Suburban Jacksonville: Cecil Commerce Center

[thelakelander]

The rail ROW has been preserved to rebuild the spur on the land north of Normandy Blvd.  However, if someone could find a way to get that line down to the runways, it would enhance Cecil as an air cargo site.  Here is an air-to-rail cargo yard at Hunstville, AL's airport.

[ChriswUfGator]

Damn! Ock and Lake, that's helluva good idea you got there.

[stjr]

Cecil Commerce Center Parkway.  CCCP?  

Good catch, Dr.  But I'm not sure how many readers got your joke.  For those on the outside, our former bastion of national defense and, now, American capitalism has its main road bearing the Russian acronym for that great advocate of communism, the USSR!  Way to go, marketing guys!!!  

From Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union ):

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the Russian:  Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (help·info), tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union,[1] from Советский Союз, Sovetskiy Soyuz. A soviet is a council, the theoretical basis for the socialist society of the USSR.

Maybe the entrance could be adorned with this sculpture to reflect the shortened name!:

[Ocklawaha]

The Huntsville Facility has been one of the leading Bulk Transfer / Intermodal Centers in America, and they started from less then we already have. This is why it's so important to get neutral shortline or terminal company switching, with a choice of trunkline railroads to destination, at our Port and Cecil. The shipper will only get one bill and the advantage of the shortline is they are hungry for business and very proactive in keeping a standard of excellence. This really comes into play when a shipper with a double cargo door or unloading dock gets 12 rail cars in all at once. Only one car is lined up with the door so the shipper MUST call CSX or whoever for a switch move. This comes with a fee. Good luck on getting it done quickly. The reality is, the shortline is there for you every time and on time. Just don't make them captives of one trunkline like we've done at most of the port.

Lake, getting the track around to the aircraft aprons should be easier then building another of those giant parkways. There are specialty companies that build and operate these centers for profit, we'd be crazy not to go after them.

OCKLAWAHA

[heights unknown]

From the looks of these photos, if I went driving around the Commerce Center, I wouldn't recognize it.  I was stationed at NAS Cecil Field in 1975, 76, 77, 78, 86, 87, 88, 92, 93 and 94. I clearly remember how the old base was situated with the buildings, barracks, hangars, etc. I also notice that some of the old hangars, from the looks of the photos I believe, are from the VA and VFA squadrons.  Also noticed some of the old enlisted housing are also still out there; wonder are there families actually living in them or maybe they are office space?

Brings back old memories; next time I'm in Jax I must go out to the Commerce Center and look around.  Is it easy to access without security, etc.?

Heights Unknown

[CMG22]

Air Kaman/Signature FBO and Air One FBO are gone, replaced by the Jacksonville JetPort (also a Fixed Based Operator or FBO).  Symphony is gone, too.

I wish I knew someone was coming out.  I might have been able to help...

For Cecil, JAA seems to be going after the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market.

A preserve?  That land is so littered and contaminated.  Animals would probably rather live in those recently closed Villager Apartments in Arlington...

Also, no mention of the spaceport?

[civil42806]

Air Kaman/Signature FBO and Air One FBO are gone, replaced by the Jacksonville JetPort (also a Fixed Based Operator or FBO).  Symphony is gone, too.

I wish I knew someone was coming out.  I might have been able to help...

For Cecil, JAA seems to be going after the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market.

A preserve?  That land is so littered and contaminated.  Animals would probably rather live in those recently closed Villager Apartments in Arlington...

Also, no mention of the spaceport?

Actually, quite a bit of wildlife at Cecil, have seen red foxes and there kits there, lots of deer, red tails, and saw a huge turtle there.  thats just in the area of the air field.  Suspect there is a lot in the more remote areas.  Animals really don't care about litter.  There is no spaceport.

[CMG22]

Trust me, I manage the wildlife program at the airport.  It was said in jest.  I know how many animals are out here--it doesn't make them particularly healthy.  I know I wouldn't eat anything that is hunted out here.  I simply think that one would like a preserve to be slightly more prestine, and not necessarily littered with unexploded ordinance, nor any radioactive materials that may or may not have been leaked at the Yellow Water site.

Correct, there is no spaceport.  But it is definitely in the works...  The environmental study came back as a virtual green light from that end.  The airspace corridor has been discussed.  Hopefully, things will come together.

[urbanlibertarian]

The post office at CCC will probably be closing this summer.  The retail and PO Box operations would be consolidated into another post office in the area, perhaps Murray Hill.  USPS is conducting a public discussion meeting July 7 6pm at the West Regional library on Chaffee Rd.

[macbeth25]

I probably really have my head above the clouds but think about this.  Las Vegas is home to many casinos.  What if Jacksonville's Cecil Field could be turned into a space port utilizing horizontal launches and the ships go to a space casino or space hotel? 
Don’t shake your head and say “No, that's impossible.”  This is an “article of faith” with me: Most, if not all, Science Fiction becomes Science Fact. 
I sure wish I could figure out how to get in on that kind of development. I keep remembering that Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon managed to locate his launch point for in Florida, not far from the Cape. 
An interesting point:  Since the casino or hotel itself would be located at the L-5 Obit, it would be beyond any city, state or National jurisdiction â€" but, if the port were in Jacksonville, the city might benefit mightily just from its being located here.  Anybody know who I could contact regarding this.  Someone may have suggested possible contacts in a previous post elsewhere but I’m not used to finding things in metrojacksonville.com .  Also, I woke up a few minutes ago with an urge to say this and it’s awfully early for me.  Just think what kind of story that would be.
Just think about investing in such a program.  The sky would only begin the limit because it could, conceivably, reach beyond the stars and Jacksonville could be just the beginning.

[Jason]

I'm with you on that one Macbeth.  There have been some discussions on the proposed spaceport to be spearheaded by Virgin Galactic.  Mainly intended for tourism type trips it could also act as a commercial port for the launce of satellites, supplies for the spacestation, and experimental equipment.

I would think that there would be a descent amount of supporting companies that would want to locate nearby the spaceport bringing with them highpaying jobs.  Not to mention those that are financially able to take a private flight through space would surely be staying in our hotels and enjoying our city.

[Jason]

Here is some old info on the spaceport proposal and discussions over at MetJax.com.

http://www.metjax.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5868&highlight=virgin

I think the the eventual frequency of commercial launches will warrant multiple stations. Jax has a leg up on many others because of its vicinity to the Kennedy Space Center, IMO. Note also that these launches are done by a large plane "piggy-backing" the smaller launch vehicle from a runway. After a certain altitude is reached, then the spaceship is released and fires off into space. These aren't rockets.



Here is Virgin Galactic's Spaceship One