Jacksonville: LandMar launches Shipyards plan

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The downtown pier would also feature a waterfall, grassy areas and trees.

Jacksonville's LandMar Group LLC unveiled a rendering of an arch with a 100-foot-high mast that would be at the end of a 680-foot existing pier on the St. Johns River as part of the public portion of LandMar's redevelopment plans for the downtown Shipyards project. The pier would also feature a waterfall, grassy areas and trees. LandMar President and

Chief Executive Officer Ed Burr said Wednesday that the pier would be "a place where the people of Jacksonville could get on the river, not just along the river." The plan calls for a circular public park along the river near the mouth of Hogan's Creek with a theme inspired by a Timuquan Indian village. LandMar is scheduled to present its Shipyards plans at today's Jacksonville Economic Development Commission meeting. The pier project is expected to cost $3.5 million.

Christopher Calnan/The Times-Union

This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/031005/bus_18175976.shtml.

by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer

The LandMar Group has yet to assume the rights to continue work on development at The Shipyards but, if their visions for the large riverfront property come to fruition, the public will get riverfront access and a signature design as well.

As part of the pending, multi-million dollar development which stretches from downtown almost to the stadium, LandMar has agreed to renovate an existing 680-foot pier and highlight it with a structure that reaches 100 feet high.

It’s on the western end of the property, not far from Berkman Plaza and almost directly across from the Police Memorial Building.

The pier not only will be a standout feature for the massive housing, commercial and retail project, “it will be a downtown icon,” said architect Jack Diamond of Rink Designs Partnership.
“We’re very proud,” LandMar President and CEO Ed Burr said Wednesday. “We worked in a very collaborative manner with our architects on this and we believe the design with which we plan to move forward greatly reflects Jacksonville’s rich heritage.”

Six months and 25 drafts in the making, Burr and Diamond say the two-level design, which resembles an oversized, skeletal ocean liner, will display Jacksonville’s longstanding military and ship building industry ties.
During World War II, the Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock Company built Liberty Ships for the Navy on the site.

“When we were searching for ideas and images, we kept coming back to the idea of ships and the water,” Burr said. “If you look closely, you’ll notice that the pier looks very much like a ship being built.”
The City’s new branding slogan, “Jacksonville, Where Florida Begins,” also provided some inspiration, Diamond said.

“What we tried to do was focus heavily on Florida symbolism, the idea of it being a gateway into something beautiful,” Diamond said. “When you’re working on something like this that highlights both the St. Johns River and the Riverwalk, public access is absolutely key.”

It’s that access that Burr said should make the pier an easy sell to the City’s Design Review Committee and, more importantly, the public.
“I’d be surprised, even disappointed, if people we unhappy with our design,” Burr said. “We think it’s really beautiful and can add so much to an already up and coming area.”

That approval and obtaining the necessary building permits would make a ground breaking at least six months away.

nice design.
I like the "public green" aspect of it.
This will be connected to the riverwalk i assume?

It will be connected to a new extension of the riverfront. LandMar will also be adding up to possibly 600-800 high-rise residential units, retail and commercial space on the former 25 acre shipyard site, as well. If all goes planned, they'll announce the rest of their plans later this month or early next month.

That's pretty interesting, but what is the point of a bridge being built on top of a pier? Shouldn't they have one or the other? It looks redundant and just kinda odd.


Aha, I see....
Six months and 25 drafts in the making, Burr and Diamond say the two-level design, which resembles an oversized, skeletal ocean liner, will display Jacksonville’s longstanding military and ship building industry ties.

They overdesigned the hell out of this thing.

I don't think its a bridge, its just a giant sculpture. But who knows? Anyway here's more news concerning the development. It seems LandMar now wants to cram 1,000 residential units on this 25 acre site. That's a big jump from the original 662 planned by Tri-legacy.

JEDC OKs LandMar's plan for Shipyards

A proposed agreement between LandMar Group LLC and the city for development of the Shipyards waterfront property Downtown got its first stamp of approval Thursday from the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.

JEDC commissioners spent more than 90 minutes discussing the proposed development agreement, which calls for LandMar to reinvest $22.5 million in riverfront public improvements and begin making $3.5 million in annual debt service payments on $46.7 million of bonds previously issued for the stalled project.

LandMar was asked to develop the site after the city reached a settlement agreement in August with the original developer, TriLegacy Group LLC. The city has alleged that TriLegacy spent $22.5 million of $36.5 million the company drew down from the bond amount on expenses other than "allowable public improvements."

Among the questions JEDC commissioners raised before unanimously agreeing to send the draft document to City Council for final approval before the April 30 deadline were:

• Whether or not the provisions might hinder other projects within the city's Downtown Development of Regional Impact order if LandMar is later allowed to build up to 1,000 more residential units based on market demand.
• If an appraisal of the property due within the next two weeks might prompt the city to sell the property for a higher price than its development agreement with LandMar calls for.

• If the city can afford to provide additional parking for the public portion of the development, if both parties agree there isn't enough public parking available.

The JEDC gave its approval to the agreement one day after LandMar unveiled plans to spend $27.5 million on the public improvement portion of the Shipyards, which will include access to the Riverwalk at five different points and improvements to the existing 680-foot pier that call for 100-foot high archways and a waterfall.

It's not a bridge, but it looks like one. It's nice, but kinda odd looking to me for some reason. I certainly wouldn't complain if they were building it here. I tell you what though, that pier would be a sweet place for one of those huge ferris wheel things, or maybe some sort of moderately sized observation deck.

That's cool about the residential units. Living on the river there would be nice.

I hope they cram as many residential units into the site as possible. I also hope that they reserve the base levels for some street level commercial along Bay Street to extend the Town Center. Some substantial downtown residential on the north bank is MUCH needed to revitalize downtown. I'm ecstatic to see it finally happening.

The pier idea is beautiful. I think it represents Jax's history really well and gives us a landmark to admire without overpowering the surroundings.

We need to give LandMar a kick in the rear to get them throwing up some skyline. :)

I think LandMar will attempt to cram as many units as they can on that site. Personally, I'd like to see one of the decommissioned battleships, at Mayport, be docked at the Shipyards or Metropolitan Park, next door for a Floating Maritime Museum.