Will DCPS's move waste a golden opportunity?

[thelakelander]

Done right, moving the Duval County Public Schools headquarters off the Southbank waterfront could be a boon for both the district and Jacksonville taxpayers. However, the School Board may abandon Downtown entirely for expensive digs in Baymeadows — which would deal a blow to taxpayers and to Downtown's vibrancy. Is the move putting politics above fiscal responsibility?

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/will-dcpss-move-waste-a-golden-opportunity/

[CityLife]

Well said. The Fleet Landing deal could be a good one, but only if DCPS stays Downtown. There has to be a better solution than Baymeadows. Especially with the current office vacancy issues Downtown.

BTW, I just did a google maps search to see how far a drive the Baymeadows building is from the current DCPS. Due to traffic (at 8:24 on a Tuesday) it's a 39 minute drive with traffic being diverted to St. Augustine Road and US-1 because of an accident on 95. It's 45 minutes on 95. While I'm sure there are issues with traffic getting into downtown, there will be serious accessibility and traffic issues getting to the Baymeadows location for anyone not living in Mandarin, SJC, or parts of the Southside.

[acme54321]

Well said. The Fleet Landing deal could be a good one, but only if DCPS stays Downtown. There has to be a better solution than Baymeadows. Especially with the current office vacancy issues Downtown.

BTW, I just did a google maps search to see how far a drive the Baymeadows building is from the current DCPS. Due to traffic (at 8:24 on a Tuesday) it's a 39 minute drive with traffic being diverted to St. Augustine Road and US-1 because of an accident on 95. It's 45 minutes on 95. While I'm sure there are issues with traffic getting into downtown, there will be serious accessibility and traffic issues getting to the Baymeadows location for anyone not living in Mandarin, SJC, or parts of the Southside.

LOL, I-95 has been shut down for like 4 hours this morning, hardly normal traffic.  If you are going to try to argue the difference in drive times at least be rational about it.

[CityLife]

Well said. The Fleet Landing deal could be a good one, but only if DCPS stays Downtown. There has to be a better solution than Baymeadows. Especially with the current office vacancy issues Downtown.

BTW, I just did a google maps search to see how far a drive the Baymeadows building is from the current DCPS. Due to traffic (at 8:24 on a Tuesday) it's a 39 minute drive with traffic being diverted to St. Augustine Road and US-1 because of an accident on 95. It's 45 minutes on 95. While I'm sure there are issues with traffic getting into downtown, there will be serious accessibility and traffic issues getting to the Baymeadows location for anyone not living in Mandarin, SJC, or parts of the Southside.

LOL, I-95 has been shut down for like 4 hours this morning, hardly normal traffic.  If you are going to try to argue the difference in drive times at least be rational about it.

I clearly noted that it is because of an accident and that there are also traffic issues coming into downtown. Arguing that moving DCPS to Baymeadows doesn't create accessibility and traffic issues for large portions of Duval County is actually the irrational argument.

[thelakelander]

I-95 routinely backs up during rush hour and it will get worse as I-95 gets widened between downtown and World Golf Village over the next decade. During the summer, when school is out and its not raining, it flows fine. But overally, that stretch between downtown and Baymeadows sucks and when traffic gets really bad, you're basically stuck because Philips is the only logical alternative.......for every driver seeking an alternative.

[jaxlongtimer]

I-96, I-10 and I-295 should be renamed "Accident Alley" #1, #2, and #3.  Unless I have at least 45 minutes to get somewhere, I take the local alternatives.  The most reliable part of the interstates is they are very likely to host accidents.  And, it isn't easy to get off once stuck.

People drive aggressively at high speeds, not defensively or taking into account the volume of traffic sharing the road with them.  No lane changing signals with abrupt changes by impatient drivers, lacking distance between cars at the speeds of travel, driving too fast for conditions... it all adds up to the many accidents one sees along the way.

[Todd_Parker]

Will the loss of the current DCPS really make that much of a difference to downtown vibrancy? The building had its own cafeteria with reasonably priced offerings so I'm guessing most employees just went there instead of venturing out to support downtown/nearby restaurants.

Another residential-type building might make more sense in that spot if you're looking to add to the population of individuals more inclined to make use of downtown amenities.

[thelakelander]

I'm in the camp of things being in addition to, as opposed to an either or situation when it comes to downtown revitalization. So we should keep 900 workers in downtown and add more residents. I've also worked of my career in office buildings that have had an in-house dining option, including a few office towers in the Northbank. I spent money at several businesses routinely for a bunch of things. Morning coffee at coffeehouse and delis, trips to UPS, FedEx, 7-Eleven, various restaurants for lunch (sometimes at the in-house option), afterwork happy hours, dinners, etc. When I was an In-House consultant for FDOT in DeLand, we went out for lunch and happy hour at various places on a regular basis despite having a local bbq business in the cafeteria. When that contract ended and there was no reason for me to be in DeLand, I stopped frequenting the businesses there too. Take 900 employees from the Southbank, will result in a similar situation with many of the employees and businesses they support. The only way to replace that is to then recruit (give more incentives) for the next thing to replace the negative lost. At some point, we need to maintain and add to what we already have.

[jaxlongtimer]

I know someone who just lost an employee due to travel times from the burbs to the Downtown area.  Second one this year.  This leads me to believe the travel times between Downtown and the burbs is becoming a serious issue for recruiting jobs to Downtown.

As noted, the interstates are jammed and subject to regular accident delays.  Especially since COVID and work-at-home scenarios, it seems workers are not as willing to spend 45+ minutes each way commuting to work.

This just adds the importance of speedy mass transit (commuter rail?!) to advance Downtown as a site for workers.  Jax is way behind on this.  Further adding to the waste is U2C, relying on an old workforce model for Downtown.  As noted on this site, we, as usual, are chasing the wrong solutions for our times.

[thelakelander]

JTA will need a leadership overhaul taking place before a serious discussion about commuter rail can happen. Also, a good commuter rail line on the FEC would benefit Baymeadows, Southpoint, etc., just as much as it would downtown.

[Fallen Buckeye]

Will the loss of the current DCPS really make that much of a difference to downtown vibrancy? The building had its own cafeteria with reasonably priced offerings so I'm guessing most employees just went there instead of venturing out to support downtown/nearby restaurants.

Another residential-type building might make more sense in that spot if you're looking to add to the population of individuals more inclined to make use of downtown amenities.

When I worked for DCPS, we always hit up Tidbits anytime we had to come to HQ. It's not even just the 900 in the building that made an impact, but it's the thousands who had to come in for xyz reason. Seems like pennywise, pound foolish move to me.