Jacksonville Development News

[Lakelander]

Some pics from January 2012:

Baptist Medical Center:





1534 Oak Street:

[Lakelander]

Another major employer is moving their suburban workers back downtown:

Another sign to identify the Southbank campus of Baptist Health System was approved Thursday by the Downtown Development Review Board of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
It also is a sign that Downtown business is on the upswing.

The request was made because Baptist Health System is consolidating its corporate and administrative staff from the suburbs into 80,000 square feet of space in the Aetna Building.

Audrey Moran, vice president for Social Responsibility and Consumer Advocacy, said that with 8,200 employees, Baptist Health is Jacksonville’s largest private employer.

She said the relocation of corporate staff into the Aetna Building, which is at the Baptist Medical Center Downtown complex, means that more than half of the Baptist Health workforce is at the Southbank campus. That includes the medical staff at the Baptist Medical Center Downtown.

“Baptist Health is an advocate for Downtown development,” she said. “Baptist Health is bringing people Downtown.”

South Shore Group, which owns and manages the landmark structure at 841 Prudential Drive, requested a deviation to a permit for an increase in allowable high-rise building sign area and multiple building signs.

It was noted in the application that the building is at a pivotal location on the St. Johns River where the river makes an extreme turn southward.

South Shore requested two additional building identification signs, on the east and west faces of the building, which exceeded the allowable 400 square feet per sign.

Baptist Health is relocating business office operations to the Aetna Building as a major corporate tenant. Aetna occupies 178,000 square feet in the building.

Betsy Reichert, vice president of property management for South Shore Group, said Aetna’s lease agreement allows signage for another tenant leasing at least 50,000 square feet in the building.

The new signs are intended to differentiate the Baptist Health business operations in the Aetna building from the medical health care facilities on the adjacent properties.

The building opened in 1955 as the regional headquarters of Prudential Insurance Co. At 22 stories, or 309 feet, in height, it was at the time the tallest building in the Southeast.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/downto...ate=2012-02-03

[Lakelander]

The announcement of 220 Riverside on the edge of downtown also came out in January.

Located on one of the most beautiful streets along the St. Johns River in Northeast Florida, 220 Riverside will include a 280-unit upscale apartment community with structured parking and luxurious common areas. 220 Riverside sits on a two-acre site, approximately one mile southwest of Jacksonville’s Central Business District in the Brooklyn District of Downtown, adjacent to the eclectic 5 Points neighborhood in Riverside. Riverside and Riverside Avenue are populated with a mix of residential, corporate headquarters and neighborhood retail components. Including the nearby CBD, there are more than 50,000 employees within a 1.5 mile radius of the site, with over 6,400 employees within three blocks.

220 Riverside will directly front the new $7.5 million Unity Plaza park and amphitheater. The majority of the units will have river, park, or courtyard views. The development will also feature retail stores and restaurants on the first floor of the project front Unity Plaza and Riverside Avenue. Other posh amenities featured at 220 Riverside will include a fitness center, active club room, internet cafe, and a rooftop courtyard with a resort-style pool, outdoor kitchen and seating niches overlooking the St. Johns River.

[hpal3]

Glad to see that downtown is back on the upswing..

[hpal3]

Question for Jax Forumers. Has there ever been talk of an upgraded boardwalk at Jax Beach? I realize that Jax Beach will probably not ever have anything on the scale of Ocean City, MD, Atlantic City, NJ or Seaside Heights, NJ. Any thoughts??? I would love to see a boardwalk atleast 6 to 8 blocks long with stores and bars/restraunts.

[Sunstorm]

I was just taking a look at all of the restorations going on in Jax. What a great thing to see happening! Although I think its nice to see some new stuff occasionally, I'm even happier to see great old buildings getting renewed and reused. It's the old buildings that have seen so much local history and that people identify the city with. Plus, they usually have so much more character. I haven't been downtown in several months, and that wasn't under the best of circumstances (a loved one was hospitallized at Shands, but they're doing great now), so I wasn't able to do any sightseeing on my way each day in and out of town. That's what makes it nice coming here and seeing what's going on.

[Lakelander]

Originally Posted by hpal3

Question for Jax Forumers. Has there ever been talk of an upgraded boardwalk at Jax Beach? I realize that Jax Beach will probably not ever have anything on the scale of Ocean City, MD, Atlantic City, NJ or Seaside Heights, NJ. Any thoughts??? I would love to see a boardwalk atleast 6 to 8 blocks long with stores and bars/restraunts.

I'd love to see the seawalk expanded with some well placed infill. The existing seawalk is roughly 8 blocks. It has about three continuous blocks of stores/restaurants/bars and hotel/restaurant/bars at its north and south endpoints. However, those are broken up by a block long surface parking lot for the pier and an amphitheater. Here are a few pics from last year.

[Endeavor305]

Those of you in Florida opposed to the racket that is Traffic Violation Cameras, please sign the following petition for removal of cameras...

http://www.change.org/petitions/stat...ation-cameras#

[mariekitty]

EXITOS EN EL PROYECTO.

[Lakelander]

Some random updates with what has been going on in Jax:

Black Sheep Restaurant in Riverside's Five Points is now complete





Everbank has relocated 2,000 employees from the suburbs to Everbank Center (formerly the AT&T Tower)



Downtown's Baptist Medical Center's new tower is pretty much complete.



220 Riverside should be breaking ground before the end of the year.








Riverside Park, next door to 220 Riverside will be going up soon as well.





Lots of fuss about Riverside Park's site plan locally. They ended up adding two story carriage homes along the border to give it an urban street edge on the perimeter (see top of image below). They just announced their second phase today. It's a 60,000sf shopping center that will be anchored by a Fresh Market. It's sure to start another fight since this is essentially a downtown site.



220 Riverside and Riverside Park will add about 600 multifamily units, 70,000 square feet of retail and a "central park" (really an urban plaza) on the vacant blocks shown in the center of this image below, just south of the skyway's maintenance yard. It remains to be seen if JTA will follow through with their plan to extend the skyway down this corridor (FDOT gave them ROW to extend to these developments).



Another fight taking place on the Parador garage project. Downtown advocates fought this concept and they returned with a modified structure.

Original


Revised


Most would rather this project go away and the site remain a surface lot but it appears the City may be trying to use this project as leverage to attract another major company with a significant suburban Jax presence to relocate to a tower next door.

[Lakelander]

220 Riverside broke ground today. Construction is expected to take 20 months, with a completion date around August 2014.

[Lakelander]

Also, San Marco Square is getting an actual "public square." An existing traffic signal will be removed and rebuilt as a large traffic circle. Construction is anticipated to be underway in early 2013.

Existing Intersection



Modified Public Square Concept

[Hia-leah JDM]

There are 2 or 3 midrises going up around the town center. I'm not sure but they look like residential buildings. While you're driving on Butler it looks pretty impressive.

[FLAWDA-FELLA]

I was just over that way a couple of weeks ago and I do believe they are going to be some condos/townhomes. Btw, I was wondering why IKEA hasn't entered into the Jax market yet because the SJTC would be a perfect location?

[Lakelander]

IKEA wants markets that have roughly 2 million residents. Jax hasn't hit 1.4 million yet.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonvi...ksonville.html

The stuff going up in the SJTC parking lots are two luxury apartment developments. They'll soon be joined by a Nordstroms.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2...ns-town-center

The Uptown At St. Johns



http://www.liveattheuptown.com/amenities/



5000 Town Center



http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonvi...-st-johns.html

[Dale]

It's not a real city unless it has an IKEA!

[Lakelander]

I'm sure New Orleans, Nashville, Milwaukee, and Cleveland would disagree, lol.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Lakelander

I'm sure New Orleans, Nashville, Milwaukee, and Cleveland would disagree, lol.

Jax should aspire to be another Cleveland!

[Lakelander]

Urban Cleveland isn't so bad. I'd take a University Circle, Little Italy, or that rail system they have and import them to Florida in a heartbeat. Seriously, Cleveland's urban core has some assets that blow away anything in urban Florida outside of parts of Miami.

[Dale]

I hear you. I'm just poking fun at IKEA-worship. It's similar to Apple Store-worship.