer in Corner Lot that is willing to assume the risk of investing in downtown Jacksonville, because - as they told the Business Journal this week - they think it's important and no one else seems willing to do it.

In my opinion, we should be getting out of their way, thanking them for including street-level retail uses, and letting them execute their vision.

To me, it's just very symptomatic of Jacksonville's baseless municipal arrogance that we tell a developer that their proposal is "completely overcooked."

Who else is in line proposing a better alternative?

We don't need perfect products at this point.

We need adequate products moving forward swiftly.

73 vacant buildings in downtown Jax. We've developed THREE in the last six years.

We are THIRTY YEARS behind former sister-cities like Nashville and Charlotte because our public sector constantly thinks it's smarter than it actually is when it comes to downtown development.

Fill the DDRB with architects and let them all be hyper-critical when we're in a position to be choosy and it doesn't require a 25%+ subsidy to get any project off the ground.

The RFP for private development at the Landing should be a good reality check in terms of what position we're currently in.

[landfall]

Taste is obviously subjective, but I like the design the developer proposed, and I personally don't think Jacksonville is in a position to complain that any proposed architecture is "too trendy."

I look down Laura Street every morning when I'm walking into my office, and it literally looks like a bomb went off. This is our showcase street, leading our "explosive downtown momentum," and you've got (in order):

1) A decrepit abandoned billboard

2) The building next to Chamblins, that looks like it's crumbing in on itself

3) A boarded up Snyder Memorial Church with broken windows and caution tape

4) The tattered remains of the Florida Life, Bisbee, and Marble Bank buildings, surrounded by barbed wire and graffiti.

The surrounding blocks are littered with dead corridors and surface parking lots.

Despite all this, you've got a developer in Corner Lot that is willing to assume the risk of investing in downtown Jacksonville, because - as they told the Business Journal this week - they think it's important and no one else seems willing to do it.

In my opinion, we should be getting out of their way, thanking them for including street-level retail uses, and letting them execute their vision.

To me, it's just very symptomatic of Jacksonville's baseless municipal arrogance that we tell a developer that their proposal is "completely overcooked."

Who else is in line proposing a better alternative?

We don't need perfect products at this point.

We need adequate products moving forward swiftly.

73 vacant buildings in downtown Jax. We've developed THREE in the last six years.

We are THIRTY YEARS behind former sister-cities like Nashville and Charlotte because our public sector constantly thinks it's smarter than it actually is when it comes to downtown development.

Fill the DDRB with architects and let them all be hyper-critical when we're in a position to be choosy and it doesn't require a 25%+ subsidy to get any project off the ground.

The RFP for private development at the Landing should be a good reality check in terms of what position we're currently in.

That must be over 75 days for the Ford on Bay negotiation period with Hardwick done as well without a whisper.

Laughable we had the arrogance to turn down Lot J. That's sure worked out great!

[JPalmer]

Laughable we had the arrogance to turn down Lot J. That's sure worked out great![/quote]

Could the 'Toaster Oven' attached to Daily's Place feasibly be converted to a concept similar to the Cordish Live venues?  It seems like that could affordably serve the purpose of housing a "Jax Live" or something similar. The structure is already built and is within the vicinity of Lot J plus it is completely underutilized for the money spent.

[Lostwave]

Could the 'Toaster Oven' attached to Daily's Place feasibly be converted to a concept similar to the Cordish Live venues?  It seems like that could affordably serve the purpose of housing a "Jax Live" or something similar. The structure is already built and is within the vicinity of Lot J plus it is completely underutilized for the money spent.

Thats actually not a terrible idea.  There's already a stage attached too.

[fsu813]

Taste is obviously subjective, but I like the design the developer proposed, and I personally don't think Jacksonville is in a position to complain that any proposed architecture is "too trendy."

I look down Laura Street every morning when I'm walking into my office, and it literally looks like a bomb went off. This is our showcase street, leading our "explosive downtown momentum," and you've got (in order):

1) A decrepit abandoned billboard

2) The building next to Chamblins, that looks like it's crumbing in on itself

3) A boarded up Snyder Memorial Church with broken windows and caution tape

4) The tattered remains of the Florida Life, Bisbee, and Marble Bank buildings, surrounded by barbed wire and graffiti.

The surrounding blocks are littered with dead corridors and surface parking lots.

Despite all this, you've got a developer in Corner Lot that is willing to assume the risk of investing in downtown Jacksonville, because - as they told the Business Journal this week - they think it's important and no one else seems willing to do it.

In my opinion, we should be getting out of their way, thanking them for including street-level retail uses, and letting them execute their vision.

To me, it's just very symptomatic of Jacksonville's baseless municipal arrogance that we tell a developer that their proposal is "completely overcooked."

Who else is in line proposing a better alternative?

We don't need perfect products at this point.

We need adequate products moving forward swiftly.

73 vacant buildings in downtown Jax. We've developed THREE in the last six years.

We are THIRTY YEARS behind former sister-cities like Nashville and Charlotte because our public sector constantly thinks it's smarter than it actually is when it comes to downtown development.

Fill the DDRB with architects and let them all be hyper-critical when we're in a position to be choosy and it doesn't require a 25%+ subsidy to get any project off the ground.

The RFP for private development at the Landing should be a good reality check in terms of what position we're currently in.

Bro. It's not all or nothing. You're catastrophizing. We're talking about the decorative icing on a proverbial cake. Being open to substantive input is a strength, especially when public dollars are involved. Not that they need to, but if Bold Line needed to revise the aesthetic of their facade a bit, that's nothing.