Jacksonville Development News

[Lakelander]

The project was first announced only a month ago. Since then, they've completely revised the entire project. I would assume they still have to draw up the architectural/engineering plans, apply for rezoning, get design DDA approval and city permitting, in addition to pre-selling at least half of the 840 residential units for financing. Since this year is almost over, summer 2007 to start construction on a project this massive sounds about right.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Lakelander

The project was first announced only a month ago. Since then, they've completely revised the entire project. I would assume they still have to draw up the architectural/engineering plans, apply for rezoning, get design DDA approval and city permitting, in addition to pre-selling at least half of the 840 residential units for financing. Since this year is almost over, summer 2007 to start construction on a project this massive sounds about right.

You know, I was confusing this project with the (San Marco Riverwalk ?) project on the Southbank, also a multi-tower project slated to begin much sooner.

[Jasonhouse]

Aren't there 3 major multi-tower projects percolating on the southbank? (I think one is u/c, without looking at the list)... That's great, though it will be a little bit odd if the southbank skyline rivals or even surpasses the DT proper skyline.

[Dale]

The Penninsula and The Strand (37 & 26st) u/c

San Marco Place (21st) u/c

Riverpointe (40st ?) announced...should hear something on this very soon

And i think San Marco Riverwalk has five towers ranging to 35st.

[Lakelander]

There are 4 multi-tower projects under construction or proposed for the Southbank

1. St. Johns Center (3 towers at 38,28 & 13 stories)
2. Riverpointe (2 towers at 40 stories each)
3. San Marco Riverwalk (1,500 units/6 towers at 35,35,35,30,28 & 9 stories)
4. Southside Generation Station (1,000 units/ no. of towers currently unknown)

Southbank projects currently under construction: (3 towers)

1.St. Johns Center:
a. The Peninsula - 38 stories
b. The Strand - 28 stories

2. San Marco Place - 21 stories

Breaking ground in spring/summer 2006

1. Riverpointe 1: 40 stories (renderings still haven't been released)
2. San Marco Riverwalk: 35 stories (first of 6 towers: 35,35,35,30,28,9 stories)
3. Kings Avenue Station: 8 stories (first downtown skyway TOD, by Jax transporation authority)

[Lakelander]

Pension Fund buys Center Theater lot for parking gargage
by J. Brooks Terry

Staff Writer

The Police and Fire Pension Fund is quickly becoming a major stakeholder in the downtown real estate market. The Fund, which already owns its headquarters on Adams Street as well as the land underneath three of the area’s oldest buildings, paid $1 million last month for the empty lot that for 87 years lay under the Center Theatre.

Fund administrator John Keane said plans are in the works to construct a parking garage there that would complement work to refurbish the currently dilapidated Bisbee, Marble Bank and Florida Life buildings.

Whether or not the proposed 700-space garage would have a first floor retail component remains unknown, he said.

Earlier this month Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said it might be time to reconsider making developers include retail options.

“We’ll wait to see what comes of that before we decide what we’ll do on the first floor,” Keane said. “But either way our plans for that site fit perfectly with our goals to bring those buildings back to life. If we could accomplish both at the same time, that would be nice.”

The buildings, also commonly referred to as the Laura Trio, were turned over to the Police and Fire Pension Fund by the City last year. Keane said about $150,000 has so far been spent on project architectural firm KBJ and also to make the buildings water-tight.

Realco Recycling, which has an $800,000 contract with the Fund, will be responsible for removing all hazardous materials including asbestos, lead paint and toxic mold in each of the buildings. The company is also being tasked with removing old furniture, fixtures and rotted plaster.

Fund assistant administrator Richard Cohee said in August that Realco should be finished within 120 days.

“By the end of this year or the beginning of next year we expect all three should be ready for rebuild,” he said,

That deadline could coincide with a previously agreed upon deadline with the City. Last year, the City Council stipulated that at the end of the year the Fund must present a clearly defined redevelopment plan. That plan would include a work schedule, a proposed future use and a financing option.

Cohee and Keane said that the cost of bringing the buildings up to code would be upwards of $19 million.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showst...Story_id=43797

[Lakelander]

Ex-Barnett Bank building sold for $4.95 million
Orlando developer plans to buy up to 9 Northbank buildings


Barnett Bank is the large old tower in background


Orlando developer Cameron Kuhn bought the former 18 story Barnett Bank building, 112 W. Adams St., Friday from 112 West Adams LP for $4.95 million, according to a news release.

The purchase is part of a larger downtown development plan that Kuhn is expected to present to city planners later this month.

Kuhn, who bought the SunTrust Tower at 76 S. Laura St. in late September for $37.5 million, said he plans to renovate the historic 18-story office building into a mix of residential and business uses. The building has been vacant for almost two years, he said. Details about the project are unclear, but Kuhn said the renovation will need financial help from the city.

In 2003, LB Jax Development LLC proposed to convert the building into hotel rooms, loft apartments, a bank branch office and a five-star restaurant. That project, then estimated to cost $25 million, has fallen through. Representatives from LB Jax could not be reached Friday evening for comment.
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Kuhn buys 23 story tower & adjacent vacant lot



quote from an Orlando Sentinel Article

Developer Cameron Kuhn, whose downtown Orlando projects include the giant Premiere Trade Plaza, has bought the 23-story SunTrust Tower in downtown Jacksonville for $37 million as part of an expansion move.

"This is the first one,'' Kuhn said Tuesday. "I have several others under contract."

The developer said he may buy as many as nine buildings in downtown Jacksonville for office and residential condos and retail development.

He has renamed the property River Watch at City Centre. Capital Partners Inc., an Orlando-based investment company, sold the tower.

Kuhn said downtown Jacksonville, like Orlando, is undergoing great change. "We want to be part of that," he said.

[Lakelander]

[size]Vacant E.H. Thompson Building to renovated into lofts[/size]

The long vacant E.H. Thompson Building, on the corner of Main & Orange Streets, will be renovated into a 25 unit loft project with street retail. The lofts will range from 850-1100sf and be priced at $300-$400k. The building's 60's era stucco facade will be taken down to restored to its original 1912 brick facade.

http://urbanjacksonville.blogspot.com/

original facade

[Sunstorm]

This is all very exciting news! The old Barnett building is too pretty and historic to just sit empty. It's very smart of Kuhn to be buying up all of this property downtown while its still cheap. Hopefully he has big plans and is successful with whatever he does with the property, and maintains the historical integrity of the older buildings he purchases.

[Lakelander]

well now that I've lost my moderator status over at UP, I guess I can feed information to this thread on a more regular basis.

Condos, retail part of Avondale plan
17 story tower/216 residential units proposed

This must be the project that was mentioned as a rumor on here a couple of weeks ago. Michael Balanky and a New York developer are teaming together for a project called St. Johns Village Center. Estimated to cost $200 million the project will involve tearing down an existing 17 story tower and strip shopping center and replacing it with a new 17 story tower, 20,000sf of retail with lofts above, boat slips on Fishweir Creek and total of 216 condos. Construction is at least a year away.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stor..._20094517.shtml

[Viper]

Don't worry Lake, you've replaced mod status with admin status....just not at UP


So much news to cach up on, I'm not even sure where to begin.


Biggest issues are the Courthouse fiasco is finally being dealth with. Peyton is scrapping everything and starting over.
http://e-mpire.com/urban/index.php?showtopic=76


Main Library Grand Opening
http://e-mpire.com/urban/index.php?showtopic=56


Landing Redevelopment
http://e-mpire.com/urban/index.php?showtopic=21


St. Johns Village Center, old Commander Apartments site redevelopment
http://e-mpire.com/urban/index.php?showtopic=60

[Lakelander]

By ALISON TRINIDAD
The Times-Union

Construction of the13-story Riverside Avenue Partners office building has begun at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Forest Street.

Cost of construction is estimated at $28 million, according to a city building permit paid for on Nov. 1.

The project, which received approval from the city's downtown Design Review Committee in February, will total 518,474 square feet. Plans show 227,000 square feet of office and retail space, and about 600 parking spaces.

Offices will be on the top eight floors of the building, with storefronts on the ground floor. Parking is spread across five levels below the offices and in another five-story garage attached to the building.

The roughly 2 acre site is just north of the 18-acre Fidelity National Financial campus, where construction of a new eight-story office building also is under way. Fred Parvey, who handles corporate real estate and construction for Fidelity, said the company hopes to begin moving its employees into that second office building by May 2006.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stor..._20275828.shtml

[the_1_and_only_cuban]

The new library freakin rocks!!!

I was there on the Grand Opening Day and for all the guided tour and all that stuff and its awesome. It has a New York sophistication or Chicago fancy type of ambience to it. Everyone I talked to could'nt help but say the same thing; "It's so not Jacksonville". It was more of a testament to the progress Jacksonville has made than an insult (most of these people were Jacksonvillians dating back to the days of toll booths and "the smell"), trust me; you'll probably say the same thing.

And with JMOMA right next to it, and City Hall and Federal Courthouse already there and the potential City Hall annex moving there, Jacksonville is really taking advantage of a real hub..

On another note, those Lerner lofts are really taking a long time, they must be working on something really special there. Is there any retail gonna be at the Lerner Lofts? We first heard something about The Loop Pizza and Grill opening one there but that was so long ago... It's good to see Carlington is up and running, it looks great. I saw the retail spaces in the front had coming soon signs with the specific businesses on there, that's great to see their rushing to get retail in there. One dissapointment is the parking lot. It was suppossed to have retail bays in the front according to the new City Council regulations, the city was totally gypped on that one. What a waste of prime property. And its right next to another huge ugly parking lot!!

[Lakelander]

Originally Posted by the_1_and_only_cuban

On another note, those Lerner lofts are really taking a long time, they must be working on something really special there. Is there any retail gonna be at the Lerner Lofts? We first heard something about The Loop Pizza and Grill opening one there but that was so long ago...

As far as I know, The Loop is still supposed to take the entire bottom floor. However, it seems like the developer maybe having financing problems. I wouldn't be suprised if this is one of the 9 or so buildings that developer Cameron Kuhn is supposed to be taking over.

It's good to see Carlington is up and running, it looks great. I saw the retail spaces in the front had coming soon signs with the specific businesses on there, that's great to see their rushing to get retail in there. One dissapointment is the parking lot. It was suppossed to have retail bays in the front according to the new City Council regulations, the city was totally gypped on that one. What a waste of prime property. And its right next to another huge ugly parking lot!!

The Carling's parking garage is designed for street level retail, but they've been allowed to use it for parking until the market grows to accomodate street retail on a secondary street, such as Monroe St.

[the_1_and_only_cuban]

There is a fire at the old Barnett Bank building, the one Cameron Kuhn of Orlando fame recently purchased. I wonder how bad it will affect his redevelopment efforts and timeline.. or maybe if it will help it??

[Lakelander]

Evidently, construction, or the interior demolition phase, has already begun. There's a good chance this fire had something to do with it. Hopefully it didn't harm the building's structure.

[Lakelander]

Old Barnett building catches fire; renovation plans still on track


The Barnett Tower

A historic Downtown building recently bought by an Orlando developer caught fire Monday morning, but the renovation of the old Barnett Bank building should remain on schedule.

About 60 Jacksonville firefighters responded to the fire at 118 W. Adams St.

The building was bought in October for $4.95 million by Kuhn Development, an Orlando development company led by CEO Cameron Kuhn. The 18-story building was built in the 1920s.

Kuhn plans to spend about $16 million to renovate the property and convert it into lofts and first-floor office condominiums.

Workers began renovating the building earlier this month and still plan to complete the project in 14 months.

In an email message, Kuhn said the fire probably caused almost no damage.

"Being that we are gutting the entire building it will have zero impact," Kuhn said.

The two-alarm fire started on the 14th floor of the building as workers were removing asbestos from the building as part of its renovation, according to The Business Journal's news partner, Fox 30 News.

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jackso.../28/daily5.html

[the_1_and_only_cuban]

That's good to hear.

Well, it's been a busy week for downtown.. Here's more news.

- A new club is opening at the Landing. The club, called Deep Blue, will open next month in the space above what used to be The South End Brewery. It is described as "walking into a lava lamp"

- Atkins terminated their plans for the old Haydon Burns library. The city is ready to begin negotations with Peterbrooke Chocalitier, whose bid won second place back in May. From soundbites and quotes, it sounds like Peterbrooke will have to assess where they stand production wise because it appears they have streamlined their manufacturing to replace the need for a large manufacturing center.

I'll try to post both articles later on if I can, its just that I don't have a subscription to the Florida Times-Union site.. Another note: the ACC Championship is this weekend at Alltell Stadium so downtown looks to be packed. It'll be interesting to see if the whole thing goes smooth because Jax has the ACC championship for two years and an option to extend it longer. I'm hoping to make it up there for the Gator Bowl if Miami gets invited. Should be fun.

[Sunstorm]

It's good the Landing is getting a club. When the Landing was first built, it tried to be retail, but it seems now that the best use for it is as an entertainment center.

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by Sunstorm

It's good the Landing is getting a club. When the Landing was first built, it tried to be retail, but it seems now that the best use for it is as an entertainment center.

I love the landing.Hooters and the just whole thing is great.