Jacksonville P&C Discussion Thread

[wolfdawg54]

Six years is a long time but hopefully the finished product will be very nice. I am sure that there will be a lot of heartache along the way though with all of the congestion in that area.

[JaxNole]

I have been looking forward to this project for years. Having been bused to my school downtown from 1989-1995, I wondered many times how traffic could be improved if only the interchange went through a redesign. I'd try to simulate the effects of having approaches with dedicated lanes to ultimate points north and south (e.g., the Roosevelt connector through the 10-95 split) at each choke point. Morning traffic on 10E (due for westbound and eastbound expansion) builds almost to near 295. Crazy!

Jacksonville is used to driving on either crowded paved roads or roads undergoing improvements while having detour routes introduced every 11.53 days. The Buckman was scary, even before widening began. The 95-295 interchange arouses anxiety in some because of the multitude of concrete barriers, new detours and lane shifts and the novelty of northbound lanes exiting right and southbound lanes exiting left instead of the opposite. SR 9A

[Urban_Legend]

Way back when, in the mornings, I would ride from Argyle to Darnell Cookman Middle School (8th & I-95). It was awful. Mind you, this was even before the new Fuller Warren. I would always devise new ways to alleviate that crazy bottleneck. It's such a jam, when the Roosevelt people merged in, then had to get over like 4 lanes to take I-95 North. What a mess.

[JaxNole]

Way back when, in the mornings, I would ride from Argyle to Darnell Cookman Middle School (8th & I-95).  It was awful.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No way! I went to school at 1149 W. 13th St. Your school was just around the corner from me. I remember at some point when 295 was only four lanes and Chimney Lakes was still a concept.

[vicupstate]

Kudos to Peyton...

It's rare to have a mayor that welds genuine authority over the power company, this is one example of where it is a big advantage IMO.

JEA delays land sale

Peyton wants to make sure there is enough park space at the 25-acre former Southside Generating Station site.

By RYAN GEDDES

The Times-Union

At the last-minute request of Mayor John Peyton, JEA has delayed its effort to sell one of downtown's largest parcels of developable land due to concerns about park space.

Eager to leverage the marketing momentum of Super Bowl XXXIX, JEA had planned to issue a request for bids for the 25-acre former Southside Generating Station property this week, with the goal of wrapping up the bidding process in early March.

But JEA CEO Jim Dickenson told board members Tuesday that Peyton wants to make sure there is enough open space and public access to the St. Johns River at the site.

"He's asking for a little more time to review that," Dickenson said. "I'm not going to ignore him."

Dickenson said the mayor called him over the weekend and the two met Monday.

Outgoing JEA Board Chairwoman Marty Lanahan urged Dickenson to give Peyton a deadline for making a decision so the utility can move forward with selling the land.

"We've got people out there willing to write big checks ready to take all risk for developing that property," Lanahan said.

J.D. Collins, the new board chairman, said giving the mayor a month would be reasonable.

"We've waited this long, what difference is 30 days going to make?" Collins asked.

Mayor's Office spokeswoman Susie Wiles said the success of Jacksonville's downtown open spaces during the Super Bowl showed that the city needs to step back and re-evaluate the future of open space and public river access in the area.

"We've had a real tangible demonstration of what open space on the river can do," Wiles said. "The mayor wanted to slow the train down just a bit and, in the lifespan of this project, 30 days is not that long."

JEA spent $24 million to decommission the power plant in 2001 and evaluated detailed proposals for the site in 2003. Deals between JEA and two prominent local developers, The St. Joe Co. and The Haskell Co., fell through last year. Two independent appraisals commissioned by the utility last February valued the land at about $27 million and about $29 million.

JEA board members, staff members and others familiar with the property say there is intense interest in the site from potential buyers.

"I think we've got some pretty solid cash deals," Lanahan said. "We've got a marketing opportunity right now."

No meetings have been scheduled yet between JEA and City Hall to discuss the issue, Dickenson said.

Times-Union writer Matt Galnor contributed to this report.

ryan.geddesjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4689

[Urban_Legend]

No way!  I went to school at 1149 W. 13th St.  Your school was just around the corner from me.  I remember at some point when 295 was only four lanes and Chimney Lakes was still a concept.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Note: when I say "way back when", I mean 1998-2000, lol. I went to Chimney Lakes Elementary too. But education aside, I think some congratulations are in order:

[Britainny]

Is that JEA land where they held the NFL experience?

I wonder if JEA consumers will feel any benefits from the proceeds of that sale.

Maybe undo the $10 a month rate hike ?

[bobliocatt]

LOL, it will make for very nice bonuses for a couple of big time executives, but I doubt this potential windfall makes it down to the average taxpayer.

[Captain Obvious]

keep in mind that JEA had maintained some of the lowest overall utility rates in the country for years. though no one wants higher bills, a rate increase was certainly justified. JEA does us no good if it goes under.

[Captain Obvious]

The Ortega River Condos are officially dead.

Chupp also owns a chunk of waterfront land on the Ortega River that he tried to develop into the Ortega River Club Condominiums with Heyward Cantrell, president of a local real estate firm, in 2002.

Despite an active marketing campaign and the announcement of a general contractor in 2003, the project never materialized, and the land is now back on the market.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stor..._17992721.shtml

They probably never got the needed pre-sales. The Condos were perhaps a bit too high-end for the immediate area.

[afh]

What is funny to me is how the FDOT planned and developed the new interchange for I-10 and I-95, officially dubbed the Big I, but yet they did not plan for the need to expand I-10. The FDOT person for the Jacksonville region mentioned about a year ago that they do not have the money to expand I-10 even though he admitted that I-10 needs to be expanded. I can see where this new interchange could add the problem that I-10 already faces. I-10 should have a car pool lane and possibly another lane for future growth b/c even if a 4th lane was added tommorow, in 5-8 years I-10 would be at capacity again. The new interchange will put a bandage over a gaping wound that is still bleeding. Sorry for the bad analogy but I couldn't think of anything better!

[bobliocatt]

^What you'll see is a big chokepoint on I-10 where all the new lanes will merge down to the existing three, thus backing up traffic on the new 6 year interchange, as well. Anyway, that's the life of transportation planning in Florida. We're behind the eight ball and most of our road projects, now under construction, will be filled to capacity, by the time they're completed. As I've said many times, its time to start seriously looking at alternative transportation systems (ex. HSR, light rail, brt, commuter rail, etc.). We'l never find a way to rid ourselves of traffic congestion on our roadways, but at least, with mass transit, we can provide an alternative method to get around, for those that choose to get out of their cars.

[derrickskugler]

I would really love to know of any updates for the following projects:

Riverpointe

The Shipyards

San Marco Place

The Penninsula / The Strand

New Matthews Bridge?

Thanks!

[Captain Obvious]

I would really love to know of any updates for the following projects:

Riverpointe

The Shipyards

San Marco Place

The Penninsula / The Strand

New Matthews Bridge?

Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Riverpointe - Trash the old rendering. They hired a new architect. Expect a new design in a few months, with construction on one tower to start within a year. Late 05, early 06, or so they claim.

The Shipyards - Landmar will decide by the end of April whether or not to buy the site. Don't expect much word before that, unless it's more delays.

San Marco Place - Construction has started. Site clearing/foundation work.

The Penninsula - I think it's still scheduled to start construction this summer.

The Strand - Construction has started. It's up to the third floor, judging from the webcam.

New Matthews Bridge - I'm sure your great-grandkids will enjoy attending the grand-opening ceremony.

[Viper]

Riverpointe has a better chance of happening now with this new developer too. They are world known for beautiful designs. They also increased the unit numbers to 300 so that could mean a taller building, at least up to the last occupiable floor.

[vicupstate]

From Downtown This week:

Hines, the international real estate firm and the developer of St. Augustine’s Palencia, is partnering with South Shore Group Partners, LLC to develop a signature high-rise condominium located in downtown Jacksonville on the Southbank adjacent to The Aetna Building. The proposed $100 million development, presently named Riverpointe, is planned for up to 300 condominium and townhome units ranging from 900 to 3,000 square feet, together with a full range of unprecedented amenities. Design of the project has commenced and Hines expects to break ground at the beginning of 2006.

It's good to see these units will be at least 900 sq. ft. Often to get a low starting price point, they will reduce the size to 700 or even 550 sq. ft. in these large developments. Since March is the 50th anniversary of the Aetna building, they may unveil the new design this month. It will be interesting to see the final design and also to see if the 'affordable' market is still in the mix with this.

[bobliocatt]

This is old news, but I'm just posting this here, to add to an updated P & C Thread, i'll be working on later today.

Kings Avenue Garage - Kings Avenue Redevelopment, LLC.

- 27,000 SF Grocery Store

- 40,000 SF Office

Retail project & FCCJ Skyway station - Renaissance Design-Build Group

- 7,000 SF Retail

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/..._16481289.shtml