Carlington Update

[Captain Obvious]

Hey everyone,

Some of you might remember me from Skyscrapercity/Skyscraperpage/etc. I haven't been posting much this year because of College, and now my internship. Anyway, I've been working for Vestcor, so I thought I should give some brief updates on the Carlington project. (Downtown historic rehab of old hotel into 100 market rate apartment units).

- Interior work is moving along well. They've already framed the rooms and put up drywall, etc. on many of the floors. The commercial space isn't as far along though.

- As reported in the paper, garage work will start relatively soon. The garage design isn't great, but it's tolerable. It's 5 and 1/2 levels, but the facade is supposed to look like a 4 level office. There's no streetfront retail because the retail market is so terrible downtown right now. Therefore about 50% of the garage streetfront will be glass, with the ability to expand to retail if the market ever improves (which it likely will one day).

- It might not actually be the "The Carlington" anymore. They are seriously considering changing the name back to "The Carling" because 1) That was the original historic name anyway and 2) they are thinking about recreating the historic hotel sign to cover up the rooftop cooling units, and it's cheaper to write "Carling" than "Carlington." But the decision about the name and the sign aren't confirmed yet. Give it 50/50 either way.

Also, I have a rendering of the garage and the sign, as well as some decent "aerials" of the Carling(ton) I took from the roof of 11E. However, I'm too lazy/technophobic to set up an image hosting account. If anyone wants to host them, just post your email, and I'll send them your way.

[vicupstate]

Thanks for the inside info Captain! It's always good to get the latest info. before it's hits the news sources.

I am glad to hear that the garage is designed to add retail later. A wise move for Vestcor and the city. Is the 11E retail space still getting bites? There was discussion of a pool on top of the Carling(ton)garage. Is that in the plans?

[Captain Obvious]

no retail at 11E yet, no garage-top pool planned at carlington ... sorry

[vicupstate]

Bummer, but thanks for the info. I assume the pool was too much $$. The old Carling Hotel did have a pool on it's (now demolished) garage.

[bobliocatt]

Welcome to the forum, its great to have another Jax forumer here. I'll be happy to host the pics. You can email the info to:

[email protected]

[Urban_Legend]

Will Vestcor make a website for the Carlington? 11E has one, so I'm sure the Carlington will eventually get one, right? I'm glad to hear that they're at least saving room for garage retail. I'm sure they'll be able to fill that up pretty quick. Thanks for the update!

BTW, could you email the renderings to [email protected] ? Thanks

[bobliocatt]

Its good that plans are being made for future retail on the ground level of the garage. I really wish street retail space would have been considered in the 11 East Forsyth garage at the corner of Adams and Main. It would have helped bridge the gap between The Burrito Gallery/London Bridge area and The Carlington/Lerner Shops stretch. But I guess I can't complain, since the retail space reserved at 11 East is still vacant.

[Urban_Legend]

Yeah, 11E's garage is kinda cold towards the street. But at least it looks nice. There's some garages downtown that desperately need cleaning and painting. If people would build on the corner of Main and Adams, it would also bridge the gap. There's just surface parking there, I think.

[downtowngal]

What is the scheduled completion date? Are you already taking reservations? How's that going? As well as 11 E I hope. Maybe we can shoot for them all to be taken in 90 minutes like 1350 Main in Sarasota. You all probably already know that was a Langton project.