As is typical, Sherry is right on. How long must numerous mayors, city council members and the DIA chase the latest shiny, new project or the next rendering? The Laura Street Trio project is iconic and will serve as a transformational stepping stone to further smart, creative projects. Some say this is an additional precedent of doling out incentives to encourage development. Heck, Duval has been doing this for years, so the precedent is already set. But maybe, just maybe this project if done so well will change the trajectory and quality developers and projects will come to us without the demand for a handout. Wishful thinking? Maybe, maybe not.
When former P&G CEO AG Lafley talked at the recent 2023 Great Cities Symposium, he said for Cincinnati’s successful transformation, the importance was to start at the core of their downtown. They started with Fountain Square.
In Jacksonville, our downtown efforts have been scattered among developments across the four mile area: primarily Brooklyn, the Southbank, and the stadium district. This has brought momentum but not yet a walkable, historic, unique, and dense enough city.
I agree with Sherry that we need to refocus on our historic core. That includes many key projects some already underway, but mostly in my view this core loop: Riverfront Plaza, Laura Street and the Trio, the civic square surrounding and including JWJ Park, and the adjacent Hogans Emerald Trail connector. Gateway is great as it’s a block from there, and historic LaVilla is another few blocks. All walkable! And all a few blocks from the riverfront.
In my view, the restored Trio is THE critical mixed use project for the beauty, uniqueness and vitality of the core which will define Jacksonville for the next generation. A unique historic hotel and mixed housing is exactly what is needed there. The developer is the same one who restored the Barnett Tower and it’s beautiful and successful.
About the financing, if the max risk is an additional $22 million, and we get a piece of a future value, it sounds like a creative way to make this work.
Let’s do it now, Jacksonville. Let’s get the historic core restored with this project as our showpiece. It’s our time.
I’m very intrigued that you aren’t a sponsor of the bill referenced in the column since it’s in our district. I look forward to understanding why you aren’t sponsoring this bill.
I’m a retired commercial bank co-owner and board chair, and prior to that was an institutional investor. I’m knowledgeable about commercial and commercial real estate finance. Guarantees are a financial tool with which I’m very familiar, and like any other financing mechanism can be used well or poorly.
I’ve lived in several cities over the course of the past 30 years: Jacksonville’s Riverside in the early 80s, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Washington, back to Atlanta, and then in 2016 returning to Jacksonville - where I was born and raised - for family reasons.
Each of those cities had distressed urban cores when I became familiar with them. The urban core and surrounding areas of each of those cities has since blossomed with people living there and enjoying a sense of place. We lived in those cities and experienced their renewed sense of vibrancy.
Jacksonville has a very similar opportunity, but it seems to be neglecting its historic urban core - the downtown area which the Laura Street Trio anchors. The Trio is not replaceable in creating a sense of place, and as far as opportunity goes, it appears to me that its opportunity is amazingly low hanging fruit in the hierarchy of opportunities and outcomes. Gateway certainly won’t create a bustling urban core; it may add to it but it won’t anchor or create a sense of place. A new Gator Bowl (yes, that the name I know grew up knowing it as) won’t do it. Brooklyn hasn’t done it and can’t - it a highway with malls. The Southbank hasn’t done it and can’t - it’s a suburban design.
Don’t neglect the historic urban core - the area which the Laura Street Trio anchors. And if the Trio isn’t addressed, what’s Plan B?
Now, it’s easy to take potshots at people’s efforts from the cheap seats. So I’m really looking forward to understanding why you’re not a sponsor of the amazing opportunity in front of us.
If the City Council does not act, we may lose the Laura Street Trio.
Sherry Magill's message is spot-on. Please share this urgent message with everyone who cares about historic preservation and Downtown revitalization.
As is typical, Sherry is right on. How long must numerous mayors, city council members and the DIA chase the latest shiny, new project or the next rendering? The Laura Street Trio project is iconic and will serve as a transformational stepping stone to further smart, creative projects. Some say this is an additional precedent of doling out incentives to encourage development. Heck, Duval has been doing this for years, so the precedent is already set. But maybe, just maybe this project if done so well will change the trajectory and quality developers and projects will come to us without the demand for a handout. Wishful thinking? Maybe, maybe not.
When former P&G CEO AG Lafley talked at the recent 2023 Great Cities Symposium, he said for Cincinnati’s successful transformation, the importance was to start at the core of their downtown. They started with Fountain Square.
In Jacksonville, our downtown efforts have been scattered among developments across the four mile area: primarily Brooklyn, the Southbank, and the stadium district. This has brought momentum but not yet a walkable, historic, unique, and dense enough city.
I agree with Sherry that we need to refocus on our historic core. That includes many key projects some already underway, but mostly in my view this core loop: Riverfront Plaza, Laura Street and the Trio, the civic square surrounding and including JWJ Park, and the adjacent Hogans Emerald Trail connector. Gateway is great as it’s a block from there, and historic LaVilla is another few blocks. All walkable! And all a few blocks from the riverfront.
In my view, the restored Trio is THE critical mixed use project for the beauty, uniqueness and vitality of the core which will define Jacksonville for the next generation. A unique historic hotel and mixed housing is exactly what is needed there. The developer is the same one who restored the Barnett Tower and it’s beautiful and successful.
About the financing, if the max risk is an additional $22 million, and we get a piece of a future value, it sounds like a creative way to make this work.
Let’s do it now, Jacksonville. Let’s get the historic core restored with this project as our showpiece. It’s our time.
My letter to Councilman Peluso:
Councilman Peluso,
I’m very intrigued that you aren’t a sponsor of the bill referenced in the column since it’s in our district. I look forward to understanding why you aren’t sponsoring this bill.
I’m a retired commercial bank co-owner and board chair, and prior to that was an institutional investor. I’m knowledgeable about commercial and commercial real estate finance. Guarantees are a financial tool with which I’m very familiar, and like any other financing mechanism can be used well or poorly.
I’ve lived in several cities over the course of the past 30 years: Jacksonville’s Riverside in the early 80s, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Washington, back to Atlanta, and then in 2016 returning to Jacksonville - where I was born and raised - for family reasons.
Each of those cities had distressed urban cores when I became familiar with them. The urban core and surrounding areas of each of those cities has since blossomed with people living there and enjoying a sense of place. We lived in those cities and experienced their renewed sense of vibrancy.
Jacksonville has a very similar opportunity, but it seems to be neglecting its historic urban core - the downtown area which the Laura Street Trio anchors. The Trio is not replaceable in creating a sense of place, and as far as opportunity goes, it appears to me that its opportunity is amazingly low hanging fruit in the hierarchy of opportunities and outcomes. Gateway certainly won’t create a bustling urban core; it may add to it but it won’t anchor or create a sense of place. A new Gator Bowl (yes, that the name I know grew up knowing it as) won’t do it. Brooklyn hasn’t done it and can’t - it a highway with malls. The Southbank hasn’t done it and can’t - it’s a suburban design.
Don’t neglect the historic urban core - the area which the Laura Street Trio anchors. And if the Trio isn’t addressed, what’s Plan B?
Now, it’s easy to take potshots at people’s efforts from the cheap seats. So I’m really looking forward to understanding why you’re not a sponsor of the amazing opportunity in front of us.
I’ll be at the 12/12 meeting.
Thanks you,
Joe Porter