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Jacksonville: New tallest skyscrapers planned!


bobliocatt

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hm_towers400.jpg

An artist's rendering of the proposed twin towers on Jacksonville's Southbank

25 March 2004

Developer proposes tallest skyscrapers in Jacksonville

Twin 48-story towers would be located on Southbank

A development company from Boynton Beach, Fla., wants to build two residential 48-story towers in downtown Jacksonville that would be the tallest buildings in the city.

The two towers would contain 550 units, and be located on the site of the Aetna building on the city's Southbank, adjacent to the Acosta bridge, according to the developer, Krook Douglas Development LLC.

The twin towers would be built on either side of the Aetna building. Krook Douglas said it wants to price the units so they are affordable to middle-class buyers, and would like to begin construction in a year. The project would take two years to complete.

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The southbank is definately booming as developers have now uncovered a largely untapped market for urban high rise residential living in Jacksonville. Sales at the Peninsula have been 3 times as much as they expected. If all the proposed projects on the southbank are built, its skyline will give the northbank a run for its money. Plus all the projects are less than a one block walk to the nearest skyway station.

Southbank proposals:

-48 story (619ft) "twin" tower -551 units, 58,000sf retail space

-36 story Peninsula Condo Tower (approved)

-28 story The Strand Apartment Tower (approved)

-San Marco Place (approved) - This one confuses me, papers say its a 20 story tower, while the renderings I've seen show 2 smaller towers at 16 & 12 stories in height.

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What are the timeline of these projects?

Those are some nice looking tower. More projects will coming to downtown jacksonville as the SuperBowl is getting closer

An article last week said the Strand (28 story apartment tower) would begin construction in 3 or 4 months. The same developers are building the Peninsula Condos (36 story tower) next door.

The Peninsula's construction will start as soon as 50% of the units are reserved. As of last week, about a third have been reserved so far and the sales office has only been open for about two weeks now. So at this I'd expect the Peninsula to start construction around the same time.

San Marco Place, across the street from the Strand & Peninsula, was approved a couple of weeks ago. Construction is expected to begin this summer.

The developers of this latest proposal (twin 48 story towers) would like to start construction about a year from now. If all goes as according to plan, four towers on the southbank should have cranes up and in full construction mode, when the super bowl rolls around.

There should also be cranes in the air for several northbank projects as well. These include the restoration of the Barnett Tower (19 stories), The Brisbee Building (11 stories), Florida Life Building (10 stories), and the former JEA Headquarters (19 stories), plus new buildings like the Courthouse Complex (10 stories), the Westin Hotel (12 stories), and Fidelity Financial's new corporate headquarters (either 10 or 18 stories depending on the site chosen). So all won't be finished by the super bowl, but the nation will definately see a city on the move.

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Has the Westin Hotel project been officially confirmed? I've read a little about it, and seen a pic in this forum, but I haven't heard alot of talk about it, nor much coverage in the papers. I'm crossing my fingers that the deal will become official, because it would be an awesome addition!

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Actually the Westin Hotel is the only project (of the one's listed above) that's still up in the air. The development group who recently purchased the Humana Building next door will decide this month, who they will sell the land too..Westin or condo developers. From all reports so far, I believe Westin will come out the winner. But we'll have to wait & see for the official results. If Westin wins, they look ready to start construction as fast as possible, since they really want a location in downtown Jax. The condos make take a little longer, according to what's been published so far.

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Those are some awesome towers!

Yawn, I'm getting sick of looking at our skyline. The last skyline changing tower as the Grand American Hotel in 2001.

THREE YEARS! That is a long time if you ask me.

LOL. You're sick of it already? Detroit hasn't had a tall skyscraper go up in more than 10 years! Although we did tear one down :(

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^Interesting outlook on the Westin Hotel. I know they built one in the 12-15 story range in downtown Orlando a couple years ago. They also have a 20 story 373 room hotel planned for downtown Tampa. That one, when first announced, last year, was going to be 15 stories. So who knows, maybe it will get a little bigger, if the Humana Building's developers decide to sell the land to Westin. BTW, that site is perfect for a hotel. Its across the street from the Landing & the riverwalk, a block away from the skyway's Central Station and nearly in the heart of downtown.

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  • 2 months later...

I wish Jax had something like the 4 Seasons Tower in Miami. I think that it's a hotel/residences mix. And it's really tall. My ultimate dream for the Radisson site would be a Convention Center/Hotel/Residence/Retail combo. I think Radisson owns the adjacent Crawdaddy's property, and that'll be torn down soon. The convention area could go on that side, while the new tower would be middle of the property. And they could have a parking garage, surrounded by retail and offices near Riverplace Dr. I drew up sketches, maybe I could post it. I just know that anything would be better than all that surface parking area near that hotel.

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