Friendship Fountain October 2023 Photo Tour

[Ken_FSU]

In late 2019, Lori Boyer of the DIA, in conjunction with the Jacksonville City Council, announced the start of a $6 million project to overhaul Friendship Fountain and the surrounding park. The plan was several years in the making, dating back to Boyer's time on Jacksonville's City Council (1).

Though the fountain's pumps suffered from mechanical issues, Friendship Park was a popular riverwalk destination, enjoyed by downtown workers and residents, visitors, and those looking for a great photo opportunity for Instagram content. Construction was set to begin in early 2020, and to be completed approximately one year later in early 2021 (2). Though it would be sad to see the park closed for a year, residents were excited for the greatly revamped fountain and park space reopening the next year.


Friendship Fountain in 2019, alongside its functional public park

Originally scheduled to begin construction in Spring 2020, over a year dragged on with the park closed to the public, but no progress at the site. DIA head Lori Boyer said, "I share some of the concern about why hasn't it started and how quickly we are going to finish it... I have adjacent private developments that I am working with who are all counting on it being completed, and completed on a timeline." In terms of reasons for the delay, Bori stated that "the city can only give a certain amount of money to contractors in a fiscal year, and one of the fountain's contractors had reached that limit. A delay in receiving parts also contributed." (3)

Nevertheless, residents were assured that the project would be completed by early 2022.

From this point, both the City and DIA fell silent for nearly two and a half years with no official updates on the fountain or the park given to taxpayers. The Spring 2022 opening came and went, as did Summer 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2022, Spring 2023, Summer 2023, and now Fall.

Inexplicably, the fountain itself has been upgraded, repaired, and operational for 19 months, and was being marketed by its designers as practically complete. You can see the restored fountain in action in Spring 2022 below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe4q9Ti5N88

All the while, a popular public space was chained off and barred from entry by the City. As someone who works mere blocks from Friendship Fountain and who spent many lunch breaks and early evenings enjoying the park, I can confirm that years have gone by with no evidence of any work at all being done at the park.

Finally, in early 2023, we received an update on the park. The grand opening would take place on Memorial Day weekend (May 29th).

Memorial Day came and went, with the Grand Opening once again pushed, this time to July 2023 (4).

Shortly before Memorial Day, Laura Phillips Edgecombe of Build Up Downtown reported that "it's only a matter of time until the fences come down." Edgecombe reported that the missed deadline was the result of delays receiving the audio equipment. "The fountain will project a 15 minute light show every night timed to music. Since it's all one system, they can't open the fountain until those speakers are in place. The new timeline is to have the water pumping by the middle of July. If it's going to be done, it needs to be done right," said Edgecombe.

We are now three months removed from another deadline, and no one (myself included, despite repeated efforts) has been able to get a straight answer as to what's actually going on with Friendship Park (4).

Meanwhile, we close in on four years that retired couples have been unable to take afternoon strolls through Friendship Park. Parents can't take their quickly growing children to enjoy this amenity. Nationally televised football games and events from Jacksonville have not been able to shoot Friendship Park, one of the city's most historic, scenic locations. Downtown workers (myself included) have lost a lunch spot anchoring the Main Street Bridge.

And no one from the City, DIA, or any other organization seems to be willing to raise their hand, accept accountability for the four-year closure, and update residents and taxpayers on progress at the site.

If there is any silver lining, it's that the park itself - from the way everyone is talking officially - is practically ready for its grand reopening. We simply need to install the final speakers, and the park will be ready for its ribbon cutting, and ready to be returned to its rightful owners - the citizens of Jacksonville.

Surely, Friendship Park will be worth the wait as soon as those final speakers are installed, and will be a tantalizing tease of what's to come along the rest of the riverfront. It will also be a victory lap for the DIA and City of Jacksonville, after years of doubters questioning their competence with riverfront redevelopment.

I really don't want to steal anyone's thunder or detract from the ribbon cutting that has to be coming any day now, but after nearly four years, it feels like the public deserves a sneak peak.

Photos after the break!

1 & 2. https://news.wjct.org/first-coast/2019-11-20/video-jacksonvilles-friendship-fountain-getting-6m-overhaul
3. https://news.wjct.org/first-coast/2021-04-15/one-year-late-renovation-to-begin-on-southbanks-friendship-fountain
4. https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/friendship-fountain-renovation-hits-snag-opening-pushed-back-july/77-3202ffa3-e7c7-4e6e-801a-f1fddd112064
5. https://www.reddit.com/r/jacksonville/comments/179aqo4/anyone_know_ifwhen_friendship_fountain_is/

[Ken_FSU]

Friendship Park October 2023 Photo Tour.

If you're as encouraged by the progress after four years as I am, don't hesitate to send the Mayor (https://www.coj.net/mayor/contact-us) or District 5's Councilman (https://www.coj.net/city-council/city-council-members/d05) a quick note about how great this project has gone! Or better yet, save your high-five for the grand opening, which is clearly just a couple of days and a few speaker wires away!

Sounds dramatic, but retired Southbank and San Marco residents are dying every day, and the sheer incompetence from all involved with projects like this these has stolen a wonderful quality of life amenity from these people for YEARS, with no urgency from leadership at all when it comes to giving it back to them. Just shameful.

[Charles Hunter]

With the news you reported of an imminent ribbon-cutting, I see the park designers have adopted the ever-so-popular theme from movies and TV of "post-apocalyptic devastation" as their theme for F[r]iendship Park.

[thelakelander]

It doesn't look like anyone has been out there in months. It's turning into a new lawn. What is the new eta? Its crazy that the Miller Electric Center was built in a quarter of the time.

[thelakelander]

Maybe we should have left the 2019 version alone.

[jcjohnpaint]

What in the hell did they even do?

[Ken_FSU]

With the news you reported of an imminent ribbon-cutting, I see the park designers have adopted the ever-so-popular theme from movies and TV of "post-apocalyptic devastation" as their theme for F[r]iendship Park.

Nobody in this city should be allowed to close or demolish anything within the urban core until its replacement is shovel ready. That's not how vibrancy happens. How many examples do we need? Friendship Park. River City Brewing. Ford on Bay. The Landing. The Greyhound Station. Captain Sandy's Restaurant. Kids Campus. Met Park. We just let anybody do whatever they want with a wrecking ball or park closure, even if they don't have a timeline for reopening, and leave the public to clean up the mess. Do we really think Related is asking for a $15 million cash grant for their tower if Friendship Park was reopened as a complete, destination space in 2021 as intended? No urgency. No accountability. Destroy now, fix whenever we feel like it.

[thelakelander]

^The lion's share of these demolished projects are public. That's pretty damning.

[Charles Hunter]

^The lion's share of these demolished projects are public. That's pretty damning.

Probably attributable to poor contract writing, with no, or unenforceable, penalties for non-performance. If contractors had a reasonable fear of being put on a 10-year no-bid list for such shenanigans, we would see projects completed on time and on budget.  It might make initial bids higher once contractors learn the city won't approve whatever change orders they submit, but we taxpayers will be better off in the long run.

[thelakelander]

Nobody in this city should be allowed to close or demolish anything within the urban core until its replacement is shovel ready. That's not how vibrancy happens. How many examples do we need? Friendship Park. River City Brewing. Ford on Bay. The Landing. The Greyhound Station. Captain Sandy's Restaurant. Kids Campus. Met Park. We just let anybody do whatever they want with a wrecking ball or park closure, even if they don't have a timeline for reopening, and leave the public to clean up the mess. Do we really think Related is asking for a $15 million cash grant for their tower if Friendship Park was reopened as a complete, destination space in 2021 as intended? No urgency. No accountability. Destroy now, fix whenever we feel like it.

The ones in bold were ideas that came out of city hall. All of these public assets were functional and utilized by the public. A few (i.e. the revamped Friendship Fountain and Kids Kampus, etc.) were barely 10 years of age....if that.

[CityLife]

Ken, great work putting that narrative and photo essay together. Is it possible that the space is in flux until plans for MOSH or the Related Group project are finalized? What is even happening with Mosh? The latest I can find is that they have only raised $16 million in private donations as of April 2023.

I know most people know this, but I just want to emphasize that Friendship Fountain is possibly THE iconic feature of downtown. When it was built it was the largest and tallest fountain in the world. This is where people went to take prom or wedding photos. Where people proposed to their spouses. Where you have the best view of downtown and many people have their best memories of downtown.

To me, the fountain has a lot of nostalgia associated with it. We would eat picnics there on school field trips downtown, play hide and seek there during MOSH summer camps or sleepovers, watch fireworks there, and hang out there during festivals. I know that many people that grew up in Jax feel the same way.

No other city in the United States would treat one of (if not it's most) iconic landmarks like this. I mean Jacksonville has torn down The Landing, has let Metro Park go to waste, and is now letting Friendship Fountain sit idle for years. Can anyone name one city that has done anything remotely similar?

It's time for Jacksonville residents to stop just blaming politicians and incompetent administrations for repeated failures and take some ownership. You guys are allowing a completely incompetent government to destroy the city, in a time when it has never been easier for Florida cities to thrive.   

[thelakelander]

^People recently took this stand at the ballot box. Lets give the Deegan administration a chance to deviate from previous administration priorities.

[jaxlongtimer]

I always liked Boyer on the City Council.  However, at DIA, despite any good intentions she may have, it is clear she is in over her head given DIA's track record during her term. 

Deegan may be handcuffed by the DIA board that I recall contracted Boyer to say on for at least one more year.  If Boyer doesn't gracefully and willingly offer to step aside, Deegan needs to begin working her out of this position and get someone more capable of improving infrastructure in a cost effective and timely manner that encourages good development, that doesn't cave to the whims of every developer that comes along with a pipe dream, that doesn't give out incentives like money growing on trees and reserves them for mainly historic preservation projects that contribute to what makes the City unique and that has the backbone to turn away bad developments that encroach on public spaces  and the river and are just plain and ugly architecturally.  All of this should be DIA 101 but we seem to have none of it.

Further, DIA should be opposing JTA's AV project tooth and nail as this is surely a Downtown killer/distraction.  That DIA won't speak out is another example of their inability to take charge of Downtown.

Anything "good" Downtown has been driven by private investors and most of it isn't good at all, just a project rubberstamped by DIA to say something is happening.  Unfortunately, we will not see these missed opportunities corrected within the lifetimes of most posters on the Jaxson.

Lastly, you can count on one hand who has truly benefitted from the largesse of DIA.  Not criticizing the developers who milk the cow but, rather, the dairy farmer who gives them all the milk and starves everyone else.

I wouldn't invest a penny in Downtown, if I were so inclined, without a change at the top of DIA

[fsu813]

^ Boyer will likely be there for 1-2 more years.

[CityLife]

^People recently took this stand at the ballot box. Lets give the Deegan administration a chance to deviate from previous administration priorities.

While the last administration was bad and is at fault for a lot of problems, Jacksonville's issues are much, much deeper than one administration, imo.

Many of the City Council members were in place during this (and other Curry debacles), are they up in arms about this (and other issues)? Why is poor KenFSU, who works a full time job having to do the job of the media and play investigative reporter here?