J Magazine Summer 2018

THE MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH OF JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN
LEADERSHIP
I S S U E
WHO’S LEADING
DOWNTOWN?
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SUMMER 2018

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contents
Issue 2 // Volume 2 // SUMMER 2018
38
What do you think
of our Downtown
in 2018? We polled
you to find out.
20
How effective
are our leaders at
creating significant
change Downtown?
24 Leading Indicators
Elected officials? Local developers?
Who’s making a difference Downtown?
34 Leading From The Top
It’s been 50 years since consolidation.
How have the past eight mayors fared?
52 Take Me To The River
Pocket parks along the St. Johns River
Downtown are finally moving forward.
68 Saving LaVilla
A lot has been proposed to resurrect
the LaVilla area. Little has been done.
76 In Need Of Rehab
Vacant Downtown buildings are choking
the core. How will we fix the problem?
80 Growing Pains
Revitalizing a Downtown takes money.
Where it comes from is up for debate.
DEPARTMENTS
9 Feedback
11 From The Publisher
13 Briefing
14 Progress Report
16 Rating Downtown
66 12 hours Downtown
84 Core Eyesore
89 Questions & Answers
98 The Final Word
45
Shad Khan wants a
vibrant Downtown.
His next project
would do just that.
6
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

58
The future of JTA’s
driverless vehicles
is sooner than
you might think.
J MAGAZINE
PARTNERS
ON THE COVER
While some might not be household names,
you probably recognize many of their faces.
From elected officials to business owners to
developers, they have one thing in common –
they’ve been put in position to help lead the
transformation of Jacksonville’s Downtown.
How are they doing? // SEE PAGE 24
ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF DAVIS // J MAGAZINE

“Our commitment to
downtown Jacksonville
is as strong as it’s
ever been.”
– MARK LAMPING
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS PRESIDENT
H
THE MAGAZINE OF
THE REBIRTH OF
JACKSONVILLE’S
DOWNTOWN
H
PUBLISHER
Mark Nusbaum
GENERAL MANAGER/
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Jeff Davis
EDITOR
Frank Denton
ADVERTISING
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WRITERS
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DISPLAY THROUGH MAY 2018
THE MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH OF JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN
OUTDOORS
I S S U E
FEEDBACK
RIVERFRONT
WHERE HAVE
ALL THE BOATS
AND BOATERS
GONE?
P56
PRESERVATION
A PASSION FOR
RESUSCITATING
OUR HISTORIC
BUILDINGS
P72
TURF WARS
A FOOD TRUCK
AND BRICK &
MORTAR EATERY
BATTLE BREWS
P80
$4.95
LA
SPRING 2018
PLACEMAKING
CONNECTING THE
HUMAN EXPERIENCE
TO REVITALIZATION
THE OUTDOORS ISSUE
“CRASH LANDING” APTLY DESCRIBES
the single most troubling parcel of Downtown
property. The Jacksonville Landing’s six acres of
prime waterfront development have devolved
into a rundown embarrassment at what could
and should be a beacon of pride for the core.
Not surprising, many of you had sharp opinions
on The Landing and its future.
P32
GOING GREEN
CREATING A PLACE
FOR THE SENSES WITH
MORE GREEN SPACE
P40
PLAY STATIONS
ATTRACTING PEOPLE
DOWNTOWN WITH
URBAN PLAYGROUNDS
CRASH
P48
NDING
WHEN WILL WE FIX THE MOST CONTENTIOUS
(AND EMBARRASSING) PIECE OF PROPERTY
IN DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE?
P18
RE: CRASH LANDING: When will we fix the
most contentious (and embarrassing] piece of
property in Downtown Jacksonville?
“It could be awesome,
someone with vision could
really make it great again.”
Lauren King Bolin
“Change the color, the
orange is ugly and the
design is outdated. The
building looks horrible.”
Charlotte Blanton
“A renovation after 30
years would be nice!!”
Michelle Brooks Poland
“Tear it down and replace
it with Sears – including the
little diner on the first
floor – so I can relive my
youth.”
Anne Matthews
“Definitely get it back
from [Sleiman Enterprises],
they have run it into the
ground.”
Linda S. Orto
“Tear it down and start
over! It’s a dump!”
Brian Woodall
“Needs great, unique
restaurants. Needs ample
parking. Needs incredible
security in and around
area. Needs something
educational such as a
museum of the River City
showcasing the history
of the St Johns. Needs
great late-night attractions
including sports bars and
places to go out and let
adults enjoy themselves.
Needs to feature a flavor
of all the local sports
teams – Jags, Jumbo Shrimp,
Icemen.”
Jacob Hodges
RE: CRASH LANDING: When will
we fix the most contentious (and
embarrassing] piece of property in
Downtown Jacksonville?
“[The Landing]
should be remodeled
and renovated, but
the basic structure is
rather nice. It’s in a
tough neighborhood,
but if the Northbank
fills in as planned,
The Landing could
thrive.”
Jim Rinaman
RE: TURF WARS: Can Downtown Jacksonville food
trucks coexist with brick and mortar restaurants?
“Decent sit-down
restaurants in Downtown
are few and far between
and are generally more
expensive than food trucks.”
Kyle Brown
“Competition will build
quality. The ones that
survive will survive for a
reason.”
TAD ANDREWS
“I’ve never gotten the
appeal of food trucks. I’ve
eaten at a few around
town but in the end the
price just isn’t worth it.”
Justin Crews
“Downtown restaurants
have to survive on 15
hours a week. Food trucks
can follow the customers. ”
Kerry Decker
RE: Plea for
Resurrection:
Reviving Snyder
Memorial Church
may require a miracle
What would you like to
see the historic church
become?
“A wedding chapel and a
public events venue.”
Jessica Leigh Walton
“[A] concert hall for local
bands.”
Chuck Rowland
“A civil rights museum
that tells the true story of
Jacksonville’s past.”
Jo Ann Ford
“A Jacksonville themed
restaurant with historical
and present day pictures.”
Shane Windhaus
“Sell it to a developer.”
Michael Nemo
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 9

Formed to revitalize and preserve downtown property values
and prevent deterioration in the downtown business district.
The Downtown Investment Authority was created to revitalize
Downtown Jacksonville by utilizing Community Redevelopment
Area resources to spur economic development. The Downtown
Investment Authority is the governing body for the Downtown
Community Redevelopment Areas established by the City
Council of Jacksonville. The DIA offers a variety of incentives for
businesses to locate Downtown, including expedited permitting
and economic development incentives.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Khan’s Downtown
investments paying
off for Jacksonville
MARK
NUSBAUM
PHONE
(904) 359-4349
EMAIL
mnusbaum@
jacksonville.com
ayne and Delores Weaver paid
W very close attention to whom
they were selling the Jacksonville
Jaguars six years ago.
They wanted to make sure their beloved
Jaguars — and bigger yet, the City of Jacksonville
— were in good hands.
And we all know the rest of the story.
Shad Khan bought the Jaguars, and the handoff
continues to benefit Jacksonville in ways we couldn’t
possibly have envisioned back in 2012.
Khan has not only been a good steward of the Jaguars
— and Jacksonville — he is, in my mind for sure,
the best damn owner in all of professional sports.
When Khan bought the Jaguars, rumors ran
rampant that Jacksonville was a prime target for other
NFL-wannabe cities. Our market — all 1.4 million of
us — wasn’t big enough to justify an NFL franchise, the
skeptics said. Not enough TV sets or corporate revenue
opportunities, not enough money.
Well, guess what?
The Jaguars are still here, this year even challenging
for the AFC championship against the NFL elite New
England Patriots.
And Khan, well, he’s been everything we could have
hoped for and more.
St. Louis and San Diego lost their teams to Los Angeles,
and Oakland is headed to Las Vegas.
But the Jaguars haven’t flinched.
In fact, the relationship between the City of Jacksonville
and the Jaguars has been outstanding. Sure,
there have been bumps, but Khan and the city have
partnered in a very effective way.
Early on, Khan said he would like to play a home
game each year in London, and the conspiracy lovers
went to work, suggesting this was a step to move the
Jaguars to London.
Khan moved forward, with many of us in Jacksonville
understanding the solid rationale of this initiative.
Khan’s move proved to be brilliant. He increased
revenue sharply by sharing the one home date with a
city of 14 million, and other NFL owners are now jumping
at the opportunity to play a game in London. Khan,
fortunately, has Jacksonville locked in through 2025.
The coupling of Jacksonville with London helps the
Jaguars expand its corporate revenue base, as well as
the valuable fan base with the boost in ticket revenue.
It also exposed Jacksonville to major London-based
businesses that are considering worldwide expansion,
and at least one of them already has expanded here.
All to the benefit of Jacksonville.
On other fronts, Khan has put his money where his
mouth is.
He ponied up almost $50 million of his own money
for the new and stunning Daily’s Place amphitheatre.
He invested another $20 million-plus of his own money
in a public-private venture to upgrade the stadium,
including our world-class scoreboards — a couple of
feet bigger than the Jerry Jones’ showpiece in Dallas.
And now, Khan and his right-hand man, Mark
Lamping, have on the drawing board a $2.5 billion (yes,
that’s a “b’’) entertainment district adjacent to the stadium,
which I truly believe will spark development of
a revitalized Downtown of which all us Jacksonvilleans
can be proud.
By now, we know Shad Khan thinks Big.
Wouldn’t it be fun to go shopping with him? On
one spree a few years ago, he picked up the Fulham
Football Club in London — for $200 million.
Just recently, he made an offer to buy Wembley
Stadium, where the Jags play in London — for around
$800 million.
That, of course, put a few of the folks in the Jacksonville
Conspiracy Club to work: Surely Khan was moving
the Jaguars to London.
The speculation hacked off Khan to the point he
said he was getting weary of every time he made a
move (like the London game or Wembley or even the
Fulham purchase) the Conspiracy Club revved up
about some sinister plot.
Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed and quashed
such gibberish quickly.
Shad Khan is the real deal, and I don’t blame him
for getting a little hacked.
All I can say is we better take care of this owner,
Jacksonville. They don’t come along like Shad Khan
very often.
If we continue to work with this gentleman, the sky
is the limit in Jacksonville.
And Bravo for Wayne and Delores. They knew what
they were doing!
MARK NUSBAUM is president of The Florida Times-Union.
He lives in Downtown Jacksonville with his wife, Sherry.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 11

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$2,500,000,000
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DIGITS
The estimated
cost of a worldclass,
mixed-use
entertainment
district at the
stadium proposed
by Jaguars owner
Shad Khan during
the State of the
Franchise event
in April.
(PAGE 45)
BRIEFING
By The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board
Thumbs down to the
sorry state of public
docks on the Downtown
waterfront. Yes, the
problems were caused by
Hurricane Matthew nearly
two years ago. But it’s
time to make progress
in restoring the public
docks for area boaters,
as well as those of us
who don’t want to look
at Downtown debris for
years.
Thumbs down to Visit
Jacksonville’s new slogan
to promote our city —
“Jax: It’s Easier
Here.” New Orleans
has already cornered the
market on boasting about
having a cool, laid-back
city with its iconic slogan
“The Big Easy.” Why try
to co-opt that? And in
such a weak way!
Thumbs up to the
North Florida
Land Trust for
continuing to convert the
historic Brewster Hospital
in Downtown’s LaVilla
into its new headquarters.
Brewster was the
first hospital for Jacksonville’s
African-American
residents, but it had been
forlorn and dormant
for years until the city
restored it and made it
available for use.
HITS & MISSES
Thumbs up to Jacksonville
University,
which plans to
expand its Downtown
campus site in the Sun-
Trust Building by acquiring
more upper-floor space.
Thumbs down to the
fact that the old JEA
headquarters
building on West Duval
Street remains vacant
and decaying, and no one
seems to care that it’s an
embarrassing Downtown
eyesore. Well, someone
or some entity needs to
start caring — and start
doing something about
JEA’s relic site.
Thumbs up to the
streamlined approach
to holding First
Wednesday Art
Walk, the monthly
Downtown event. It’s
a smaller and cozier
celebration during most
months, yet there’s still
the party vibe that has
long made Art Walk a
Downtown fixture.
Thumbs down to
the disgraceful reality
that too many of
our Downtown
sidewalks remain
needlessly difficult for
citizens with disabilities
to navigate easily.
FIRST PERSON
«««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««
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»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
Thumbs down to the
bureaucratic red
tape that still works to
slow down the pace of
Downtown development.
It still takes too long for
permits to be issued, and
developers still have to
jump through repetitive
hurdles before they can
start getting stuff done.
Thumbs up to the
Florida Department
of Transportation
for completing
the renovation of
the Matthews Bridge, the
key artery into Downtown
from Arlington and
the Beaches, ahead of
schedule.
Thumbs up for plans
to hold a Hispanic
Culture Film Festival
at the Downtown
Main Library over two
weekends: Sept. 20-23
and Sept. 27-30. It will be
a great way to celebrate
the Hispanic community’s
growing influence in
Jacksonville.
Thumbs up to Jaguars
management
for giving the team’s
uniform a cleaner, simpler
look. It will look great
on the Jags while they’re
playing in Super Bowl LIII
next February.
“I wouldn’t grade myself because I believe you’re
only as good as what you have done today.”
JACKSONVILLE MAYOR LENNY CURRY (PAGE 20)
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 13

J MAGAZINE’S
PROGRESS REPORT
ADAMS
MONROE
2
Laura Street Trio &
Barnett Bank Building
A $79 million renovation of the iconic
buildings into residences, offices, a hotel
and commercial/retail uses.
STATUS: Barnett is under renovation. Next is construction
of the nearby parking deck. Then the Trio,
including new space.
UNF Downtown campus
UNF is planning a Center for Entrepreneurship
of the Coggin College of Business, with about
25 faculty and staff and 150 students using the
satellite campus on two floors of the Barnett Bank building.
STATUS: UNF got a $380,000 loan from the DIA to put with
donated money for the project. Classes are to start in January.
HEMMING
PARK
BEAVER
ASHLEY
CHURCH
DUVAL
FOREST
OAK
FORSYTH
HOUSTON
LAVILLA
PRIME OSBORN
CONVENTION
CENTER
BROOKLYN
UNITY
PLAZA
RIVERSIDE
BAY
WATER
MADISON
REGIONAL
TRANSPORTATION
CENTER
The $57 million multi-modal hub across
from the Prime Osborn will centralize and coordinate
local, regional and intercity transportation.
STATUS: The intercity bus terminal is open, allowing
the closure of the decrepit Greyhound station at
Pearl and Forsyth. Construction continues.
N
PARK
MAY
OAK
MAGNOLIA
JACKSON
7
1 3
RIVERSIDE AVE.
Fuller Warren
pedestrian/bike
path
Florida DOT is widening the
Fuller Warren Bridge, including a “shared
use path” for pedestrians and bicycles,
ultimately connecting the riverwalks.
STATUS: Construction began last year and
is due to be completed in summer 2020.
JEFFERSON
6
FLORIDA
TIMES-UNION
BROAD
FULLER WARREN BRIDGE
CLAY
PEARL
BOUTIQUE hOTEL
Main Street LLC, developer
of the parking garage at
Hogan and Independent
Drive, exercised an option to acquire the
parcel at Hogan and Water and build a
hotel with 100-150 rooms.
STATUS: Awaiting conceptual plans for
the Downtown Development Review
Board.
JULIA
ACOSTA
BRIDGE
TIMES-
UNION
CENTER
Cowford
Chophouse
After $10 million worth
of restoration of the old
Bostwick Building, the upscale eatery
features a rooftop lounge and a great
view of Downtown and the St. Johns.
STATUS: Open, with valet parking.
JU Downtown campus
Jacksonville University, which started
out Downtown, took over the 18th
floor of the SunTrust Tower for four
classrooms, 19 offices and other space.
STATUS: About 100 undergraduate and graduate students
in business and health care are attending classes
at the Downtown campus.
HOGAN
LAURA
JACKSONVILLE
LANDING
JACKSONVILLE LANDING
The city owns the site but has leased it long-term
to Sleiman Enterprises, and the two sides have long
sparred over its value to Downtown and its future.
STATUS: Both have sued, and court awaits. The city has cancelled
the lease and demanded the buildings.
MAIN STREET
BRIDGE
MAIN
FRIENDSHIP
FOUNTAIN
RIVERPLACE
SAN MARCO BLVD.
MARY
OCEAN

NEWMAN
MARKET
SPRINGFIELD
Cathedral District
St. John’s Cathedral created a
master plan to build a diverse
community of people who want
to live, work and play Downtown, including a
school and retail.
STATUS: Cathedral District Jacksonville bought
the Community Connections property and is
talking to developers.
LIBERTY
WASHINGTON
CATHERINE
FSCJ student housing
This project to give FSCJ a presence
Downtown will have 20 apartments for
58 students and a café named 20West
as part of the school’s culinary program.
STATUS: Café 20West is open for breakfast and lunch
weekdays as a student-run farm-to-table, counter-service
restaurant. The housing should be open by fall.
BAY
THE DORO
DISTRICT
Intuition Ale
Works and Manifest
anchor the Doro buildings,
which are proposed to include
a restaurant, bar and bowling.
STATUS: Approved by the
city and awaiting tenants or
investors.
PALMETTO
VETERANS
MEMORIAL
ARENA
ADAMS
A. PHILIP RANDOLPH
Parking Lot J/
Shipyards/Metro
Park project
Shad Khan announced that his
proposed Shipyards/Met Park development
will begin on Lot J next to the stadium, with an
entertainment complex, two office towers and a
hotel that could have some residences.
STATUS: Iguana Investments has partnered with
the accomplished Cordish Companies of Baltimore
and, if plans and funding are worked out,
construction should begin in Spring 2019.
BASEBALL
GROUNDS
GEORGIA
FRANKLIN
SPORTS COMPLEX
GATOR BOWL BLVD.
TIAA
BANK FIELD
DAILY’S
PLACE
FLAGLER
NORTHBANK
Old city hall
and county
courthouse
The city budget includes
$8 million to raze the empty
buildings and clear the site for a
possible new convention center.
STATUS: The city is awaiting bids
from three qualified contractors.
PRUDENTIAL DR.
KIPP
4
HENDRICKS
SAN MARCO
KINGS
ONYX
USS ADAMS
The Adams, a retired U.S. Navy destroyer,
is proposed to be anchored as a museum
ship in the St. Johns off Berkman II.
STATUS: The ship is still stuck at the Philadelphia Navy
Yard, and the Navy is dragging its feet at releasing it.
U.S. Rep. John Rutherford is aggressively pushing top
Navy leadership.
S T . J O H N S R I V E R
SOUTHBANK
St. Johns River nodes
A group of architects proposed creating a series of nodes
or pocket parks along the St. Johns with strong visual
elements and activities to engage people. City Council
member Lori Boyer has taken the lead.
STATUS: First will be Friendship Fountain Park. The city budget has
$1 million, with another $1 million to come next year,
5
MONTANA
The District
Peter Rummell’s
community concept
will have up to
1,170 residences, 200 hotel
rooms, 285,500 square feet of
office space, with a marina and
public spaces along the Southbank
Riverwalk.
STATUS: After an apparently
successful upheaval of financing
plans, legislation for the
redevelopment agreement was
filed in City Council last month.
Approval is expected.
Daily’s
Place
The TIAA Bank
Field expanded to
the south with an indoor Jaguars
practice field and the 5,500-seat
Daily’s Place amphitheater.
STATUS: Open, with plans to
be joined by the Parking Lot J
project.
NEW APARTMENTS
[finished, under construction
or approved]
1 Lofts at LaVilla
2 Lofts at Monroe
3 Lofts at Jefferson Station
4 San Marco Apartments
5 Broadstone River House
6 Houston Street Manor
7 The Brooklyn Riverside
DOWNTOWN
JACKSONVILLE
TRACKING DEVELOPMENT IN THE URBAN CORE
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 15

POWER
RATING DOWNTOWN
By The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board
Leadership at a crossroads in
Downtown revitalization efforts
5 6
5
4
MIN
MAX
MIN
MAX
MIN
MAX
MIN
MAX
PUBLIC SAFETY
LEADERSHIP
HOUSING
INVESTMENT
Violent crime remains low.
Hemming Park no longer
draws unsavory types; it now
draws Downtown workers and
families. But perceptions still
linger that Downtown
isn’t safe.
PREVIOUS: 5
City leaders have sped
up momentum on some
game-changing projects (The
District, Lot J, clearing the old
City Hall/courthouse site).
But we need more urgency
across the board.
PREVIOUS: 8
From LaVilla to the
Southbank, apartment buildings
are sprouting up all around
Downtown, and FSCJ is putting
student housing right
in the heart.
PREVIOUS: 4
Shad Khan’s $2.5 billion
Lot J project has the promise
of drawing marquee investors
and major dollars, and we
are assured more cautious
investors are almost
ready to jump in.
PREVIOUS: 3
3
5
3 3
MIN
MAX
MIN
MAX
MIN
MAX
MIN
MAX
DEVELOPMENT
EVENTS & CULTURE
TRANSPORTATION
CONVENTION CENTER
A major U.S. city
shouldn’t
have all the vacant buildings
that our Downtown has, and
city leaders must take
the initiative.
PREVIOUS: 3
Top acts continue to
flock to Downtown venues.
The Jazz Festival added new
locations. The Elbow District
is popping. The revamped
Art Walk has been a hit.
PREVIOUS: 5
Phase One of JTA’s
transportation center project is
done, so the eyesore Greyhound
Bus terminal is history. Now let’s
see more progress to move
up this number with some of
JTA’s innovative plans.
PREVIOUS: 3
Mayor Lenny Curry and the
City Council have committed
money to raze the old City
Hall and courthouse site —
the ideal location for a new
convention center. Proposals
are being sought.
PREVIOUS: 2
OVERALL RATING
We’ve seen progress in fits and starts over
the past year, but we need urgent and impactful
leadership from City Hall and the business and
civic sectors to achieve critical mass.
PREVIOUS: 4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
JEFF DAVIS
16
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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J PARTNER PROFILE
By Barbara Gavan
Jim O’Leary, President
of The Haskell Co.
The Haskell Co.
President sees reasons to both improve and celebrate Downtown
lthough it has 20 offices in cities around the world, Haskell is
A a hometown company. Founded in Jacksonville more than
50 years ago, the billion-dollar design-build firm could have
established its headquarters anywhere but
has chosen to stay in Jacksonville.
“In my 29 years in Jacksonville and with
Haskell, I’ve seen a lot of changes,” said
Haskell President Jim O’Leary. “We’ve been
a part of the Downtown community for a long time, and we intend to
remain Downtown. The recent changes to the Brooklyn neighborhood
have been remarkable, and I see Downtown on its way to the same
kind of revitalization. We view our company as an integral part of the
Downtown community and its ongoing quest for improvement.”
O’Leary considers Jacksonville to be “aspirational” in its outlook
on the future and has no doubt that it is well on the way to
becoming “one of the great cities” of the world.
“Jacksonville needs a more purposeful Downtown, and I think it’s
on its way,” he said. “Haskell has offices around the world, so I’ve been
privileged to visit many Downtowns. I’ve
seen many done right and some not so
well. Jacksonville is on the right track and
must continue to push forward.”
From his office overlooking the St.
Johns River, O’Leary sees what he considers to be one of Jacksonville’s
greatest natural resources every day.
“What a tremendous resource and focal point for future development,”
he said. “Jacksonville should build around the river and create
an environment that is more conducive to living, walking, seeing and
enjoying the river. I think the Shipyards development is headed in that
direction, and we simply need more of that.”
QUICK
TAKES
DEVELOPMENT CREATES EXCITEMENT
“Recent development has been a tremendous start to
Downtown revitalization. New housing has brought
young adults Downtown, creating a new vibrancy. Along
with recreation, entertainment, sports, the symphony,
the arts and theater, that creates a more attractive
environment that people want to be a part of.”
DIVERSITY A MUST FOR
VIBRANT DOWNTOWN
“We must have diversity in both
development and population in order
to build and revitalize Downtown to
reflect who we are as a city – not to
change who we are.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
STILL UNTAPPED
“Revitalization is off to a
good start, but there are still
untapped resources, tremendous
opportunities. We need to improve
and celebrate those resources.”
BOB SELF
18
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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20 J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018WHO IS

THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT THE REBIRTH OF
JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN IS AT A CRITICAL STAGE.
BUILDING ON THE MOMENTUM OF THE PAST YEAR
DEMANDS LEADERs WHO LEAD.
LEADING?
By the Times-Union Editorial Board
ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF DAVIS // J MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 21

SLEA
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Since the Times-Union began publishing
J magazine about Downtown Revitalization a year
ago, we have been grading our Downtown and
its progress on eight attributes. In every issue, the
highest grade has been for leadership: a strong 8
out of 10. Now, in this first anniversary issue, the
grade is dropping to 6.
The reason is that, after a period of unity in
working on Downtown, Jacksonville has been
diverted and stung by a leadership crisis that began
with the discussion of the potential sale of JEA,
Jacksonville’s publicly owned utility. As it evolved …
n A mayor who had a winning streak in his first
year in office was thrown off his game by unprecedented
political resistance.
n A young City Council president, who staged a
remarkable coup to gain the prestigious post after just
two years in office, stumbled into unnecessary and
unproductive disputes with the mayor that sometimes
turned personal.
n A creative incentives proposal for The District,
an ambitious mixed-use development on the
Southbank, was caught in the crossfire of suspicion,
leading to a reversion to traditional financing
(which the parties, in their own acts of leadership,
gracefully accepted).
Meanwhile, as politics moved front and center,
Downtown progress sputtered. Promising projects
slid down the agenda. No doubt the leadership upheaval
had slowed the momentum the city worked
so hard to create.
While the first instinct rightfully is to look at the
mayor’s office, the responsibility for leadership in
such a massive effort must be shared with other key
segments of the city — particularly City Council and
the business and civic communities.
Readers in a poll conducted for J magazine by
the University of North Florida said by a wide margin
that they expect the business community to lead
Downtown development. JAX Chamber has made
Downtown a priority, confirmed by CEO Daniel
Davis and chair John Peyton, but so far that’s been
mostly behind the scenes.
What about the Downtown Investment Authority,
the relatively new city agency charged with
greasing the wheels? It is accomplishing important
work, but it hasn’t the staff numbers, the funding or
the mission to be the leader that Downtown needs.
In successful downtowns, success involved the
entire city, which included the business, government
and nonprofit sectors. But someone had to
step out front. In most cases, that meant a strong
mayor. That was the case in Baltimore and Pittsburgh
and with a series of mayors in Indianapolis.
Vision, synergy, building partnerships and execution
— they all require a passionate and effective
leader. And thanks to consolidated government, we
have the ability to pursue a civic goal through the
terms of several mayors. A good example is gaining
an NFL team in the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Elsewhere in this magazine, we profile a number
of leaders doing good work (and in a couple of
instances, not so good work) Downtown. But any
great orchestra needs a great conductor.
In a strong mayor form of government, leadership
starts with the mayor.
Mayor Lenny Curry has shown the ability to lead.
His leadership of a successful pension sales tax
referendum was masterful.
In recent weeks and months, though, it appears
his leadership has taken place mostly behind the
scenes, leaving his political enemies with the floor
and the pubic wondering what was happening.
The original proposal for the Kids Hope Alliance
was crafted privately.
The challenge to consider a sale of JEA was
proposed by a Curry ally, former JEA board member
Tom Petway, but Curry mostly fell back to boileras
politics
moved
front and
center,
Downtown
progress
sputtered.
Promising
projects
slid down
the agenda.
22
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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We are
waiting,
Mr. Mayor.
We give
you an A+
for trying.
But we
need more
evidence of
progress.
plate comments on the issue.
Instead of a debate on the merits of selling JEA,
the city ended up dealing with infighting at City Hall
between Curry and City Council President Anna
Lopez Brosche.
Brosche must accept some responsibility for the
tension. For example, she disrespectfully refused to
allow the mayor to speak at a City Council meeting.
At deadline, she acknowledged she is thinking
about a run for mayor herself after her term ends.
In an interview with the Times-Union for J
magazine, Curry declined to grade his performance
on Downtown, but he sensed the frustration of the
Times-Union Editorial Board.
“I wouldn’t grade myself because I believe you’re
only as good as what you have done today,” he said.
“While I can sit here and list the accomplishments we
have done in office that were stalled before I got here,
I remain as frustrated with some of the hurdles and
bureaucratic stuff that we have to go through, but I’m
fighting it like no administration in recent times.”
Curry mentioned attracting UNF, FSCJ and JU
students to attend classes and even live Downtown
as well as renovations of the Laura Street Trio, the
Barnett Bank Building and the Cowford Chophouse.
We agree with the mayor. These are significant
steps. We just can’t afford to stall out. We must push
ourselves collectively in order to truly revitalize our
Downtown.
Unfortunately, we are still dealing with the unsightly
eyesores of the Northbank — The Jacksonville
Landing, the old City Hall and courthouse and
Berkman II.
Curry noted that money has been budgeted for
demolishing the old City Hall and courthouse, and
bids are being sought. Meanwhile, the Downtown
Investment Authority has invited proposals by
developers for a convention center on that site.
As for Berkman II, it’s a privately owned development,
and Curry still insists his administration is
near a resolution. The city has cancelled the Landing’s
lease and demanded the buildings.
We are waiting, Mr. Mayor. We give you an A+ for
trying. But we need more evidence — more hardcore
evidence — of progress.
Yes, the dramatic plans by the Jaguars for a
mixed-use entertainment district near TIAA Bank
Field show what a public-private partnership can
do. After all, the Jaguars and the city have worked
together successfully on stadium improvements
like those massive scoreboards and Daily’s Place.
The new plans are uplifting and extraordinary —
eventually a $2.5 billion development.
In conjunction with future developments, Curry
has pushed for funding to tear down the Hart Bridge
ramp, which will allow a much more dramatic
mixed-use development at the Shipyards site. State
funding is in place. Federal funding is in the works.
And that is good.
Curry has told the Editorial Board that there are
investors just waiting to get involved Downtown.
“There are a number of meetings that have happened
in the last six to 12 months, people who are
working on doing things Downtown, working with
DIA. I don’t know where we are in the process of all
that, but there is real money, new money, playing in
different spaces Downtown.’’
We’ll take your word for it, Mr. Mayor, but we
are watching. Words will start to ring hollow if the
public doesn’t see real money, making real projects
happen.
To accomplish our goals, we must come together
and collaborate as a team.
The battle between Brosche and the mayor over
the potential of privatizing JEA sucked a lot of air
out of the civic balloon. We ask: Is the damage longterm?
We hope not.
“I have no desire to engage in disputes,” Curry
said. “I have for a year focused on projects that I care
about, policies that I care about. We’ve got to rise
above it. I have great relationships with most on City
Council. I don’t expect to be communicating with
future council leadership through the media.”
Curry’s pushing through the pension sales tax
was an amazing piece of political craftsmanship.
Even political insiders didn’t think he could work
through all the approvals — City Council, the Legislature
and a vote of the people.
UNF Political Science Professor Matthew Corrigan
sees this controversy with Brosche as “serious
but temporary.” In July, Aaron Bowman will take
over as City Council president, and he has impressive
leadership experience as commanding officer
of Naval Station Mayport.
Has Curry been hurt? Polling by UNF for the
Times-Union shows some slippage. While still at 56
percent, his overall approval has dropped significantly,
and his disapproval numbers have doubled
to 26 percent.
For Curry himself, communication is one of
the most important parts of leadership. Think of
Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, different
politically but both great communicators.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has said
that swagger and a push are needed to get things
done. Curry has the swagger, and he is willing to
push. “I have as much a sense of urgency as anybody
to get things done,” Curry said. “I’m just having
to navigate the landscape that I’ve been dealt.”
As important as mayoral leadership is, the
challenge extends to the essential strategic partners
— particularly the City Council and its leadership
and the business community and its leadership, JAX
Chamber and the Civic Council.
As political scientist Corrigan said, Downtown
has seen a great many plans and brilliant proposals
but far too little actual activity. When we make a
little progress, it stalls.
Corrigan said the ultimate test of Curry’s leadership
will be if Downtown looks different, and Curry
immediately agreed. Downtown needs Curry to be
the strong leader that we know he can be.
And then, in any orchestra, even the best conductor
is only as good as the players making the music.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 23

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LEADING
INDICATORS
By the Times-Union Editorial Board
ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF DAVIS // J MAGAZINE

DLEA
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What we are
asking them
to share is an
unwavering
commitment
Downtown revitalization is not just a
to Downtown
project. It’s an intense, complex process, really a
cause, which requires an artful conglomeration of
revitalization
people with vision, power and talent working as a
team, with each member contributing some kind of and, when
leadership.
To be successful, it takes folks ranging from Shad necessary, an
Khan to Aundra Wallace to Lenny Curry to Lori
Boyer.
ability and
They bring different kinds of resources and
power, and they all have distinct personalities and
willingness
degrees of introversion/extroversion. They come
to compromise
from different roots. They have varying styles of
operating. Some are locals; some have moved to in the spirit of
Jacksonville from far away.
Importantly, they serve very different constit-
leadership.
uencies. While billionaire Khan is at a stage and
station in life where he can be his only constituent,
others have bosses of one kind or another. The
elected officials are acutely aware they will have to
face voters in the next election. Organization leaders
have to represent their boards and members.
Businesspeople and investors have to answer to the
marketplace.
What we are asking them to share is an unwavering
commitment to Downtown revitalization
and, when necessary, an ability and willingness to
compromise in the spirit of leadership.
Khan knew Jacksonville from years of using its
port for his auto parts business. He knows what
business success looks like. And he knows what
great cities look like
all over the world.
Jacksonville has the
physical beauty that
compares with the
best. It just needs a
smartly timed push
forward.
Daniel Davis, the
president and CEO
of the JAX Chamber,
knows Jacksonville
from his roots on the
Westside. Success in
City Council and the
Florida Legislature,
combined with experience
in the construction
industry, augment
his commitment to
Downtown.
Lori Boyer does the
hard work of research,
analyzing facts and
finding connections.
Her gift is putting
8 Qualities
That Define
Great
Leadership
1. Sincere enthusiasm
2. Integrity
3. Great communication
skills
4. Loyalty
5. Decisiveness
6. Managerial
competence
7. Empowerment
8. Charisma
SOURCE: Forbes
everything together. That led her to finding ways to
capitalize on Jacksonville’s magnificent waterfront.
Aundra Wallace brings experience to the actual
process of developing Downtown projects. It’s a
whole lot easier developing a vacant piece of farmland
than digging into an old, historic building that
hides all sorts of expensive surprises.
Among the leaders on the following pages,
you’ll find our neighbor, John Q. Cynic. He, or she,
can criticize and find fault — or can contribute
open-mindedness in support of the community.
These and other leaders are essential in reviving
Downtown — along with a conductor to synergize
this orchestra of development.
Together they bring chemistry and energy and
intellect on which we must capitalize and continue
to improve. Teamwork among them is paramount
to success for the community.
After a year of publication, J magazine, on the
following pages, offers this assessment of Downtown
Jacksonville’s leaders:
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 25

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Mover & shaker
willpower & political skill
Stuck with an eyesore
NAME
Shad Khan
TITLE
Jaguars owner
Shad Khan, owner of the Jacksonville
Jaguars, has called himself the city’s No.
1 salesman.
He has put his money where his team
plays with partnerships not only in the
stadium area but in other Jacksonville
businesses. Most recently, he and the
Jaguars announced an ambitious and
imminent mixed-use development to be
built in Lot J at TIAA Bank Field.
Khan praises the beauty of Jacksonville
and is mystified by our city’s lack of
self-esteem. “A homeless guy in Detroit
has more mojo than a millionaire in Jacksonville,”
Khan said in 2014.
Later he explained, “What the comment
meant in a good way is there is a
very relaxed vibe here. OK. A lot of times,
you need a certain swagger or a push to
get things done. So one of the characteristics
you see outside —beautiful sun,
beaches, great lifestyle — your blood
pressure goes down when you step off
the plane here. Those are all great things.”
Jacksonville has a cadre of young professionals,
a low cost of living, a vitality
and an energy, Khan said.
He said he has an emotional and a
financial bond with this city.
“We want to flourish here,” he said in
2016. What’s good for Jacksonville is good
for the Jaguars, and vice versa.
It certainly has worked for the Jaguars.
The value of the franchise has increased
from $840 million in 2013 (31st of the 32
teams) to $1.95 billion (25th of the teams).
NAME
Lenny Curry
TITLE
Jacksonville mayor
You might think a mayor would show
up on such a list of leaders by default, but
this mayor earned his way here by using
his determination and political abilities
to achieve complicated public-employee
pension reform, culminating in a
successful sales tax referendum. While
power comes with the position in a
strong-mayor form of government, Lenny
Curry wielded it masterfully.
Over the past year, however, he
allowed himself to become tangled in
an embarrassing public tussle with City
Council President Anna Lopez Brosche
over the clumsy and ill-timed proposal
to consider selling JEA. Then there was
the awkward creation of the Kids Hope
Alliance.
We hope Curry learned that transparency
in how he wields his mayoral power
can go a long way toward building the
kind of coalition necessary to accomplish
the gargantuan task of Downtown
revitalization.
With that, he can use his proven
sheer force of will and political skill to
coalesce other leaders and get wrecking
balls swinging, shovels in the ground and
cranes in the air. There are opportunities
and needs all over Downtown where
leadership by Curry can have quick and
powerful impact.
If they happen, it will be the legacy of
a strong mayor.
NAME
Toney Sleiman
TITLE
Developer
When John Delaney heard that Toney
Sleiman had taken over operation of the
Jacksonville Landing, he was excited
because Sleiman had been so successful
with his other real estate ventures, including
successfully developing some of
the former blighted areas at Jacksonville
Beach.
So it is a tragedy the Sleiman family
has been unable to make the Landing
work.
The festival marketplace did not have
the local population or the tourists to
support it. Over the years, the onceproud
riverfront icon has become an
eyesore, the faded orange roof reminiscent
of a Howard Johnson’s.
A series of recent proposals by the
Sleimans have not clicked. One of the
key problems is linked to the addition of
apartments to the relatively small site.
Apartments might make the development
work financially, but a poll conducted
by UNF showed that the people
don’t want them.
What they want is what the Landing
used to be — an attractive place to meet,
relax, have a few beverages, dine and be
entertained.
The Landing still is used as a community
gathering place, but most Duval
County residents say they only visit a few
times a year at most.
The Sleimans would do the community
a true favor by taking a reasonable
buyout from the city.
26
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Making the waterfront work
Making things happen
Buildings speak VOLUMES
NAME
Lori Boyer
TITLE
City Councilwoman
Every City Council president has a
unique challenge, to find a focus area in
just one year that will carry over after the
presidency ends.
Lori Boyer found a real winner: activation
of the St. Johns River.
Boyer has a strong work ethic. She does
the hard research and has the analytical
ability to find connections.
Those dual abilities led her to finding
a way to make better use of Jacksonville’s
greatest natural resource, the St. Johns
River.
Though Downtown is criticized as too
big, Boyer was not deterred. She discovered
plans being developed by local
architects and came up with an idea for
a series of “nodes” along the Downtown
riverfront. Connect those nodes and —
boom — the river becomes something like
the Disney World of natural attractions.
The St. Johns at its widest Downtown is
like the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
McCoys Creek, which empties into the
St. Johns at the Times-Union Building at
1 Riverside Ave., is like the river in San
Antonio.
Hogans Creek, though marred by pollution,
could be an attraction for kayakers.
As the council liaison with the Downtown
Investment Authority and a leader of
the Jacksonville Waterways Commission
and the Tourism Development Board,
Boyer has been one of the most successful
council presidents in recent years.
NAME
Aundra Wallace
TITLE
DIA CEO
Building on a piece of farmland —
which is the case in suburbia — is easy.
Building Downtown and restoring a
historic structure immediately raises the
cost, which can require an additional
investor or some kind of governmental
help.
Anytime an old building is renovated,
there will be costly surprises.
That’s why Downtown development
takes more time and money than starting
with a blank piece of farmland.
Downtown needs a guide, a leader
who knows the pitfalls, who knows the
funding sources, who knows where to
push and when to lead.
Inevitably it means creating partnerships
among government, business,
nonprofits and a skeptical public.
Aundra Wallace came to the Downtown
Investment Authority with experience
in Miami and Detroit. He has
earned the trust of a board of directors
that recently voted to give him a raise.
As the Kenny Rogers song goes, he
also knows when to fold ’em. A proposed
financing vehicle for the dramatic development
on the Southbank, the District,
raised many questions so Wallace went
back to the drawing board and crafted a
more traditional plan that protects the
taxpayers. Much of the governmental
support will come in additional tax revenues
produced directly by the development.
NAME
Steve Moore
TITLE
Developer
If you’re looking for activity Downtown,
cranes to be exact, look no further
than LaVilla.
There you will find the completed
Lofts at LaVilla and the Lofts at Monroe,
expected to be finished this fall. Coming
are Lofts at Jefferson Station.
Somewhat quietly, the Vestcor Co.,
founded by John Rood, has been behind
important housing projects for some
time. President Steve Moore is responsible
for the overall direction and performance
of Vestcor.
Results Downtown speak for themselves.
The Vestcor projects may have as big
an impact on Downtown as anything
in some time because of the amount of
housing being brought in, said former
Mayor John Delaney.
The company renovated two historic
Downtown towers into apartments, the
Carling and 11 East Forsyth, in accordance
with their place on the National
Register of Historic Buildings.
Experts on Downtown say success
relies entirely on people living there. Residents
will attract the services that will
make Downtown inviting again.
The company’s vision is based on
“high ethical standards” that drive
performance along with helping others
through charity.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 27

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Big thinker, big doer Impossible dreamer Brash & talented
NAME
Peter Rummell
TITLE
Developer
NAME
Nat Ford
TITLE
JTA CEO
A rare citizen who puts his considerable
money where his mouth is, Peter Authority was a sleepy independent
The Jacksonville Transportation
Rummell bankrolled One Spark for several
years.
So he embarked on a thorough rede-
authority when Nat Ford arrived.
Now he is a major force behind a
sign of the bus routes to make them more
development on the Southbank that is effective without costing more money.
likely to be watched both nationally and And he did it in a way that produced very
worldwide.
little public outcry, to the astonishment
The District on the old JEA Southside of many observers. In response, other
Generating Station site near the school big city transportation executives came
board building will be in essence a small to Jacksonville to observe the minor
city. It will have an extension of the Riverwalk,
a trail that surrounds the property And Ford was elected head of his
miracle.
through a wooded area, an open design trade industry organization.
to encourage public access, a marina,
Then it was on to another impossible
an office tower, various housing units, a task. The JTA volunteered to take over
small grocery store and a drug store.
the Mayport ferry. One wonders why this
Piecemeal developments Downtown had never happened previously. After
haven’t worked. The District will be both all, the ferry connects two pieces of state
self-contained and accessible to the
road, and the JTA is a state transportation
public.
agency. This, too, has happened with
It will be designed to encourage
little controversy. JTA is improving the
healthy living. And this will be more than ferry and even earning decent revenues
a marketing gimmick since the developers
will be enlisting an academic study to Now on to another impossible dream,
from it.
document the health of the residents. what to do with the Skyway Express. The
As a leader of the Urban Land Institute
and a former executive with Walt even replacement parts. So Ford enlisted
elevated trams were so old there weren’t
Disney and the St. Joe Co., Rummell
a community group that suggested making
the Skyway part of a longer Down-
knows what a dynamic development
looks like. He wants to bring one to Jacksonville.
cars.
town mass transit system using driverless
If it works as planned, it will be a real Now this driverless system is gaining
game changer and Rummell’s legacy to a national attention, too.
city he clearly loves.
We can only wonder which impossible
dream Ford will take up next.
28 J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018
NAME
Anna Lopez Brosche
TITLE
City Councilwoman
The Times-Union Editorial Board was
impressed by Anna Lopez Brosche when
she received our endorsement for a City
Council at-large seat. But even we were
surprised by her coup — earning a City
Council presidency after just two years
in office.
She did it with the crucial support
of the city’s African-American council
members. In return, they gained some
prestigious committee assignments, such
as Finance.
But Brosche’s inexperience showed
when she became embroiled in a nasty
public dispute with Mayor Lenny Curry.
Both are strong and talented individuals.
Brosche’s supporters portray Curry as
a bully who prefers behind-the-scenes
maneuvers.
However, Brosche has to take some
responsibility for the dispute.
When Brosche refused to let Curry
speak at a special City Council meeting,
she made a bad situation worse. Chances
are, Curry would have made a few brief
comments, and that would have been
that.
In the final analysis, Brosche’s legacy
may be found in three special committees
at the end of her term on these
subjects: the future of JEA, the city’s civil
rights history and transparency in local
government.

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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATOR
Outside THE batter’s box
History of LEADERSHIP
NAME
Daniel Davis
TITLE
JAX Chamber CEO
JAX Chamber has its headquarters
right at the foot of the Main Street Bridge
Downtown. So the Chamber is committed
to Downtown improvements.
Much of the Chamber’s activities have
to be conducted in private, but it’s fair to
say that little is done Downtown without
some involvement from the Chamber
and its president and CEO.
Davis, a former City Council president
and member of the Florida House, was
one of the more effective legislators in
our experience. He also has a refreshing,
open, straightforward approach as a
communicator.
He led helped bring Florida TaxWatch
to evaluate the city’s finances, which led
to the first warning sound on the city’s
unfunded pension crisis.
Now he is focusing big time on Downtown
since that is the top priotory of this
year’s Chamber chair, John Peyton. That is
expected to carry over into future years.
Peyton’s combination of business and
government experience will make a good
mix in a Downtown on the rise.
Davis is the right CEO to work with
business and government, both of which
are necessary for success Downtown.
“You can’t have one without the other,”
Davis told J.
“I’ve been bullish on Downtown but
never more than right now … As long as
I’m at the chamber, I will keep my foot on
the gas to help Jacksonville’s Downtown
succeed.”
NAME
Ken Babby
TITLE
Jumbo Shrimp owner
They all laughed when they heard the
new name of the Jacksonville Suns.
The Jumbo Shrimp? What was he
thinking? The Suns’ name had been part
of Jacksonville for almost 50 years. An online
petition earned 7,000 names to keep
the Suns’ name.
But the controversy, in the end, was
good.
Weird names have become a minor
league tradition. Think of Babby’s other
team, the Akron RubberDucks, or the
Lansing Lugnuts.
The Jumbo Shrimp grew on people,
especially when merged into the fun of the
minor league baseball game.
The team increased attendance last year
by 23 percent, the highest average since
2008 and second in the Southern League.
The final score isn’t always the biggest
reason to attend a minor league game; it’s
the experience, the fun between innings,
the promotions.
Babby took his fun and games and
made this Downtown entertainment
venue even more fun.
The Suns weren’t broken, but with a
beautiful stadium, there was room for a
little excitement. Coming this season will
be a Ronnie Van Zant bobblehead night.
It’s a natural.
Where will this end?
It’s all entertainment.
And baseball is a part of the diverse
entertainment mix that can only be found
Downtown.
NAME
Aaron Bowman
TITLE
City Councilman
The military has a way of identifying
and rewarding leaders. You do well, or
you are washed out.
Aaron Bowman served 28 years in
the U.S. Navy and retired after serving
as commanding officer of Naval Station
Mayport. That meant he was leading 800
people, about half civilians.
Like so many other Navy veterans,
Bowman retired in Jacksonville. He’s a
top executive for recruitment and expansion
activities at JAX USA Partnership.
And he’s the incoming City Council
president. Bowman has an easygoing
personality that certainly will be effective
on the recruiting trail. He also has the
quiet confidence earned by his leadership
experiences.
He will be following a controversial
term of Anna Lopez Brosche that was
marked by tense relations with Mayor
Lenny Curry. Bowman said he has a
cordial and respectful relationship with
Curry.
Bowman has observed out-of-town
investors remarking on the poor services
available Downtown. He recognizes the
need to get moving on redevelopment
before another recession hits.
He can be counted on not to make
change for change’s sake but to set clear
objectives for his single year in office.
Being quietly effective is a traditional
trait found in successful Jacksonville
leaders. Bowman has it.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 29

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Downtown’s cheerleader
Family commitment
Cathedral as stimulus
30 J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018
NAME
NAME
NAME
Mike Balanky Ginny Myrick Jake Gordon
TITLE
TITLE
TITLE
Developer
Consultant
DVI CEO
Some residents still can’t accept the
Southbank as part of Downtown. But it
has long been considered as such dating
back to recruiting Prudential to locate
a regional headquarters office building
there in the 1950s.
Mike Balanky spent years with his
father on business ventures on the
Southbank. And it has given him both
business and personal pleasure to be a
major developer there.
His Kings Avenue project attracted
a Hilton Garden Inn that turned a JTA
parking garage into one key part of a
development.
He lives in San Marco Place with
his parents. And he has grand plans for
another tower in that vicinity.
He imagines a new tower across the
St. Johns River. Now imagine a new convention
center on the old City Hall and
courthouse site directly across the river
on the Northbank. Then he imagines an
aerial gondola, an iconic feature connecting
Northbank and Southbank. The
convention center would provide enough
riders to make the transit economical.
Other cities are attracted by aerial transportation
because gondolas skip the cost
and complications involved in acquiring
property and rights of way.
Apart from the developments, Balanky
has a personal commitment to Downtown
that Jacksonville needs.
St. John’s Cathedral has been a major
developer Downtown with its towers for
seniors, a nursing home, the Cathedral
Foundation and other housing options.
Episcopal deans have turned its religious
influence Downtown into housing
developments.
While people and businesses left
Downtown over the years, the Cathedral’s
leaders felt called to stay.
Now Dean Kate Moorehead, as
talented a leader as ever in this diocese,
has turned to Ginny Myrick to lead new
developments.
Myrick is a longstanding parishioner, a
community leader and a former leader on
City Council.
As Moorehead wrote in 2016, the goal
is “Live-Work-Shop-Play.” It’s all about balance,
or as developers put it, mixed-use.
Ministering to the poor — a righteous
goal if ever there was one — unconsciously
created urban blight. The idea now is
to create a neighborhood, not to displace
the poor but to provide a balance.
As Lilla Ross wrote for J magazine, the
model can even be traced to the medieval
cathedral, which was the center of village
life.
There are 33 blocks around the
church that are ripe for smart, thoughtful
development and a little help from the
heavens.
Myrick has the political experience,
technical skill and personal commitment
to make it happen.
While one of the major roles of
leading Downtown Vision Inc. — the
nonprofit that represents Downtown
Jacksonville’s private-property stakeholders
— is to be an unabashed cheerleader
for living, working and doing business in
the city center, Jake Gordon has become
far more than that as the organization’s
CEO.
Gordon, who became head of Downtown
Vision in 2015, has become an
energetic and articulate force of nature
in Downtown Jacksonville, one who is
relentless in his desire to make it a better
place to be than it was the previous day.
Gordon’s ability to work well with
Downtown’s business community, City
Hall, neighborhood groups and other
nonprofits has led to tangible improvements
in the city center, including an
increase in the number of Downtown
Ambassadors and the addition of a social
service outreach specialist, Cynthia Ray,
who works directly with Downtown
transients to guide them toward more
promising paths.
How effective is Gordon’s approach
to promoting Downtown Jacksonville’s
renaissance? At least two Downtown
stakeholders who are under no obligation
to financially support Downtown
Vision because they are tax-exempt properties
— the First Baptist Church and the
Police and Fire Pension Fund — make
contributions anyway because of their
trust in Gordon.

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Energetic on two fronts
UNDAUNTED
BACK IN THE MIX
NAME
Tim Cost
TITLE
JU president
As a Jacksonville University graduate
and now president, Tim Cost has made
a large impact on Jacksonville since his
return five years ago.
Cost brought a successful business
career to his new role as a college president,
and that has helped as he led major
improvements to JU as well as well as
enhanced its role in the city. He is the
current chair of the Jacksonville Civic
Council, an influential group of business
and civic leaders.
Rather than stay comfortable on
campus, Cost has moved to help revive
Arlington, a neighborhood clearly on a
tipping point.
In addition, bringing college students
Downtown is one sure way to energize the
area. Students use Downtown services,
they eat and entertain there, and that
means they are less likely to want to escape
swiftly to the suburbs.
Early in its history, JU operated out
of the First Baptist Church and Florida
Theatre. It wasn’t until 1950 that JU moved
to Arlington.
Now with classrooms in the SunTrust
Tower, JU is helping to invigorate Downtown.
“It’s a proud moment for us,” Cost said.
The Downtown branch has programs
from the Davis College of Business and
the Nathan M. Bisk Center for Professional
Studies. One can envision other
programs having making a natural fit
there, as well.
NAME
Steve Atkins
TITLE
Developer
As a cover story in the February issue
of J magazine proclaimed, Steve Atkins
has been “undaunted” by all the difficulties
involved in bringing the Barnett Bank
building and Laura Street Trio back to life.
It took a special kind of commitment
to make this work, one that only someone
with deep local connections would have.
Atkins is not the first person to want to
renovate these historic buildings. The list
of previous failures is long. But he is the
first to actually make it work.
He has worked with three mayors. He
has received financial help from Shad
Khan’s investment firm and, ultimately
successfully, the Molasky Group of
Companies. “The whole process was an
unconventional means to an end,” Atkins
told J.
Being unconventional is a requirement
with the older buildings Downtown. Each
has its own story and complications.
The project looked as if it would
fall apart many times, said Jim Bailey,
chairman of the Downtown Investment
Authority.
But Atkins refused to quit. The slightest
bit of light in the tunnel was enough
to keep him involved.
Before too long, the Barnett Building
will be filled with students, banking and
retail. The Laura Street Trio will have a
Courtyard by Marriott, a restaurant, a
boutique grocery store and rooftop bar.
Future generations will take it for
granted. But we won’t.
NAME
John Peyton
TITLE
JAX Chamber Chair
It’s not as if John Peyton became 2018
chair of JAX Chamber because he needed
something to do.
Yes, it has been nearly seven years
since the two-term mayor of Jacksonville
left office, but Peyton, 53, has plenty on
his plate in his day job as president and
CEO of Gate Petroleum.
Still, the opportunity to lead the
Chamber at a time when Downtown has
money and momentum behind it was too
great an opportunity to pass up.
Peyton long has seen Jacksonville’s
consolidated government as an advantage.
And he now sees opportunity for
JAX Chamber and Jacksonville Civic
Council to help prioritize work that grows
out of the Downtown master plan.
With the development of The District
on the Southbank and seemingly imminent
growth near TIAA Bank Stadium, he
sees growing support in the nexus that is
the Northbank and urban core.
And he’s excited to lead the Chamber
as it plays a key role.
“We’ve been really trying to position
the Chamber as the convener for others
that would like to be on the ground floor
as we try to create critical mass,” he said.
“We think the tipping point for really
changing the dynamics Downtown is
having 10,000 residents. We’re less than
half of that now, but there’s a lot of activity
now.”
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 31

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Historic transformation
Downtown innovator
NAME
NAME
Jacques Klempf Sherry Magill
TITLE
TITLE
Businessman Nonprofit leader
Downtown Jacksonville is full of
Sherry Magill, who has retired as the
historic buildings. The trick is doing
leader of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, has
something with them.
spent most of her illustrious career working
on the human needs in Jacksonville
Tearing them down would be a
shame, but the finances of renovation and several other cities.
generally require city incentives or additional
investment to make them work. Burns Library the new headquarters for
But by making the former Haydon
The Bostwick Building was a special the duPont Fund and other nonprofits in
case. It was one of the first buildings
the area, Magill had a major impact on
drivers see when exiting the Main Street Downtown.
bridge on the Northbank, one of several In the process, she brought experts to
notable eyesores in that part of the Central
Business District.
federal tax credits, the economies of
the city to provide advice on financing,
It was close to being torn down when renovating older historic structures and
the city went to court to obtain possession.
A group led by Jacques Klempf
Make no mistake, renovating an older
many other subjects.
bought the building in 2014.
building is always full of nasty surprises.
It takes longer than expected and
The city provided a $500,000 grant and
a $250,000 loan. Then the owners poured involves a hefty additional expense to
at least $10 million of their own money to constructing a new building.
make the project work.
A successful Downtown requires the
The Cowford Chophouse opened in successful collaboration of business,
late 2017.
government and nonprofit sectors. Magill
Mayor Lenny Curry had to resolve has not only led the influential duPont
a dispute between the owners and JEA Fund but has spurred the creation and
over whether underground utility equipment
there posed a risk to the building’s the area.
involvement of other key nonprofits in
foundation.
Downtown has the potential to bring
But it took Klempf to have the financial
ability, the patience and persistence turning a former library into a nonprofit
together all of the best of Jacksonville. By
to make it work.
magnet, Magill has made an impact for a
Now the Downtown has an elite
lifetime.
restaurant just steps from the Elbow entertainment
district, the Florida Theatre will find the time to continue to share
Let’s hope that in retirement Magill
and other Downtown landmarks.
her expertise with special emphasis on
Downtown.
32 J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018
Eternal wet blanket
NAME
John Q. Cynic
TITLE
Jacksonville naysayer
There always seem to be a loud group
of residents with negative attitudes about
Downtown development.
They don’t trust government.
They don’t like taxes.
They don’t think Downtown is any more
worthy than any other neighborhood.
They tend to live in the suburbs where
cars rule, and they can easily bypass
Downtown.
They rarely come Downtown, so their
perceptions are based on myths and fear.
So when a big development is proposed
Downtown, we hear about every
failed project in the past as an excuse to
do nothing in the future.
They forget the suburbs receive incentives,
too — in new roads, water and sewer
lines, electric utilities, schools. Jacksonville,
doesn’t have impact fees, these improvements
come from the rest of the taxpayers.
If the skeptics had their way, we know
what Downtown would look like. Blight
would simply spread.
Jacksonville always has had these naysayers.
There were the black hats during
consolidation who were content with the
old corrupt government.
There were people who said Jacksonville
would never get an NFL team.
They were people who said the public
schools couldn’t improve.
They were proved wrong over and over.
Thank goodness for the great majority
who understand that a city without a
vibrant downtown is not a city at all.

904.276.6815

LEA
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ISSUE
LEADING FROM THE TOP
HOW WELL IS JACKSONVILLE’S STRONG MAYOR FORM OF GOVERNMENT
WORKING SINCE CITY-COUNTY CONSOLIDATION IN 1968?
BY MIKE CLARK // ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF DAVIS // J MAGAZINE

TLEA
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ISSUE
The history of Downtown must begin
with leadership, or the lack of it, from the Mayor’s
Office, after consolidation created a strong mayor
form of government.
Jim Crooks, retired as a UNF historian, wrote the
book, “Jacksonville: The Consolidation Story from
Civil Rights to the Jaguars?”
He noted that some mayors have had an in-yourface
style — Tommy Hazouri and Jake Godbold —
while others have been more collaborative — John
Delaney and John Peyton.
The first mayor of the consolidated city-county
government was Hans Tanzler, a reform mayor
first elected under the old government. He had the
gravitas of a former judge and benefited from a
new government filled with strong local leaders.
Tanzler attracted outstanding people to the new
government, people interested in ethics, diversity
While not a
charismatic
public
speaker or
a natural
politician,
TANZLER’S
force of
character
had a George
Washingtonstyle
impact on
the new
government.
and efficiency.
Crooks called the Tanzler style one of professionalism.
Early consolidated government focused
on both efficiency and progressivism. The Human
Rights Commission was established under Tanzler’s
watch, and his administration included some outstanding
African-American officials.
While not a charismatic public speaker or a natural
politician, his force of character had a George
Washington-style impact on the new government.
Tanzler left office to run for governor. That bid
failed, leaving City Council President Jake Godbold
to fill the mayoral vacancy and then run himself for
the office.
Stylistically Godbold couldn’t have been more
different from Tanzler. A man of the working class,
Godbold was intent on showing the elite that he
could be good for business. He pushed and prodded
and got things done.
The new Southbank Riverwalk became a setting
for all kinds of events as the Downtown riverfront
opened up to the masses, not just those with money.
The Jacksonville Jazz Festival created a sense of
excitement while Metropolitan Park was opened on
the Northbank for concerts.
Godbold’s second term was marred by federal
indictments of some of the top people in his administration,
but Godbold’s can-do attitude shows what
can be done in a strong mayor form of government.
Tommy Hazouri followed and showed how
much can be done with aggressive leadership. He
led a move to replace tolls with a local sales tax,
and he pushed successfully for strong air pollution
standards.
In just four years, Jacksonville’s two most negative
traits — tolls and stinking air — were removed.
Hazouri lost his re-election bid to Ed Austin,
thanks to an unpopular garbage tax proposal, a
controversial landfill site and opposition from the
Republican establishment, but his legacy remains.
Orlando now is tolltown, and other cities with pulp
and paper mills can claim the smelly air title.
Austin followed with the kind of gravitas of consolidation’s
founding fathers. Austin also attracted
talented people to government like John Delaney,
Audrey Moran, Rick Mullaney and Mike Weinstein.
Austin led a redevelopment project, the River
City Renaissance. While a referendum to fund a
Children’s Commission narrowly lost, Austin vowed
to gradually increase funding anyway. That’s what a
strong mayor can do.
Delaney, a protégé, succeeded Austin, and continued
his legacy.
Crooks described Delaney as “a good politician
as well as a bright guy. You need to have both.”
In his first term, Delaney put city finances in
order, setting the stage for the Better Jacksonville
Plan in the second term. This $2.2 billion project
repaved many of the city’s roads and led to building
a new arena, baseball park and Downtown library.
In fact, the library project became one the most
appreciated aspects of the Better Jacksonville Plan,
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 35

Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler poses with actress Lee
Meredith after a new city limits sign was erected in 1968.
LEA
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ISSUE
Curry began
his tenure
on an
impressive
winning
streak. But
his wins
have stalled
in the
last year,
especially
relating to
Downtown.
with several new libraries constructed and others
renovated.
The Preservation Project purchased large
amounts of land for future generations in a time
when land values were relatively cheap. Delaney’s
foresight will be appreciated by future generations.
Delaney benefited from a booming economy,
something that John Peyton did not have.
Peyton, Delaney’s successor, had been active in
civic life as a member of the Jacksonville Transportation
Authority board, but running consolidated
government is a complex task.
The Great Recession knocked the city for a loop.
Downtown development was crushed. Quality of life
was threatened unless new revenues were found.
Peyton, despite his promise not to raise taxes,
pushed three new fees through City Council: a
stormwater fee, a trash collection fee and an increase
in the franchise fee on utility bills.
Some tea party types resisted, and the Times-
Union editorial page called for more sacrifice at City
Hall before the new revenues kicked in.
By the end of Peyton’s term, it was clear that new
revenue was justified. Nobody wanted to give it
back. In fact, it was becoming clear that Jacksonville
had a new crisis based on unfunded pension costs.
Crooks: “Peyton learned on the job, and by the
second term he became a very decent mayor.”
Alvin Brown took over with an unfunded pension
cloud hanging over his administration.
Crooks said it took “a strange coincidence” for
Brown to be narrowly elected — a historically weak
opponent in Mike Hogan, while Mullaney and
Moran neutralized each other in the first election. In
the general election, a number of Republicans voted
for Brown.
Brown had difficulties. He led an incompetent
administration, and he was a Democratic mayor
with a largely Republican City Council.
That left Lenny Curry with the seemingly impossible
task of resolving the pension crisis. He led
a phenomenal campaign to pass a special pension
sales tax, convincing City Council, the Florida Legislature
and finally people at the polls.
Curry began his tenure on an impressive winning
streak. But his wins have stalled in the last year,
especially relating to Downtown.
His winner-take-all leadership style has been
characterized as bullying by his critics. Lack of
transparency also is a frequent criticism of the
administration.
Meanwhile, the 50th anniversary of consolidation
will be Oct. 1, which reminds the people of
Jacksonville that consolidating the city and county
has done more for the suburbs than the core city.
But the bottom line is this: A strong and effective
mayor is needed to make consolidated government
work. The final grade has yet to be issued on Curry.
Mike Clark has been a reporter and editor at
the Jacksonville Journal and Florida Times-Union
since 1973. He covered City Hall during the Hans
Tanzler and Jake Godbold administrations and has
been editorial page editor during the John Peyton,
Alvin Brown and Lenny Curry administrations.
JACKSONVILLE MAYORS
SINCE CITY-COUNTY
CONSOLIDATION
1960s
1970s
1979-87
Jake Godbold
Democrat
1991-95
Ed Austin Jr.
Democrat/Republican
1980s 1990s 2000s
2003-11
John Peyton
Republican
2015-current
Lenny Curry
Republican
2010s
Oct. 1, 1968:
City-county
consolidation
went into effect.
1967-79
Hans Tanzler
Democrat
1987-91
Tommy Hazouri
Democrat
1995-03
John Delaney
Republican
2011-15
Alvin Brown
Democrat
Lou Egner
36
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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Aaron Bowman is taking over his new role as City Council president.
New City Council president
wants a liveable Downtown
When incoming City
Council president
Aaron Bowman
thinks about Downtown,
he recalls one
of his early months
as a recruiter for the
JAX Chamber.
“We had an
investor here from Philadelphia, and he
was looking at the Laura Street Trio, and
he wanted to build high-end apartments
and condos because he had great success
in Philly,” Bowman said.
Bowman met him for breakfast, and the
visitor told this story.
“I don’t get much sleep, so about 5:30
I decided to walk the streets of Jacksonville.
The streets were very clean, I felt safe
and I walked for about an hour trying to
get a cup of coffee. I can’t put the type of
building I want down here because your
city’s dead. Then yesterday I realized I had
forgotten my tie. I asked the concierge
where I could buy a tie around here, and
he said you can’t.”
The Philadelphia investor had an option
on the building, but he walked away.
“That hit me,” Bowman said. “He was
right.”
Bowman’s job with JAXUSA Partnership
involves mostly manufacturing and
logistics, but occasionally he gets involved
in the office field.
“We’ve had more than one prospective
client come in and say, ‘Our company
likes to be downtown, our employees
don’t have cars, they don’t cook, they want
recreation, lifestyle, stores within walking
distance.’
“We were struggling with what we can
accomplish here. Yet one of the companies
that said that ended up coming,” Bowman
said.
So as Bowman looks forward to his year
as City Council president, he realizes how
important it is for Jacksonville to have a
thriving Downtown. He sees evidence of
the problems every day from his offices at
the JAX Chamber
“My building is right behind the Landing.
I don’t go to the Landing,” Bowman
said. “I look out the window, and there’s a
blue tarp on the roof. That’s one of the big
things on my list to get done. Whatever the
future is, that’s debatable, but the status
quo is totally unacceptable.”
The issue remains bringing enough
people to live Downtown that retailers
will follow, Bowman said. Former Mayor
John Peyton has announced his current
term as JAX Chamber chair will focus on
Downtown.
“On a very positive note, we’re sparking
interest from outside the area,” Bowman
said.
“In the last two months, four out-oftown
companies said they are watching
Jacksonville and see investment opportunities,”
he said. “They see a thriving,
growing city with a lot of great press lately.
These are four different companies in
different segments.
“If you come in from the outside and
see these empty buildings, you don’t know
if they are available. Are they ready to be
torn down? We could do a better job. Another
building that kills me to see empty is
the old armory. That’s 50,000 square feet, a
strong-boned structure.”
Bowman has a unique set of skills to
lead City Council. As the commanding
officer at Naval Station Mayport for three
years, he supervised 800 people — about
half military, half civilian.
The elephant in the room: How is
Bowman’s relationship with Mayor Lenny
Curry? Relations between outgoing
President Anna Lopez Brosche and Curry
became toxic. Bowman says it is cordial
and professional.
— MIKE CLARK
BOB SELF
“Whatever the future is, that’s debatable, but the status quo is totally unacceptable.”
AARON BOWMAN
CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 37

A YEAR AFTER J Magazine’s FIRST DOWNTOWN
CHECKING THE
POLL,WE DECIDED TO DO IT AGAIN AND SEE
IF YOU HAD CHANGED YOUR MIND.
SPOILER ALERT ... YOU DID.
BY FRANK DENTON // J MAGAZINE
38
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

J MAGAZINE // SPECIAL REPORT
PULSE
ILLUSTRATION BY J MAGAZINEI“I think Downtown — with the
attention the Jaguars are placing
on it — is getting a second look
among some millennials.”
Michael Corrigan
UNF political science professor
f you can’t tell from the number of
construction cranes you see when you’re
driving around Downtown …
If you couldn’t tell from the grand openings
of Daily’s Place orthe $10 million
restaurant or the new or arising apartment
complexes …
If you can’t tell from the buzz around
Hemming Park …
You know it’s happening when it reaches
the hearts and minds of people like you,
and the fact is: Downtown is improving.
It certainly hasn’t reached critical mass
yet, or even achieved credible momentum,
but one year after The Times-Union created
J magazine dedicated to the “rebirth of
Jacksonville’s Downtown,” you and your
neighbors know something big is afoot.
A new poll for J by the University of North Florida Opinion
Research Laboratory found that 49 percent of Northeast Florida residents
believe Downtown is improving — compared to 37 percent
with that same answer a year ago.
The belief has grown even more in surrounding counties than in
Jacksonville proper. In Duval, those who are seeing improvement
increased from 42 percent in 2017 to 51 percent this year, and in
Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties, the proportion jumped from
29 percent to 46 percent.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||| READ ON » |||||
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 39

J MAGAZINE // SPECIAL REPORT
Downtown Perceptions
[What do people think of Downtown Jacksonville?]
11+19+33+37
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65-older
In general, do you think Downtown Jacksonville is ...
2017
Year over year
Improving
« 2017: 37% | 2018: 49% »
Staying the same
« 2017: 32% | 2018: 27% »
Getting worse
« 2017: 19% | 2018: 13% »
Don’t know
« 2017: 12% | 2018: 10% »
10+14+27+49
BY AGE
2018
Improving Staying the same Getting worse Don’t know
47%
32%
14%
7%
56%
64%
47%
49%
36%
25%
25%
29%
23%
30%
IN THE PAST YEAR, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU GONE DOWNTOWN ...
... FOR ENTERTAINMENT
Or LEISURE REASONS?
27+43+22+7+1
WEEKLY: 7%
ABOUT
ONCE A
MONTH:
22%
A COUPLE OF
TIMES A YEAR: 43%
DAILY: 1%
NEVER: 27%
3%
18%
19%
11%
12%
7%
9%
6%
21%
9%
... FOR PROFESSIONAL
Or WORK REASONS?
36+33+15+7+9
WEEKLY: 7%
ABOUT
ONCE A
MONTH:
15%
DAILY: 9%
A COUPLE OF
TIMES A YEAR: 33%
NEVER: 36%
“When people see all the new apartments
going up and they have waiting
lists, we see more people getting on
board,” said Jim Bailey, chair of the city’s
Downtown Investment Authority.
But a complete reading of the poll
results indicate that the progress so far
has only whetted the public’s appetite for
a vibrant, inviting Downtown. It’s getting
traction but little more. Forty percent of
people say the city center is no better (27
percent) or even worse (13 percent).
Q Q Q
Political leadership
wins approval
Despite some divisive, even brutal
political convulsions during the year, notably
over the idea of selling JEA, most poll
respondents see their Jacksonville city officials
as very or somewhat effective, and
the biggest portion of that is attributed to
increased development and attractions,
including Downtown. In Duval, elected
officials were seen as somewhat effective
by 49 percent of residents and very effective
by 6 percent, with only 26 percent
considering them ineffective.
Because of the harsh controversies
at City Hall over the past year, J asked
the UNF researchers to assess whether
the public was losing confidence in the
public officials who, until JEA diverted
them, were more focused on Downtown
development.
In addition to showing general overall
approval of their elected officials, 53
percent of respondents said they hadn’t
changed their opinions in the past year or
two, and about the same minority percentages
saw public officials as more effective
(18 percent) or less effective (19 percent).
Those who thought elected officials
were more effective cited a number of reasons,
chief among them increased development
or attractions (21 percent) or the
performance of the mayor (15 percent).
Those who felt officials were less
effective blamed a lack of progress on
improvements (21 percent) or increased
crime (16 percent), among other things.
Q Q Q
Majority approval
for the mayor
Most Jacksonvilleans approve of Mayor
Lenny Curry’s overall performance — 18
percent strongly and 38 percent somewhat.
That 56 percent total approval is down
from other polls the last two years, both of
JEFF DAVIS
40
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

J MAGAZINE // SPECIAL REPORT
JEFF DAVIS
which showed his approval at 69 percent.
However, while the new measure was
of all Duval residents, the previous polls
were limited to smaller groups — people
who said they were “likely voters” in 2016
and “registered voters” last year, raising the
question of whether those samples’ more
politically involved citizens might also be
more critical of Curry or whoever is mayor.
But Michael Binder, the UNF political
science professor who directs the Public
Opinion Research Laboratory, said the
13-point decline is too big to explain away:
“My gut is that it has come down, probably
for two reasons. First, declining popularity
after an initial honeymoon period is pretty
standard, and second, the mayor has been
the face of a couple high-profile policy issues
that haven’t had unanimous support,”
that is, JEA and public-employee pensions.
In an interview with the Times-Union,
Curry himself said he’s pushing as hard as
he can on Downtown: “I wouldn’t grade
myself because I believe you’re only as
good as what you have done today. While I
can sit here and list the accomplishments
we have done in office that were stalled before
I got here, I remain as frustrated with
some of the hurdles and bureaucratic stuff
that we have to go through, but I’m fighting
it like no administration in recent time.”
Q Q Q
Public looking for
private investment
While mayoral leadership clearly is
essential to Downtown progress, another
key finding of the new poll is that the
public overwhelmingly says that business
leaders should “provide the most influence”
in Downtown revitalization — 45
percent, compared to 17 percent looking
to political leaders and 15 percent to
non-profit leaders.
That finding shows that the public
understands that Jacksonville can’t legislate
or decree a vibrant Downtown, and
leaders themselves say that, while private
investment will be the ultimate measure
of Downtown success, government
leadership is also necessary — to provide
infrastructure, maneuver regulations and
inspire and coordinate public-private
relationships.
“I believe there has to be a strong
partnership between political and business
leaders,” said Daniel Davis, president
and CEO of JAX Chamber. “In some
cases, you have to have political leadership
to get the pump primed. I don’t think
The Leadership Effect
[Are Jacksonville’s elected leaders meeting expectations?]
In general, WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL OPINION OF THE
ELECTED OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF JACKSONVILLE?
VERY EFFECTIVE: 6%
SOMEWHAT
EFFECTIVE: 48%
21+9+15+48+6
SOMEWHAT
INEFFECTIVE: 15%
VERY INEFFECTIVE: 9%
DON’T KNOW: 21%
In THE PAST YEAR OR TWO, DO YOU THINK THE ELECTED
OFFICIALS IN THE CITY OF JACKSONVILLE HAVE BECOME?
more EFFECTIVE: 20%
LESS EFFECTIVE: 14%
14+51+14+20
STAYED THE
SAME: 51%
DON’T KNOW: 14%
WHY HAS YOUR OPINION CHANGED?
MORE EFFECTIVE:
19% Increased development/attractions
12% Increased public safety
11% Addressing community needs
10% Good mayor
7% Leadership change
6% Downtown revitalization
6% General improvement
LESS EFFECTIVE:
20% No progress/improvements
15% Increased crime
14% Lack of focus/hard work
10% Use of funds
6% JEA privatization
6% Political reasons
DO YOU APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE OF THE WAY
THAT LENNY CURRY IS HANDLING HIS JOB AS MAYOR?
17%
STRONGLY
APPROVE
40%
SOMEWHAT
APPROVE
13%
SOMEWHAT
DISAPPROVE
9%
STRONGLY
DISAPPROVE
21%
DON’T
KNOW
WHO SHOULD
PROVIDE
THE MOST
INFLUENCE IN
REVITALIZING
DOWNTOWN?
45%
BUSINESS
LEADERS
16%
POLITICAL
LEADERS
15%
NON-PROFiT
LEADERS
11%
OTHER
8%
DON’T KNOW
4%
RELIGIOUS
LEADERS
METHOD
This J magazine poll was
conducted April 10-18 by the
UNF Public Opinion Research
Laboratory. A total of 625
surveys were completed,
329 in Duval County and
296 in Clay, Nassau and St.
Johns counties. The margin of
sampling error was plus or
minus 3.9 percent overall.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 41

J MAGAZINE // SPECIAL REPORT
you can have one without the other.”
Downtown Investment Authority Chair
Bailey said the DIA is not a political body but
rather was created to facilitate stewardship
of the public interest and private investors.
“It still takes someone to put it all together
for them. That’s what we’re designed to do.”
What is slowing development, he said,
is the lack of the planned annual city
appropriation of operating and project-incentive
money for the DIA. “If we’re going
to do what we’re supposed to do, we’ve got
to have funding. Now, to do anything, we
have to go back to the council for everything
we need.”
Both Curry and Davis insist that private
investors are carefully watching Downtown
progress and waiting for the right
moment to take the plunge.
“There are a number of meetings that
have happened in the last 6 months, 12
months,” Curry said, “people who are working
on doing things Downtown, working
with DIA … there is real money, new money,
playing in different spaces Downtown.
“The frustrating thing is that everybody
thinks it’s government. But we’re also
working with third parties that have to get
the design and all that right.”
“There absolutely are people waiting
to invest,” Davis said. “Once you get the
pioneers in, the others will jump in.”
Q Q Q
Young and youngish
people taking the lead
The poll’s major finding of the widespread
perception that Downtown is
improving was especially strong among
younger people.
A year ago, 39 percent of 25- to 34-yearolds
saw an improving Downtown, and
that jumped to 56 percent in the new poll.
Even more impressively, 35- to 44-yearolds
who believe Downtown is improving
increased from 28 percent in 2017 to 64
percent this year.
“There’s more to do down there,” said
“Chris,” a 25- to 34-year-old who was
surveyed.
“The overall atmosphere,” cited another
millennial. “Downtown is improving.”
“I just think it’s improved in infrastructure,
and it’s more attractive to people to
come and do things,” a 35- to 44-year-old
told the pollster.
“I think Downtown — with the attention
the Jaguars are placing on it — is getting a
second look among some millennials,” said
Michael Corrigan, UNF political science
VOICES
Here’s what several 25- to 44-year-olds who
were polled had to say about Downtown:
“I just think it’s improved in
infrastructure, and it’s
more attractive to people
to come and do things.”
“There’s more to do
down there.”
“New bars and restaurants
and the Jaguars are bringing
more people Downtown.
The events and concerts
are making it better too.”
“Downtown seems a lot cleaner.
I see subtle differences.”
professor whose class studied millennials
and downtowns. “Also I wonder if places
like San Marco and Brooklyn are considered
Downtown by some poll respondents
— because Brooklyn has become so active.
Finally, the DIA and mayor’s attention to
Downtown probably help as well.”
(Both Brooklyn and the Northbank area
of San Marco officially are part of Downtown.)
In what should be good news for
retailers eyeing Downtown as a market,
the poll showed substantial increases in
positive views among people with higher
incomes and more education. While a
smaller percent of low-income people
saw Downtown as improving, there were
double-digit increases in the percentages
of higher-income people seeing improvement.
For example, last year, 49 percent of
those saying they make $75,000 to $100,000
declared Downtown improving; the new
poll said 61 percent see improvement.
The research also found modest but
significant increases in the frequency of
people going Downtown for leisure or entertainment
reasons — particularly among
young people. Thirty-seven percent of
25- to 34-year-olds said they go Downtown
to play about once a month — double the
percentage of a year ago. Among all Duval
respondents, two-thirds say they go Downtown
for fun sometimes, and one-third go
monthly or more often.
Q Q Q
So what’s the holdup?
Still, it’s important to consider the views
of the people who just aren’t seeing an
improving city center.
Among the 13 percent who think
Downtown is getting worse was this 45- to
54-year-old from Clay County: “I don’t
know about local politics to have a strong
opinion. It just seems like we’ve had a lot of
promises of improved development Downtown
that never happen.”
If just that last statement were put out
to a poll, it likely would get strong support.
Downtown revitalization is a goal of long
standing, often promised but not delivered
... that is, yet.
The clear conclusion of the leadership
cover package in this first-anniversary issue
of J is that, at last, all the essential pieces
seem to be coming together. The mayor and
City Council leaders swear they’re over their
distracting bickering, Mayor Curry says convincingly
that he’s refocused on Downtown,
other leaders like Shad Khan are already on
board, and JAX Chamber says the private
investment is ready to jump in.
The J poll shows the people are ready
and willing and even optimistic — if a little
frustrated they’re not already enjoying
themselves in an energized Downtown.
Frank Denton is editor of J magazine.
He lives in Riverside.
“There absolutely are people waiting
to invest [Downtown]. Once you get the
pioneers in, the others will jump in.”
DANIEL DAVIS
JAX CHAMBER CEO
42
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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THE CORDISH COMPANIES
‘no time like
the present’
SHAD KHAN’S MASSIVE $2.5 BILLION DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
WOULD INCLUDE An ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT, HOTELS, CONDOS,
APARTMENTS, OFFICE TOWERS AND A CONVENTION CENTER.
I
BY KURT CAYWOOD // J MAGAZINE
t’s 17 city blocks, or about 1.4 miles, from the
heart of downtown Jacksonville to the newly
renamed TIAA Bank Field, home of the Jaguars.
Over the years, the swath of land in between
has been paved many times over with well-intentioned
plans for demolitions, remediations
and revitalizations. And while individual successes
dot the cityscape, most big moves that
would have closed the gap between the city’s
center and its sports complex have died for lack
of a second, support or funding.
No site has been more resistant to redevelopment
than The Shipyards, a 45-acre tract on
the north bank of the St. Johns that holds all the
promise of scenic riverfront property and all
the pollution of 140 years of industrial abuse.
It seemed maybe the cycle of futility would
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 45

2
1
2
3
2
1
3
4
2
1
1
THE BIG PICTURE
GRAPHIC BY J MAGAZINE // ILLUSTRATION BY THE CORDISH COMPANIES

INSIDE THE PLANS
FOR KHAN’S $2.5B
SHIPYARDS DISTRICT
DEVELOPMENT
Shad Khan’s Iguana Investments and
Baltimore’s Cordish Companies have
teamed up on a vision to transform
the east end of Downtown near
the stadium. The project would be
rolled out in phases beginning with a
5 transformation of Parking Lot J. 5
1
4
INITIAL LOT J
DEVELOPMENT
1
2
3
4
5
Convention hotel
Office building or residential
(apartments and/or condos)
Office building
Live! arena & entertainment
complex
Public parking garage with
park/green space on roof
of structure
1
3
SECOND PHASE
OF DEVELOPMENT
1
2
3
Five-star hotel
Convention hotels
Convention center
THIRD PHASE
OF DEVELOPMENT
1
Residential (apartments
and/or condos)
EXISTING
DEVELOPMENT
1
2
3
4
TIAA Bank Field
Daily’s Place amphitheater
Florida Blue Health and
Wellness Practice Fields
Baseball Grounds of
Jacksonville
INITIAL LOT J
DEVELOPMENT
SECOND PHASE
OF DEVELOPMENT
THIRD PHASE OF
DEVELOPMENT
EXISTING
DEVELOPMENT
5
Jacksonville Veterans
Memorial Arena

ENERGIZING OTHER URBAN CITIES
A look at several of the high-profile sports and entertainment districts developed
by The Cordish Companies in recent years. The Baltimore-based company is
partnering with Shad Khan’s Iguana Investments to develop Lot J and the Shipyards.
Jacksonville
Power & Light
District
KANSAS CITY
Kansas City’s Power &
Light District comprises
nine blocks of retail,
entertainment, office and
residential space, located
adjacent to the Sprint
Center in the heart of
downtown and built
around the familiarly
themed KC Live! One of
the largest development
projects in the Midwest
at $850 million, Power
& Light has been the
cornerstone of Kansas
City’s $5 billion urban renaissance,
which includes
a new performing arts
venue, arena, convention
center expansion
and 10,000 new urban
residential units.
DETAILS:
n $850 million retail,
entertainment, office
and residential district.
n Covers nine city
blocks.
n 9.1 million annual
visitors.
n Mix of historic
renovation and new,
upscale development.
n Featured first
new luxury, high-rise
residential towers in
Kansas City market.
SOURCE: The Cordish Companies
Ballpark Village
ST. LOUIS
Ballpark Village is a $100
million project featuring
150,000 square feet of
retail, entertainment,
office and residential
space. Developed in
partnership with the
St. Louis Cardinals,
integrated with Busch
Stadium and spanning
seven city blocks,
Ballpark Village attracts
more than 6 million
visitors with more
than 150 events a year
in conjunction with
Fox Sports Midwest
Live! Development
of a second phase is
underway at a cost of
$260 million.
DETAILS:
n Partnership with the
St. Louis Cardinals.
n 150,000-sq.-ft. retail,
dining and entertainment
district.
n 6 million visitors per
year.
n Activated year round
with more than 150
programmed live events.
n $260 million
Phase 2 planning and
development underway.
Texas Live!
ARLINGTON, TEXAS
Texas Live!, a partnership
between Cordish
and the Texas Rangers,
is a $250 million dining,
entertainment and
hospitality district located
in Arlington between the
Rangers’ Globe Life Park
and the Dallas Cowboys’
AT&T Stadium. Scheduled
to open by late summer
or early fall, Texas Live!
will provide more than
1,000 permanent jobs
when facilities open. It is
part of an overall $1.25
billion vision for the
stadium area.
DETAILS:
n Partnership with the
Texas Rangers and the
City of Arlington.
n $1.25 billion
stadium and mixed-use
development.
n 200,000-sq.-ft. retail,
dining and entertainment
district.
n 300-room luxury hotel.
n 5,000-person capacity
event space.
XFINITY Live!
PHILADELPHIA
Developed in partnership
with Comcast-Spectacor,
XFINITY Live! is a 4.4-
acre dining, entertainment
and retail district in
Philadelphia and the only
mixed-use venue in the
country that shares its
location with four major
professional sports teams:
the Eagles, 76ers, Flyers
and Phillies. It boasts
more than a dozen
restaurants and bars, as
well as one of the largest
indoor HDTV screens in
the nation.
DETAILS:
n Partnership with
Comcast-Spectacor.
n $150 million district.
n More than 12
restaurant and
entertainment venues.
n Features NBC Sports
Arena, which offers
trend-setting sports/
entertainment viewing
experience.
Power Plant
Live!
BALTIMORE
Developed in partnership
with the City of
Baltimore, the Power
Plant has been internationally
cited as a model
for successful urban
revitalization. Fueled
by Power Plant Live!,
which opened in three
phases from 2001-03,
the area attracts more
than 10 million visitors
a year and is recognized
for having sparked the
redevelopment of 192
acres of dilapidated and
abandoned waterfront
property in the Baltimore
Inner Harbor.
DETAILS:
n A top tourist
destination in Maryland.
n 550,000-sq.-ft.
entertainment district.
n Iconic 1,600-capacity
live music venue.
n World-class dining and
entertainment venues.
n Spark Baltimore, a
30,000-sq.-ft. cowork
space designed to attract
technology startups and
entrepreneurs.
JEFF DAVIS
48
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

end in 2015 when the Downtown Investment Authority
chose Jaguars owner Shad Khan and his Iguana
Investments Florida as master developer for the
site. But DIA and Iguana never completed negotiations
because the city didn’t have a fully funded plan
to clean up extensive environmental contamination.
Again in 2016, DIA sought proposals for development
of the land, and again in 2017, Khan and
Iguana won approval as master developer, this
time for the Shipyards and the adjacent 25-acre
Metropolitan Park, creating a 70-acre span stretching
all the way east to the stadium.
Then another year passed without a single
shovel touching the ground.
Had Khan, the colorful billionaire known for
making things happen, met his match in a tract of
riverfront brownfield known for making revitalization
dreams die?
In a word, no.
In two words, Lot J.
At their State of the Franchise event this past
April, the Jaguars announced that they would team
with The Cordish Companies of Baltimore to develop
one of the stadium’s west parking lots, Lot J, as
the first phase of what eventually will be a vastly expanded
Shipyards District comprising 4.25 million
square feet of space at a projected cost of $2.5 billion.
“As a city and as a chamber, we’ve been visiting
cities for decades,” JAX Chamber Chairman John
Peyton said. “You start to weave a common thread
that there’s usually a catalytic event, there’s usually
a catalytic project that really sparks the renewal.
“I think that what we’ve needed in Jacksonville
is a signature project that shows momentum, where
somebody really puts their flag in the ground and
says, ‘We’re making an investment, and we’re gonna
take risks, because we believe there’s great potential.’
I think Shad Khan is the guy who’s willing to
be bullish on Downtown and take steps that, quite
frankly, we haven’t seen before at this magnitude.”
“I think Shad
Khan is the
guy who’s
willing to be
bullish on
Downtown
and take
steps that,
quite frankly,
we haven’t
seen before
at this
magnitude.”
John Peyton
JAX Chamber Chair
Funding will be a mix of public and private investment.
No specifics have been announced, but
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said he hoped to
see an economic development deal in place and
construction underway by Spring 2019 on the Lot
J phase, which he said represents a “sizeable portion”
of the development’s overall price tag.
“Shad’s ideal scenario is that things move as fast
as you can,” Lamping said. “The longer you wait,
the longer it’s going to be before you can realize the
benefits of the development. There’s no time like
the present as far as Shad is concerned. But we’re
progressing through the process, which is good.”
The process easily could have bogged down
again. Development of the Shipyards and Met Park
require demolition of the elevated lanes extending
from the Hart Bridge, as well as significant environmental
remediation.
But no sooner had Khan and his team submitted
their most recent Shipyards plan than they
began to evolve, their course shaped by further
consultation with developers and also by their involvement
in formation of the city’s bid to lure Amazon’s
second North American headquarters.
“After we had submitted the concept of our
master plan for the Shipyards development, we
went back out and talked to some other designers
and architects to get their view of the plan,” Lamping
said. “Virtually every one of them came back
with the advice that we be a bit more ambitious in
terms of our development and felt that if the goal
was to create a transformational neighborhood,
then we really should begin looking at the property
that is north of the St. Johns River, in addition to
that property that fronts the river.
“Not long after that, the concept of Amazon
came, and that really solidified our thinking that, if
we’re going to create a vibrant neighborhood, it’s going
to have to be bigger than just the Shipyards property.
That led our thinking as to how to approach this
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
KHAN’S IMPACT
ON DOWNTOWN
JACKSONVILLE
2012
Billionaire tycoon
Shad Kahn (left)
purchases the
Jacksonville Jaguars
from Wayne Weaver
for $770 million. The
deal makes Khan
the first ethnic
minority to
own an NFL
team. By 2017,
the value of
Khan’s team
balloons to $2.075
billion.
2014
Khan partners
with the City
of Jacksonville
to invest $63
million in major
enhancements to
EverBank Field.
Improvements
include swimming
pools, cabanas and
300-foot wide
video boards,
the largest in the
world, spanning
each end zone.
2017
Khan partners
with the City
of Jacksonville
to invest $90
million in stadium
upgrades, including
construction of
an amphitheater
connected to the
stadium’s south
end. In May 2017,
the 5,500-seat
Daily’s Place
opened to rave
reviews.
2018
After bringing back
former head coach
Tom Coughlin
as executive
vice president of
football operations,
Kahn’s team
shocks the NFL by
winning the AFC
South Division and
advancing to the
AFC Championship
game for the first
time since the
1999-2000 season.
2018
During an annual State
of the Franchise event,
Khan announces a $2.5
billion plan to develop
an expanded Shipyards
District, beginning with
a mixed-use project in
Lot J at the stadium.
Khan’s partners in
the project, The
Cordish Companies,
have developed
successful sports &
entertainment districts
in cities across the U.S.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 49

Jaguars President Mark Lamping meeting with the media.
Energetic entertainment district
key piece to Downtown puzzle
Jaguars president Mark Lamping is
excited about the future of Downtown,
and why shouldn’t he be? With a
playoff-caliber football team and plans
to develop an entertainment district at
the stadium, the sky’s the limit.
The Cordish Companies, your
partner in the Lot J development,
has an impressive record of sparking
revitalization projects. Was
that an easy choice?
What we were trying to do was
find those kinds of developments
around the country that have been
successful, that were similar to the
challenges we’d be facing. First, our
development is going to be done in
conjunction with a number of event
spaces, primarily sports-themed,
whether it’s (TIAA) Bank Field, the
Baseball Grounds or the arena, plus
the entertainment programming
at Daily’s Place. We also wanted to
try to locate those developments
that were successful in the urban
core. (Kansas City’s) Power & Light
District certainly fits that to a “T,”
as does the development in St.
Louis to a slightly lesser extent, and
likewise with the Inner Harbor in
Baltimore. We felt comfortable with
Cordish because they have created
successful developments in areas
where, perhaps, others have failed.
It’s great to have Shad Kahn
backing something, yet you’ve
made the point that it’s one thing
to have the owner of the local
team behind something, but at the
same time, to have somebody like
Cordish stand beside you really
says, “Hey, we buy into this, too.”
How much help does it have to
have Cordish as a partner?
It makes us feel better. We gain
a little bit of affirmation that our
belief in Downtown Jacksonville goes
beyond just our parochial interest.
What has it meant to your
organization to be able to share in
the leadership of moving the city
forward?
I think it all starts with our business
challenge, which is to create a
financially stable NFL franchise here
in Jacksonville for years and years to
come. When you understand that
the path to that involves creating an
environment where more people are
visiting Downtown Jacksonville and
more people are living in Downtown
Jacksonville and more people are
working in Downtown Jacksonville,
it’s very satisfying when you’re working
on a project that’s very difficult
to begin with that you have 100 percent
alignment with city government.
So I think the thing that Shad feels
best about is his ability to not only
meet his goal of a financially stable
NFL franchise here in Jacksonville, but
to do it in a way that can also benefit
the community in a huge way.
Downtown Jacksonville is much
farther along than downtown
Kansas City was, and to see that
come to life, how inspiring is it to
know you’re planting a seed that’s
got an awfully good chance of
growing into something cool?
I hate using the same words,
but what’s happened in the Power
& Light Distrct is transformational
for that entire community,
particularly knowing what was in
those locations prior to the Sprint
Center and the Power & Light District.
The importance of H&R Block,
their headquarters locating there,
that was critical as well, which is
why we’re focused on jobs here.
For this to work, we have to have
jobs, not just bars and restaurants.
I went to college in Kansas City, so
I’m familiar with that area during its
really bad days, and it gives us great
confidence for what can happen.
— KURT CAYWOOD
project, particularly the phasing of it.”
In Phase 2, the Shipyards District will expand
south to the banks of the St. Johns with what is
projected to be two hotels and a convention center.
Phase 3 then will push north into Lots M and N
with what currently is conceived as three residential
structures.
Renderings of the 8-acre Lot J, which is the first
phase, feature an entertainment complex, two office
towers and a hotel that could feature some residential
floors. A parking garage with green space
on top is pictured directly to the west over what currently
is a retention pond.
Mixed-use development is a logical next step
by the 67,000-seat stadium and the recently added
5,500-seat Daily’s Place amphitheater. Add in
nearby Veterans Memorial Arena and The Baseball
“Shad’s ideal
scenario is
that things
move as fast
as you can.”
MARK LAMPING
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
President
Grounds, and the sports complex is home to hundreds
of events per year.
Those event-goers are consumers, who leave
with dollars in their pockets because the area has
lacked much of anything to consume.
“We’re trying to do two things,” Lamping said.
“One is to enhance the experience of those who
come just for the sporting events by giving them
things to do before and after. We think we accomplish
that. The second piece is getting more people
creating an economic impact for the community,
and it’s through that that this kind of district can be
beneficial to all residents in Jacksonville.”
One addition promises to be particularly impactful.
Renderings show the structure closest to the
stadium as a pavilion with the “Live!” branding used
by Cordish for its highly successful entertainment
BOB MACK
50
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

districts. Live! properties feature covered, open-air
gathering spaces of 150,000 square feet or more with
giant video screens and a carefully planned mix of
national chains and local establishments.
The Jaguars-Cordish partnership makes a powerful
statement. Since buying the franchise, Khan
and his organization have become arguably the
greatest driver of economic development in downtown
Jacksonville. The Cordish Companies is a privately
held company with 1,000 employees that was
founded in 1910 and has reactivated downtrodden
areas across the country by building and managing
similar entertainment-fueled mixed-use districts,
often near sports facilities.
Cordish’s projects in Kansas City, St. Louis and
Baltimore impressed Lamping and Mayor Lenny
Curry when they boarded Khan’s jet for a tour of
Live! venues in July 2017. Conversely, Cordish is
sufficiently impressed with Jacksonville to invest its
brand and capital.
“On a national perspective, there are very few
opportunities like this,” Cordish Companies Vice
President Blake Cordish said the day of the announcement.
“You have a great city that’s growing
dynamically, so the foundation is there to have a
great community.”
There’s repeated evidence that the template
works.
Built in 2001, Cordish’s Power Plant Live! was a
shot of adrenaline to the rediscovery of Baltimore’s
“On a
national
perspective,
there are
very few
opportunities
like this. You
have a great
city that’s
growing
dynamically,
so the
foundation
is there.”
BLAKE CORDISH
The Cordish Companies
Vice President
Inner Harbor, which also was an industrial hazard
after decades of coal-fired power production.
St. Louis’ Ballpark Village, which carried a $100
million price tag and concentrated on entertainment
and retail adjacent to Busch Stadium, breathed additional
life into what has become a district unto itself.
The $260 million second phase currently is under
construction and includes a hotel and downtown’s
first new office building in 30 years.
And a decade ago, Live! was at the heart of the
$850 million, 12-square-block Power & Light District
in Kansas City, Missouri. Now, city officials
credit the Cordish development for igniting a $5
billion development boom that has seen the downtown
population increase from 8,000 to 30,000.
Power & Light “created a brand new base of suburbanites
who had never been to downtown in 30
years,” Bill Dietrich, CEO of the Downtown Council
of Kansas City, told the Dallas Morning News.
Jacksonville has the advantage of already bringing
people within walking distance of Downtown.
As they hammer out funding and move earth on
a four-square-block chunk of former parking lot to
give those event-goers a reason to stay for a drink,
a meal, a night or, maybe, to live or work, the city’s
public and private leaders will be making significant
steps toward a vibrant urban core.
KURT CAYWOOD, formerly Vice President of Audience at
The Florida Times-Union, is a contributor to J Magazine.
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take
me
to
the
river
Whether you call them ‘nodes’
or ‘themed pocket gardens,’
the Downtown waterfront activation
project is getting started with a plan
(and money in the budget) to revive
Friendship Fountain into a destination.
BY LILLA ROSS
FOR J MAGAZINE

NODE: FRIENDSHIP FOUNTAIN PARK
SWA Group in collaboration WITH DIA - hand drawing by Jennifer Saura/SWA GROUP
riendship Fountain is an icon of the Downtown riverfront whose fortunes have been
down as often as they’ve been up. It’s been a place to stop during a stroll on the Southbank
Riverwalk or a visit to the nearby Museum of Science and History — and the
backdrop of countless family photos. But never a destination.
But that’s about to change, if City Councilwoman Lori Boyer has anything to do with
it. She envisions Friendship Fountain as a multimedia entertainment venue that tells
the story of the St. Johns River.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 53

ST. JOHNS RIVER ACTIVITY NODES
AS MANY AS FIFTEEN 'THEMED POCKET GARDENS' WOULD CREATE ACCESS POINTS ALONG
THE ST. JOHNS RIVER DOWNTOWN WHILE SHARING JACKSONVILLE HISTORY AND INFORMATION.
MCCOYS
CREEK
BROOKLYN
TIMES-UNION
CENTER
ACOStA
BRIDGE
FRIENDSHIP
FOUNTAIN
MAIN
STREET
MAIN ST.
BRIDGE
COWFORD
GREAT FIRE
HOGANS
CREEK
FAIRFIELD
SPORTS/
ENTERTAINMENT
FULLER WARREN
BRIDGE
S T . J O H N S R I V E R
HART
BRIDGE
THE DISTRICT
CUMMER
GARDENS
HENDRICKS
POINT
TREATY
OAK PARK
LONE
STAR
SAILOR
LOOKOUT
SOUTH
JACKSONVILLE
N
Friendship Fountain Park is the linchpin
of Boyer’s plan to activate the Southbank and
Northbank Riverwalks with a series of about
a dozen thematic, interactive pocket parks.
Whether all of it becomes reality depends,
as usual, on whether existing seed
money can become a real public investment
in the city’s greatest asset.
The initiative, begun three years ago by
the Jacksonville chapter of the American
Institute of Architects, “is to fundamentally
change the perception of the city. To make
it cohesive not fragmented,” said Chris Allen,
director of design at the Haskell Co.
At the time, the economy was rebounding,
and several proposals were on the table
to redevelop the riverfront. All of them were
great ideas, Allen said, but the architects
thought the big picture was getting lost.
They decided that the Northbank and
Southbank Riverwalks could be a unifying
element. But they needed to create a sense
of place with strong visual elements and activities
to engage people while incorporating
the river and information about Jacksonville.
Their concept is for a string of what they
call “nodes” at about a dozen places along
the riverfront. Boyer calls them “themed
pocket gardens.” Neither term really captures
what they want to see happen.
Each node would tell visitors something
about Jacksonville, a bit of history,
like the Great Fire or the Dixieland Park;
a little culture, like its art and music; or a
taste of what shapes the city’s identity, like
the river, the military and sports.
They also would help people access the
river, serving as a water taxi stop, a kayak
launch or a marina. And, they would be
interactive, engaging the body, the mind,
the imagination. A magnet to draw people
Downtown.
Great concepts … but will they happen?
Boyer, who is heading up the city’s waterfront
activation effort, has championed
AIA’s ideas and made them her own, talking
them up at every opportunity. She is finishing
her second term on the City Council
and is term-limited.
Who will take up the cause? Her successor
on the council? A nonprofit, less
hamstrung by city policies and practices?
Or, perhaps, Boyer in another role. The
councilwoman is reticent about the future
but says she is firm in her commitment to
activating the river and Downtown.
The Downtown Investment Authority
has hired SWA Group in Los Angeles, a
landscape architecture and urban design
and planning firm that specializes in waterfront
redevelopment, and HR&A, which
specializes in economic development, to
work with the Haskell Company to develop
a Riverwalk master plan.
A preliminary design plan was expected
this spring, but SWA submitted designs only
for nodes at the Friendship Fountain and
the Times-Union Performing Arts Center.
The others are still only ideas at key
points along the river:
n Cummer Museum and Gardens
n Brooklyn
n McCoys Creek (at the Florida Times-
Union building)
n Main Street
n Hogans Creek
Fairfield (by the Matthews Bridge)
n Hendricks Point (by the Fuller Warren
Bridge)
n Riverplace Tower/Treaty Oak Park
n Lone Star Sailor statue on the Southbank
Riverwalk
n The District
Boyer has brainstormed for over a year
with architects, landscape architects and
artists, looking at how other cities have
activated their waterfronts and different
ways Jacksonville could make its riverfront
unique.
But all that creative energy has hit the
hard realities of practical implementation
— experts uncomfortable with unconventional
projects and the glacial pace of city
government.
The fountain
past and future
Friendship Fountain Park is going to happen.
There’s $1 million in the budget and
another $1 million to come next year for renovations
to the fountain, upgrades to sound
and lighting and new video capabilities.
JEFF DAVIS
54
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

DON BURK (FOUNTAIN), WILL DICKEY (BOYER)
Opened in 1965, the $1.7 million Friendship Fountain quickly became a popular Downtown attraction.
You might see it as a strategic tease to
show taxpayers what is possible with some
ideas and investment.
It’s not the first time the fountain has
been renovated.
Architect Taylor Hardwick, famous for
the Haydon Burns Library, also designed
the fountain and park. When the $1.7 million
fountain was dedicated in 1965, it was
the world’s largest and tallest, 200 feet in
diameter, holding 500,000 gallons of water
and pumping up to 6,500 gallons of water
100 feet into the air every minute. It became
hugely popular with residents and tourists,
a picturesque icon of the consolidated Bold
New City of the South.
The fountain was refurbished in 1985
and continued to be a popular stop for
tourists. But in the early 1990s, the original
14-acre park was cut in half to accommodate
the construction of the new Acosta
Bridge. The Diamond Head Lobster House
was in the path of the ramps for the new
bridge and had to be demolished. In compensation,
the city cut the park in half and
allowed a new restaurant, Harbormasters,
to be built on the site. It became River City
Brewing Company in 1993.
The fountain operated until 1999 when
age and corrosion shut it down. In 2001, the
city spent $1.3 million in upgrades, adding
six light towers with synchronized colored
lighting. But a year later a power surge blew
out the computer controller and lighting.
The damage was repaired, and Friendship
Fountain was in its glory for Super Bowl
XXXIX in February 2005. But two months
later, two of its three pumps failed. Neither
parts nor money was available to replace
the 40-year-old equipment, so the fountain
limped along on one pump.
In 2010, the city undertook a major $3.1
million renovation of the fountain and park,
upgrading the lighting and sound system
and adding landscaping and hardscape to
the park. And that’s the Friendship Fountain
we know today.
But you have to know it’s there. The city
icon is easy to overlook, tucked away as it is
behind MOSH. And parking is limited, especially
at peak hours for the museum and
adjacent River City Brewing Co. The upcoming
Riverplace Boulevard “road diet” might
improve its visibility with improved access
and signage, but people still need a reason to
seek the park out.
The Friendship Fountain Park of the future
would become a destination, a place to
the spend the afternoon with the kids, or an
evening watching video project into the mist
of the fountain or a light and music show
synchronized with the Times-Union Center
for the Performing Arts across the river.
The plan calls for an outdoor amphitheater,
a large picnic area and green space
shaded by trees and lush with native plants.
The pump house would be turned into a
vantage point to see the river with an exhibit
of historical images and maps. “The building
unfurls like a scroll unfurling the story of the
exploration of the St. Johns,” Boyer said.
The playground is inspired by the Princess
Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington
Gardens that has a Peter Pan theme
with a pirate ship, Indian tepees and a crocodile.
The Jacksonville adaptation would have
splash pad, a Timucuan hut, a French galleon,
a la Jean Ribault, and a giant alligator to
play in and on.
“It’s an extraordinary playground, and
we could do something like it that would be
worth coming to,” Boyer said.
The centerpiece of the park, of course, is
Friendship Fountain, a new improved fountain
with the latest multimedia technology
for synchronized light and music shows or
videos projected into the mist. That’s done
in many places, most famously at the waterfront
Fountain Roshen in Vinnytsia, Ukraine,
which on summer evenings has mesmerizing
performances of “Swan Lake” and “Peter
Pan” projected into the mist of the fountain.
A cultural node
Across the river at the Times-Union Performing
Arts Center, the pocket park would
Lori Boyer has been working on a project to activate the St. Johns River in Downtown for three years.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 55

Crowds gathered at Friendship Fountain in 2011 following a reopening ceremony after the city spent $3.1 million to restore the fountain and park.
celebrate the art and cultural heritage of Jacksonville.
Its design is still being worked out.
The initial concept is to have four gardens,
each designed around one of the four
movements of the Florida Suite, composed
by Frederick Delius as a reflection of the
time he spent living in an orange grove near
Jacksonville and being inspired by the St.
Johns River.
But it’s also an opportunity to showcase
music by Jacksonville’s African-American
composers like Charles Singleton, who
wrote the lyrics to “Strangers in the Night,”
and James Weldon Johnson, who wrote
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.”
Boyer is especially excited about live
streaming movies and concerts on the CSX
facade that could be watched from an outdoor
amphitheater. Food service could be
provided from the kitchen at the Performing
Arts Center.
The new technical capabilities at each
node could be synchronized into a light
and music extravaganza that plays off the
Acosta and Main Street bridges that could
be viewed from the Northbank and Southbank
or from a boat in the river.
None of this has been finalized, Boyer
said, “but it gives you an idea of where we’re
heading.”
Enhancements to the fountain and a
new focus at the Performing Arts Center
would give the Riverwalks a wow factor and
create momentum for activating the river.
But with Boyer leaving the Council, it will
only succeed if other City Council members
and city leaders double down on their commitment
to making something happen on
the riverfront.
The prospects
Gerdo Aquino, CEO of SWA, is the landscape
architect working on the design. He
lives in Los Angeles now, but he grew up on
the Westside. He remembers hanging out
at The Jacksonville Landing with his friends
from Ed White High School.
He and his mother, who still lives on the
Westside, sometimes walked a loop from
the Landing, across the Main Street bridge
to the Chart House for lunch, then back to
the Northbank via the Acosta.
Those days along the St. Johns River left
a deep imprint on Aquino.
“I’m very interested in place-making in
the public realm where cities are creating
an identity around some kind of water element.
It could be a tiny creek or a big river
like the St. Johns,” Aquino said. “I want people
to grasp the scale and intensity of nature
in the middle of the city. To feel the river first
and the city second. The opportunity is in
plain view to create a vibrant public life. It’s
really exciting to be working on the public
waterfront in my hometown. It’s a dream.”
Guy Parola, operations manager for the
Downtown Investment Authority, said he
sees the nodes as “destination drivers” that
will come on board as developments along
the riverfront take shape.
“These are big ideas, big concepts with
multiple activation levels,” Parola said.
“These are big and bold and wonderful.”
Aquino said he has been impressed with
the city’s commitment to the project.
“I know Jacksonville, so I was the Number
One skeptic,” Aquino said. “But there
is a strong sense of optimism about Jacksonville.
We are looking for things that will
make it a reality, being realistic but dreaming
big enough to see if all the parts can fall
into place. So far things are moving along
pretty well. If Jacksonville can pull off this
world-class waterfront, it’s going to be the
city to visit not the city to pass through. It
will be a destination city.”
Lilla Ross is a Jacksonville freelance writer who
worked as a reporter and editor at The Florida
Times-Union for 35 years. She lives in San Marco.
Jon Fletcher
56
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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T H E
F u t u r e
O F Y O U R
C o m m u t e
58
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

JTA’s FUTURISTIC FLEET OF street-level,
autonomous, driverless vehicles
circulating throughout DOWNTOWN
IS closer than you might think.
BY ROGER BROWN // J MAGAZINE
ILLUSTRATION BY Haskell Design Studios
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 59

Driverless, autonomous vehicles exit a Skyway ramp at Brooklyn Station in this rendering of what JTA’s Downtown transportation system might look like in the near future.
ver the past few years, the Jacksonville Transportation
Authority has broken plenty of new ground in becoming
a modernized transit system that is more reliable and
more respected.
n It has overhauled an outdated route system, which has increased
the on-time rate of JTA buses to 80 percent and drawn transit officials
from across the country to Jacksonville to learn how to copy the success
story in their own communities.
n It has added a premium First Coast Flyer service that takes passengers
to the Northside, Southside and soon the Beaches faster than ever
in JTA’s history.
n It has launched and is on pace to complete the $58 million Jacksonville
Regional Transportation Center project, which will eventually see a
new JTA administrative building, a bus-transfer facility, a covered pedestrian
bridge and other amenities in the LaVilla neighborhood.
n It has taken over operation of the St. Johns Ferry, dramatically improved
the infrastructure and increased the ridership numbers.
n It has designed and built miles and miles of roads and sidewalks across Jacksonville
as part of its Mobility Works program, which uses money provided by the 2014
extension of the local gas tax .
Haskell Design Studios
60
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

But make no mistake: It is the new
ground that JTA is trying to break right
now that will define the agency over the
next decade — and more. And this new
ground is literally a proving ground.
It is JTA’s “Test and Learn” track on
East Bay Street, a facility where the transit
authority is testing automated, driverless
vehicles as part of its Ultimate Urban
Circulator project, which will radically
change travel within the Downtown Jacksonville
of tomorrow.
“It is a very complex project, but it is
a unique project,” said Nat Ford, the JTA’s
CEO.
It is that, indeed. The project calls for:
Expanding the Skyway, the 1980-era
aerial “people mover” that now travels a
2.5-mile overhead route through Downtown,
by extending the routes onto the
street level via an extensive ramp system.
Teaming up the new roadway and
ramp system with street-level, autonomous,
driverless vehicles that will circulate
throughout the city center at first
(traveling in dedicated lanes) and gradually
expand through more major Downtown
neighborhoods (and travel amid
traffic in less-dense areas).
Yes, Downtown Jacksonville, this is
new ground indeed.
But it is audacious new ground that
will demand JTA spend the next two years
painstakingly testing and reviewing the
performance of various autonomous vehicles
brought in to the approximately
one-eighth mile “Test and Learn” track
and put through their shuttling, puttering
paces.
“We’re working with a half-dozen vendors
in terms of these autonomous vehicles,”
Ford said. “And we’re already learning
a lot.”
The testing has started.
The learning has begun.
REVAMPING,
NOT SCRAPPING,
THE SKYWAY
The path for the JTA’s journey to bring
the Ultimate Urban Circulator — a billing
that Ford is quick to say is “just a temporary
name that’s in place for now” — to future
reality was formed almost three years ago.
It was in late December 2015 that the
JTA’s board decided that the Skyway, which
originally cost more than $180 million to
build during the 1980s, could be revamped
and retrofitted instead of scrapped. The
decision came after an exhaustive period
of research that included feedback from
City Hall, the Downtown business community,
local riders, neighborhood groups
and other community stakeholders.
And nearly three years later, that decision
remains a sound one, according to
Ford.
“It became really clear that when you
look at the development taking place
Downtown, we are really going to need
some type of conveyance system to take
people from, say, a Downtown neighborhood
like Brooklyn to a major
venue like TIAA Bank Field,” Ford
said.
“We’ll have to expand it
somehow. We’ll have to stretch
it somehow. But we will need
the Skyway,” Ford said.
And JTA can take on the
task with major advantages,
Ford added.
“We’re going to be
able to utilize infrastructure
that taxpayers
invested quite a
lot of money in over
30 years ago,” he
said.
“We aren’t starting from scratch.”
KEEP UP WITH
TECHNOLOGY
However, here’s one big question that
hovers over JTA’s work on the Ultimate Urban
Circulator project: How do you build
an autonomous vehicle system that can
quickly make a transformational impact in
our Downtown, yet isn’t at risk of becoming
just as quickly outdated as driverless
technology keeps rapidly evolving and
changing?
Ford acknowledged it’s a question that
the JTA ponders each day.
The technology is moving so quickly,”
Ford said, noting that numerous major
companies, including Fortune 500 firms
like Ford Motor Co. and Google, are devoting
huge resources to becoming the
dominant innovation leader in the autonomous-vehicle
field.
“This is all happening on the private
sector side, so obviously (each company
doesn’t) want everyone else peering into
everything that’s in their black box as the
technology keeps advancing,” Ford said.
“So the key for us going forward is not
to come up with an autonomous-vehicle
system that precludes us from being
adaptable as the driverless technology
keeps changing. We’re not going to design
something that we’re not going to be able
to build upon.”
A
nd what could that mean for the
actual Ultimate Urban Circulator
system that eventually comes off
the precipice of planning and
construction and begins to actually
operate, forever changing,
in the process, how we
get around Downtown?
It could mean:
n JTA will take a
gradual, multi-phased
approach that initially
does, as Ford put it,
“the basic blocking
and tackling of
what we need to
do” to transport
people around Downtown.
For example, the first stage could see
driverless vehicles start out as an effective
shuttle system operating as a connection
to the current Skyway.
Then, after that becomes a transportation
option that those traveling around
Downtown grow accustomed to having
and relying on — and equally important,
after JTA can make adjustments to its master
plan that incorporate the latest technology
advances — the routes of the driverless
vehicles could gradually begin to expand
to TIAA Bank Field, central San Marco and
Five Points in Riverside and beyond.
“
It became really clear that when you look at the development taking
place Downtown, we are really going to need some type of conveyance
system to take people from, say, a Downtown neighborhood like
Brooklyn to a major venue like TIAA Bank Field.” — Nat Ford, JTA CEO
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 61

JTA’S Ultimate Urban Circulator PROJECT ENVISIONS ...
1. A larger
fleet of vehicles
arriving more
often.
2. Vehicles large
enough to carry
peak number of
passengers.
3. Vehicles that could operate
individually or be connected to
provide high capacity during peak
travel times.
4. Street level extensions of the current
Skyway that use dedicated transit lanes
with signal priority to ensure a high level of
speed, frequency and reliability.
“That approach is pretty much saying,
‘Look, first let’s get into orbit with this.
Then let’s look at getting to the moon. And
then after that, let’s look at Mars,’” Ford
said. “But let’s not get obsessed with getting
to Mars in step one.”
n The JTA will come up with the list of
things it wants an Ultimate Urban Circulator
system to be able to carry out on a daily
basis — but then could contract with a
private vendor who would actually design,
An autonomous vehicle arrives at a JTA Ultimate Urban Circulator stop during a Downtown preview.
develop and operate the whole thing.
That might be an appealing option because
the JTA is still researching the cost of
operating an autonomous vehicle system.
Yes, there will be a fare to use the new
system — in contrast to the currently free
Skyway — and Ford said that will certainly
make up part of the cost for it. But as far
as other funding — how much state, how
much federal, etc. — it’s still way too early,
Ford said, to have concrete numbers now.
“We’re still working through the final
stages of a costing model,” Ford said.
“We’re being very careful on when we pull
the trigger (on making final decisions).”
Part of that due diligence, Ford added,
is also factoring in this reality:
For longtime, traditional public transportation
systems like the JTA — organizations
grounded in generations of
operating old-school modes of transport
like buses and shuttles — trying to build
something like an Ultimate Urban Circulator
from the ground up may be a heavy
lift that’s unrealistic.
“Look, building something like this
from scratch isn’t our forte,” Ford said.
“So this may not be something that the
JTA totally designs, develops and builds
and operates,” Ford added. “This may be
something that we determine what service
levels we want — for example, we
want three-minute frequencies, we want
connections that travel from these points
to these points, we want autonomous vehicles
that operate these hours, things like
that — and just pay someone to develop
the system for us.
“But first,” Ford said, “we need to learn
what we want to ask for. We need to understand
(the autonomous vehicle system) to
know who we would partner with to deliver
this system.”
TRAVELING
NEW GROUND
WITH OPEN EYES
And it’s that zeal — that sense of obligation
— to know and understand everything
about how a future Ultimate Urban
Circulator system will work that leads back
to the Downtown “Test and Learn” track
and the driverless vehicles being gradually
brought in for testing.
On at least two occasions since the
track opened late last year, the JTA has invited
outsiders to the test track to take rides
in the sample autonomous vehicles. They
pretty much felt like they were a Mini-Me
version of one of those shuttles you take
at massive airports to get from one gate to
another.
“I always have to remind people, ‘What
you see on the outside of these vehicles,
the aesthetics, is the last thing we’re focused
on right now. Don’t get caught up in
that,’” Ford said with a laugh.
“We’re looking at what’s underneath.
What are the sensors like? How do the engines
operate? What about the computer
systems? How easy would it be for vehicles
to communicate with each other? Or link
up if we need them to do that?”
Added Ford: “Right now, it’s all about
the brains of these vehicles for us. How
smart are they?”
And that may only be fitting.
Because right now JTA’s quest to bring
an autonomous vehicle system to life in
Downtown Jacksonville — and usher in a
revolutionary era in traveling within the
city center — is about combining being
smart with being bold.
It’s about breaking brave new ground,
with wide open eyes.
Roger Brown has been a Times-Union editorial
writer since 2013. He lives in Downtown Jacksonville.
BRUCE LIPSKY
62
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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Bill Hatchett, owner
of A-Coin & Stamp Gallery
A-Coin & Stamp Gallery
ill Hatchett, owner of A-Coin & Stamp
B Gallery, remembers a time when a trip to
Downtown Jacksonville was a day filled with
shopping, food and fun.
“When I came to Jacksonville in 1963 as a 12-yearold,
Downtown was thriving with
the big department stores like
Furchgott’s and May-Cohens,
and specialty shops like LaRose
Shoes,” he said. “I’d go Downtown
with my parents; they would shop, and I’d look for
a coin store.”
In fact, Hatchett attended his first coin show in 1964
at the old Roosevelt Hotel, which whetted his interest in
coins and began his life in the business. He would like
to see a regeneration of that vibrant Downtown and the
return of the businesses that left through the years.
“Many people who live Downtown can’t drive or
have no transportation and need to shop and dine
J PARTNER PROFILE
By Barbara Gavan
Business owner sees transportation, entertainment
and safety as keys to a bright future for Downtown
close to home,” he said. “I would like to see more
venues for them that could also bring in people from
the suburbs. The recent influx of restaurants and
microbreweries is very good for the area. I think the
revitalization of Springfield as both a destination and
a residential area is a prime
example of what can happen if
we work at it.”
Hatchett would also like to
see improvement in the availability
of transportation and parking throughout the
Downtown area.
“More high-rise garages would bring businesses
back Downtown,” he said. “The bus system is doing a
good job, but it would help to have a tram circling the
city and going out to the stadium. Also, smaller things
that don’t cost a lot of money — like better lighting
and a greater police presence — would go a long way
toward bringing people Downtown again.”
QUICK
TAKES
MAXIMIZE
DOWNTOWN
RESOURCES
“I would like to see
better utilization of
the Prime Osborn.
It stays busy during
the day with
conventions and
shows, but could
be put to additional
use in the evenings,
as long as there is
an increased JSO
presence.”’
REFURBISH
RATHER
THAN
REPLACE
“The Landing has
been going downhill
for quite a while
and needs to be
addressed by the
city and other
interested parties.
I would rather see
it refurbished than
rebuilt, which could
take too long. When
it first opened, I
went down there
twice a week. It can
be that kind of a
drawing card again.”
CELEBRATE
OUR NFL
TEAM
“We should also
capitalize on
having the Jaguars
Downtown. They
had a great year;
Daily’s Place seems
to be very popular
and it’s good to
see that there are
plans for more
entertainment
venues around the
stadium.”
BOB SELF
64
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

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12 HOURS IN DOWNTOWN
By Ron Littlepage
Riverwalks, public art highlight
day spent exploring downtown
A
s a columnist for The Florida Times-Union for 28 years, I wrote thousands of
words about Downtown — the ideas for revitalization, the dreams, the successes
and the failures.
On a recent Tuesday, I spent a day Downtown revisiting the places that had
been the subjects of columns and recalling the plans that sparked enthusiasm
but often ended in disappointment.
66
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

5:45 a.m.
It was still dark when I arrived at the Sidney J. Gefen Riverwalk
Park beside the Northbank Riverwalk.
I was greeted by a great blue heron standing next to the new
kayak launch there. I was told by a passerby that the heron was a
regular visitor and that another one was just down the way a bit.
It was.
The sky was clear and the temperature crisp.
I had chosen this place to begin the day because the Northbank
Riverwalk is one of the dreams for Downtown that has
been fulfilled.
It’s also a wonderful place to watch darkness turn to dawn
with the Downtown skyline in the forefront.
Sunrise was at 6:55 a.m. It didn’t disappoint.
About 30 minutes before, different shades of orange and blue
began illuminating the Downtown bridges and buildings.
The city was coming to life as the rumble of a train traveling
the rails under the Acosta Bridge and the swoosh of increasing
traffic mixed with the squawks of the herons and the chatter of
laughing gulls.
Walkers and joggers and bicyclists passed by. You could
tell they were regulars as “hellos” and “good mornings” were
exchanged.
“We are a community,” one of them told me.
One of the great successes of the Riverwalk is the diversity of
the people who gather there — young and old, different races
and cultures, different languages and accents.
Walking along the Riverwalk toward The Jacksonville Landing
and the Hyatt Regency reveals imperfections.
Broken chunks of the Riverwalk damaged by Hurricane Irma
CONTINUED ON PAGE 92
PHOTOS BY JEFF DAVIS // J MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 67

Located at Ashley and Jefferson
streets in Downtown’s LaVilla
neighborhood, Genovar’s Hall, seen
here in a 1948 photo, was frequented
by music legends like Louis Armstrong,
Ray Charles and James Brown.
resurrecting DOWNTOWN’S
HISTORIC LAVILLA NEIGHBORHOOD IS
A WORK IN PROGRESS. UNFORTUNATELY,
THAT MEANS NOT MUCH WORK,
AND VERY LITTLE PROGRESS.
68
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

S a v i n g
L a V i l l a
BY Adrienne Burke AND ENNIS DAVIS // FOR J MAGAZINE
Photo courtesy of LaVilla Cultural Museum
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 69

On Ashley Street, Genovar’s Hall sits windowless and abandoned. Built in 1895, the historic hall is one of the few historic LaVilla buildings not torn down.
A
fter years of starts and stopS,
the revitalization of Downtown Jacksonville finally appears
to be picking up steam. In the past two years, according
to Downtown Vision, more than $80 million in
projects have been completed, and another $2 billion
are either currently under construction or proposed.
Nowhere is this more evident than in LaVilla, where after decades of broken
promises, dreams and despair, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority is constructing
a $57 million transit center, and under the guidance of the Downtown
Investment Authority, more than 450 affordable and workforce residential units
are being added to the mix.
While the DIA and the JTA should be commended for their efforts in finally
jumpstarting LaVilla’s rebirth, the reality of the matter is that, with a little understanding
of the area’s history, it could be much more.
JEFF DAVIS
70
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

FLORIDA TIMES-UNION ARCHIVES
LaVilla is one of only a few urbanized multicultural
districts in Florida that date as far back
as the late 19th century. Its history possesses
something other communities, suburban strip
malls and theme parks will never be able to reconstruct
or properly mimic.
Yet with every old building lost, along with
new infill that pays little homage to the past,
Jacksonville continues to erase a distinctive opportunity
that has resulted in significant economic
development and tourism that many cities
continue to successfully use to their benefit.
JACKSONVILLE’S
FIRST SUBURB
Once a Civil War campsite for the first all-African-American
regiment, the 54th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry of the movie “Glory” fame, LaVilla
was established by Francis F. L’Engle in 1866 and
incorporated as Jacksonville’s first suburb in 1869.
Adjacent to the city’s earliest railroad
terminals, LaVilla by 1870 had become
70 percent black as freedmen flocked
to the area for economic opportunity
and safety in a racially charged South.
By the time it was annexed by Jacksonville
in 1887, the 1-square-mile suburb’s
population had grown to 3,000.
After significant railroad investments
by Henry B. Plant and Henry
Flagler, LaVilla rapidly developed
into a major industrial and transportation
hub enticing additional
immigrants to the area.
Before the emergence of Tampa’s
Ybor City, it became an important
cigar manufacturing center,
resulting in José Martí visiting
the city eight times between 1891
and 1898 to generate support for
Cuba’s freedom movement.
By 1910, its concentration of
Greek and Syrian immigrants was
high enough to support a Greek
& Syrian Club on Forsyth Street,
along with 10 Greek restaurants
centered around the intersection
of West Bay and Broad streets.
At the same time, 67 percent of Jacksonville’s
early 20th century Chinese population lived in
LaVilla, and 14 of the city’s 25 Chinese-owned
laundries were concentrated along or within two
blocks of West Adams Street.
While Adams and Bay Streets quickly blossomed
into corridors lined with small hotels,
businesses, warehouses and tenement housing,
Ward (now Houston) Street, surfaced as a red
light district that was large enough for the Temperance
Movement’s Carry Nation to declare
the city a “demonocracy” after her visit in 1908.
Featuring 60 bordellos with a variety of interesting
names, including the New York Inn, Turkish
v
LaVilla,
by 1870, had
become 70
percent black
as freedmen
flocked to
the area for
economic
opportunity
and safety
in a racially
charged
South.
s
The Strand Theatre at
Ashley and Jefferson Streets
in the LaVilla neighborhood
was torn down in 1969.
Harlem, Senate, Spanish Marie and The Court,
this district was partially responsible for LaVilla’s
transformation into an early destination for
vaudeville, blues and jazz performances.
Decades before Harlem even knew what a renaissance
was, Pat Chappelle opened Excelsior
Hall, the first black-owned theater in the South
in LaVilla, and brothers James Weldon Johnson
and John Rosamond Johnson were already internationally
known.
In addition, Ashley Street became lined with
theaters such as the Bijou, Airdome and the
Globe, leading to the first published account of
blues singing on a public stage there in 1910.
Between the 1920s and ‘60s, it became an important
Chitlin’ Circuit stop for black musicians
and entertainers. With theatres like the Ritz, Frolic
and Strand, live music venues like the Lenape Bar,
Hollywood Music Store and Knights of Pythias
Hall, LaVilla played host to famed jazz and blues
greats such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong,
Ray Charles, James Brown and Billie Holliday.
Similar to many historic minority communities
across the country, for various reasons
LaVilla fell on hard times during the second half
of the 20th century.
In 1958, the first section of the Jacksonville
Expressway opened, connecting Beaver Street
with the Fuller Warren Bridge. A part of an 18-
mile expressway, the highway’s route was determined
by avoiding areas deemed most valuable,
by eliminating “blighted” neighborhoods and by
serving as barriers to stop the spread of “blight.” In
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 71

1950s Jacksonville, this meant paving the highway
right through the center of LaVilla. A decade later,
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law,
ending segregation but also unknowingly ripping
apart the district’s economic foundation, which
had been established as a mandatory response to
racial oppression.
The 1990s delivered the final blow when the
city relocated residents and demolished blocks of
buildings as a part of the River City Renaissance
plan. Until recently, the once proud multicultural
district had become known for its abundance of
isolated abandoned buildings, empty overgrown
lots and suburban office complexes.
Recognizing
what’s left
Without crying over mistakes of the distant
past, what remains is pretty significant and can
serve as a great foundation for redevelopment if
Jacksonville is ready to really get serious about exposing
its underrepresented history.
On Ashley Street, Genovar’s Hall, which predates
the Great Fire of 1901, was a performance
venue frequented by music legends like Louis
Armstrong, Ray Charles and James Brown.
Ashley’s Globe Theater was where Ma Rainey,
the “mother of blues,” received three or four encores
every night for her performances in 1911.
In 1932, Eartha White converted it into the Clara
White Mission, where her list of famed guests included
Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T. Washington
and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Then there’s Old Stanton High School, where
James Weldon Johnson, a nationally known
composer, author, poet, diplomat and civil rights
orator, wrote the song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,”
which has been recognized as the Negro National
Anthem.
v
Along
Broad Street,
there are
nearly four
continuous
blocks of
structures
dating
back to the
corridor’s
days as a
major black
business
district.
t
The five-story Masonic
Temple at Broad and Duval
streets in LaVilla was the
location of Jacksonville’s
first black-owned bank in
1916.
Along Broad Street, there are nearly four
continuous blocks of structures dating back to
the corridor’s days as a major black business
district. This historic row is anchored by the Masonic
Temple, a five-story Prairie-Style structure
that was the location of Jacksonville’s first blackowned
bank in 1916.
Other Broad Street buildings include the Richmond
and Central hotels. Constructed in 1909,
the Richmond was considered Jacksonville’s finest
hotel for black citizens prior to desegregation.
Its guests over the years included Duke Ellington,
Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.
Not to be outdone, the Jacksonville Urban
League originated in 1935 as the Jacksonville Negro
Welfare League in one of the Central Hotel’s
storefronts.
The Maceo Elk’s Lodge is another element of
underrepresented history. Built in 1914 as the
Young Men’s Hebrew Association, it may be the
only reminder of LaVilla’s forgotten era as an Orthodox
Jewish community between 1880 and the
1920s.
Even buildings considered to be insignificant
and unimpressive have stories to tell. The nondescript
brick warehouses and storefronts along
West Forsyth Street represent all that remain of
businesses and saloons that once catered to the
area’s days as a red light district.
Implementing a
resuscitation plan
With proper vision, planning and coordination,
what remains of the storied neighborhood
could serve as the foundation for infill and growth
that preserves a part of Jacksonville’s unique heritage
and culture while assisting in the economic
rebirth of LaVilla and Downtown.
Here are five steps that should be seriously
considered to really resuscitate
LaVilla:
Start by acknowledging
how significant the 1.
neighborhood is, not only to
Jacksonville, but nationally.
Don’t whitewash the history;
understand that the community
is important to black
and immigrant history. Don’t
do something simple but not
genuinely meaningful like a
proclamation; instead, show its
significance by being willing to
commit resources in the form
of money and staff to this effort.
In St. Petersburg, the Deuces
was a vibrant community,
home to more than 100 blackowned
or -operated businesses
and entertainment venues
during the 1960s.
JEFF DAVIS

JEFF DAVIS
Ultimately, much of the
community was leveled for
the construction of I-275.
Despite this setback, the
Deuces is in the midst of a
rebirth. Along with new infill,
businesses and restaurants
now occupy remaining
buildings that date back to
the neighborhood’s heyday.
Moreover, the Deuces
anchors the city’s African-American
Heritage Trail.
Funded in 2014 by a $50,000
state grant from the Division
of Historical Resources, the
two-mile trail route honors
and recounts the history and
memories of the city’s black
residents through 20 historical
markers.
Much of the recent success
is due to St. Petersburg’s
working with the National Main Street Association
to establish The Deuces Live Inc., a non-profit
organization that promotes positive growth and
financial revitalization while preserving the area’s
rich history.
Part of acknowledging the area’s historic significance
is also to acknowledge the destruc-
2.
tion of that significance.
Utilize this chance to recognize past mistakes
and highlight the history and culture of
the neighborhood through community outreach
and events. Ask people who grew up in LaVilla or
who have family who grew up there, or past and
current business owners and customers to participate
in this discussion. People who were displaced
or remain have an opportunity to share a
vision for their community.
In Washington, D.C., the historic Bloomingdale
neighborhood relied on volunteers to conduct
oral histories, created a documentary video, produced
an illustrated timeline and gave input on
parks, community art projects and other amenities
as part of a collaborative project on research
and land use planning for their community.
A Bloomingdale resident and psychologist
helped lead the effort, calling it a project combining
psychology and design. The study efforts are being
shared with the D.C. Office of Planning to incorporate
into a cultural plan for the neighborhood.
Create a LaVilla-specific preservation plan
3. incorporating the history of LaVilla and feedback
from community members. Not only could
this help LaVilla, but such a plan could also be
used as a model for other underrepresented historic
neighborhoods in the city.
The first step is to identify, survey and document
remaining historic properties.
s
Located at Broad and
Church Streets, the former
Richmond Hotel was
constructed in 1909 and
considered Jacksonville’s
finest hotel for black
citizens. Guests included
Duke Ellington, Cab
Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald and
Billie Holiday, who would
often greet their fans from
the hotel’s second-floor
balcony.
v
The first step
is to identify,
survey and
document
LAVILLA’s
remaining
historic
properties.
The second
step is to
get them
protected
through
City historic
landmark
designation.
The second step is to get them protected
through City historic landmark designation, most
likely as individual listings. Landmarking is important
because it provides a level of protection
and an opportunity for additional sites to be
nominated to the National Register of Historic
Places. Historic buildings that are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places are eligible to
use federal historic-preservation tax credits and
historic-preservation ad valorem tax exemptions
authorized by the Florida legislature. Preservation
tax credits have been successfully utilized in
Jacksonville already for more than 40 projects.
While a historic district might not be an option
for the neighborhood, a conservation overlay
district as part of a preservation plan for the area
could be established.
Conservation overlay districts provide a method
for protecting an area’s scale, form and character,
but at a less strict level than a historic district.
Nashville is nationally known for this method of
overlay zoning and now has 21 neighborhood conservation
zoning overlays within its boundaries.
As part of a conservation overlay, design
guidelines for infill construction, streetscape elements
and signage could be included to make the
neighborhood distinctive from the rest of Downtown,
capitalizing on its real history as being diverse
and culturally significant in its own right.
Focus on restoration of the core of LaVilla
4. in the vicinity of Ashley and Broad streets.
There’s enough infrastructure here to add a
unique setting to the Downtown that adaptively
re-uses LaVilla’s most storied remaining buildings
with thoughtful, scale-appropriate infill with
complementary uses utilizing established conservation
district guidelines.
Beale Street in Memphis, Ashley’s historic
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 73

v
A GLIMPSE INTO LAVILLA’S RICH HISTORY
LaVilla’s past is filled with many culturally important memories. Here are four
nationally significant historical figures and associated facts about this district of
Downtown Jacksonville that have been woefully overlooked.
Patrick Henry
Chappelle
Born in 1869 to former
slaves who migrated to Jacksonville
from South Carolina,
Chappelle became known for
his musical showmanship at
an early age. In 1898, Chappelle
opened Excelsior Hall,
the first black-owned theater
in LaVilla (and the first in the
South, too).
A year later, he established
the Rabbit’s Foot Minstrel
Company, a traveling vaudeville
show headquartered
at the family’s property on
West Church Street.
By the time he died
in 1911, Chappelle had
become known as one of the
country’s largest employers
of African-Americans in the
entertainment industry — a
status that led him to be
billed “the black P.T. Barnum.”
One of Chappelle’s
performers, Ma Rainey, went
on become known as “the
Mother of the Blues.”
the debut
of the blues
on stage
On May 4, 1909, the
Colored Airdome Theater was
opened at 601 W. Ashley St.
The Colored Airdome
would routinely draw
standing-room-only crowds,
and it put Jacksonville on the
map when it was identified as
the site of the first published
account of blues singing on
a public stage. The John W.F.
Woods performance took
place on April 16, 1910.
This was a full two years
before William Christopher
Handy published his “Memphis
Blues.”
Today, it is Handy who is
largely known as the “father
of the blues.”
But the music Handy
found in the Mississippi Delta
had also been performed
for years all across venues in
LaVilla’s streets.
John Rosamond
Johnson
When it comes to Jacksonville’s
black history, poet and
activist James Weldon Johnson
automatically comes to mind.
But Johnson’s younger
brother, John Rosamond
Johnson, also played a significant
role in the development
of African-American entertainment.
One of the most popular
composers of the early 20th
century, Johnson is most
notable as the composer of
the hymn “Lift Ev’ry Voice and
Sing.”
Known as the Negro
National Anthem, the song’s
lyrics were written by James
Weldon Johnson and first
performed in 1900 at LaVilla’s
Stanton School.
John Rosamond Johnson
also was featured in the first
performance by an all-black
cast on Broadway, and he was
a founding cast member of
John Isham’s Oriental America.
This show would eventually
showcase a lyric soprano
from LaVilla named Eartha
Mary Magdalene White.
She would later go on to
establish the Clara White
Mission in Ashley Street’s
former Globe Theatre.
jelly roll
morton
During the late 19th
century, it was Jacksonville
that emerged as a significant
African-American entertainment
center in the South.
Connected by rail with
New Orleans, the African-American
communities
of Storyville and LaVilla grew
to become cultural exchange
partners.
In 1910, the veteran Louisiana
minstrel entertainer Billy
Kersands came to LaVilla.
Around the same time, Ferdinand
Morton, a 19-year-old
pianist from New Orleans
who had tired of life on the
road, also came to the area.
After a few months here,
Morton joined Kersands’
show, and he soon became
known as “Jelly Roll” Morton.
In 1915, Morton published
the “Original Jelly Roll Blues,”
which is recognized as the
first published jazz work —
and led Morton to claim that
he invented jazz.
— ENNIS DAVIS
counterpart, was home to many blues and
jazz legends, including B.B. King, Muddy
Waters and Louis Armstrong during the
early 20th century.
Despite being declared a National Historic
Landmark, by the 1970s Beale had become
a ghost town following a failed urban
renewal project that displaced most of the
community surrounding it. What was left
of Beale Street was saved when the Beale
Street Development Corporation (BSDC)
was created and selected by the City of
Memphis to redevelop two blocks of remaining
buildings with a redevelopment
strategy dedicating its efforts for the preservation
of the street’s rich history, culture
and physical development.
Today, Beale Street is Memphis’ most
popular tourist attraction, drawing five million
visitors annually.
The significant history and concentration
of what remains in the vicinity of the
intersection of Ashley and Broad Streets
provides Jacksonville with a similar opportunity.
Last, for city-owned properties like the
5. long-abandoned Genovar’s Hall, learn
from other successful Request for Proposal
(RFP) projects, such as the Le Meridien Hotel
in Tampa.
The City of Tampa awarded an RFP to
Memphis-based Development Services
Group to convert the building, originally
a historic federal courthouse, into a 130-
room hotel with event space and a restaurant.
Noted as an iconic structure, the redevelopment
on the north end of Florida
Avenue was intended to spur revitalization.
The City of Tampa acknowledged the
process wasn’t easy, but leadership through
Mayor Bob Buckhorn committed to the
project and saw it through to completion.
Said Buckhorn, “I never stopped believing
[the courthouse] could be returned to its
glory…[t]he job for us was to go find somebody
who believed in the capacity of greatness
that resides in this structure.”
Jacksonville’s leadership and Downtown
advocates need to have that same
sense of faith and support for the greatness
of LaVilla and its history.
Adrienne Burke is the Policy Planner for Nassau
County and a trustee for the Florida Trust for Historic
Preservation and has experience in historic preservation
and developing natural resource policies.
Ennis Davis is a certified urban planner with Alfred
Benesch and Company, a trustee for the Florida
Trust for Historic Preservation and Florida First Coast
section chair of the American Planning Association.
LaVilla Cultural Museum
74
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

Announcing the Intercity Bus Terminal
A new home for Greyhound
The Intercity Bus Terminal, the first phase of the Jacksonville Regional Transportation
Center (JRTC), is a vital component of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s
(JTA) visionary plan to transform transportation and enhance mobility and connectivity
throughout Northeast Florida. The JRTC will be a catalyst for economic growth in
LaVilla, and Greyhound serves as the anchor in the Intercity Bus Terminal.
JTA is proud to be a part of the revitalization of this historic community.
jtafla.com

YOU’VE SEEN THEM, THE DRAB,
DECAYING BUILDINGS SITTING
VACANT ON VIRTUALLY EVERY
DOWNTOWN BLOCK. PIONEERS
SEE THEM AS OPPORTUNITIES
FOR REVITALIZATION, YET
FAR TOO MANY OTHERS ARE ...
IN NEED OF
REHAB
BY MARILYN YOUNG
FOR J MAGAZINE
PHOTOS BY BOB SELF
J MAGAZINE
It’s great to see
work underway on the Barnett National
Bank Building or to have lunch at 20West
Café on Adams Street. The Cowford
Chophouse is an ideal place to capture a
stunning view of the St. Johns River while
enjoying dinner and drinks.
Those are among the urban core’s most
visible recent success stories. They also
help camouflage the stunning reality that,
as much as Downtown has improved over
the past few years, it’s still filled with an incredible
amount of dilapidated buildings
and vacant land.
A report commissioned by the Jessie
Ball duPont Fund revealed one in seven
buildings was empty in the area stretching
from LaVilla to the Sports Complex and
the St. Johns River to State Street. Nearly
all of the structures — 93 percent — are
historic (at least 50 years old).
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J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

Jack Meeks and his wife,
JoAnn Tredennick, stand
inside one of the units of
the Elena Flats building
they are renovating and
turning into apartments.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 77

JoAnn Tredennick holds a composite image created with an historic image of the Downtown Elena Flats building which she and her husband Jack Meeks are renovating.
Many of them have been vacant for
years, seemingly forgotten by their owners.
That’s not unusual when owners don’t live
in town. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But
81 percent of these buildings are owned by
people or companies in Duval County.
In addition, Downtown is littered with
vacant land, ranging from small lots here
and there to vast stretches of empty acres,
like in LaVilla, which was heavily razed in
the name of progress that didn’t come as
part of the River City Renaissance program
in the 1990s. In total, there are 160 acres of
vacant land Downtown waiting for developers
to build from the ground up.
Fixing the problem will require a stronger
commitment from City Hall and the
business community. First and foremost is
city government finally adequately funding
the Downtown Investment Authority,
which it created in 2013. Some cities, including
Cincinnati and Atlanta, have had
remarkable success with nonprofit programs
through which civically minded corporations
have donated millions of dollars
to provide capital for revitalization projects
in their urban cores.
WHICH BUILDINGS
ARE VACANT?
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund’s study
revealed one in seven Downtown buildings
is vacant. To see where they are visit
www.jacksonville.com/jmagazine/vacant
InvestJax — a similar organization created
here in 2014 by the Jacksonville Civic
Council and the JAX Chamber — has not
helped fund a project in its first four years.
Jeanne Miller, the council’s executive director,
said the lack of adequate funding
for the DIA has been a contributing factor
in that.
Other parts of the solution could include:
n Recruiting a few civic-minded developers
who are willing to take on a project
even when the numbers are not in their favor,
like Jack Meeks and JoAnn Tredennick,
who are restoring the Elena Flats apartment
building without seeking city incentives.
n An aggressive push by the city to force
owners of vacant buildings to fix the structures
that have fallen into such states of disrepair.
And it may require the courage of some
public officials to take the political risk of
leading a discussion about supporting a tax
increase, or at least maintaining the same tax
rate. to bring in more money for priorities, including
building a vibrant Downtown.
“We can’t have a great city and be rotten
at the core,” said Meeks, paraphrasing
a sentiment that has been used by officials
around the country for the last two decades
as they’ve preached the importance of
Downtown revitalization.
The extent of the issues exposed by the
study isn’t obvious to most people because
the vacant buildings are often sprinkled
in among stretches of restaurants, stores,
churches and government offices.
It was even a surprise to Kay Ehas, who
did the research for the duPont study. As
she drove around to confirm which properties
were actually vacant versus which were
in disrepair, she began to see a disturbing
picture.
“It’s not that I didn’t realize Downtown
was so dilapidated, but it hit home even
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J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

ADDING UP
THE VACANT
DOWNTOWN
BUILDINGS
11
Number
of vacant
buildings
owned by
the city.
14
Percentage
of buildings
that are
vacant.
62
Percentage
of buildings
that are
more than
50 years old.
73
Number
of vacant
buildings.
81
Percentage
of buildings
locally
owned.
130
Number
of vacant
areas
owned by
the city.
160
Number
of acres
of vacant
land.
more on how dilapidated Downtown really
is,” said Ehas, a former chief administrative
officer for the Duval County Property Appraiser’s
Office. “It really is. It’s terrible.”
Civic philanthropy
can make a difference
The Elena Flats building had been vacant
for at least a decade when Meeks and
Tredennick bought it in 2015. He believes it
is one of two apartment buildings that were
built in the decade after the Great Fire of
1901.
Meeks wasn’t looking for another renovation
project, but Tredennick was concerned
because the owner had sought a
permit to tear it down. So the married couple
began what Meeks calls a “love project,”
restoring the building knowing they aren’t
likely to recoup their investment.
“We’ve lost so many old buildings Downtown,
it was just a shame to see another one
lost,” he said.
Plus, he added, as vice chairman of the
DIA, “I wanted to put my money where my
mouth was.”
Over the decades, the building at 122 E.
Duval St. evolved from four spacious apartments
to a rooming house with more than
20 small units. The current renovation will
return the building to a four-unit complex,
with each two-bedroom apartment being
about 2,000 square feet, including the front
and back porches.
Some developers believe the restrictions
and guidelines tied to historic preservation
projects are overly cumbersome. But Meeks
disagrees.
“If people have the right attitude going
in, I think they’ll find them more of a help
than a hindrance,” he said.
Those guidelines also help protect the
historic character in a neighborhood.
Meeks knows restoring a historic building
costs more — sometimes substantially
more — than what it will be worth, based
on current rent levels. That prevents most
developers from taking on those types of
projects.
And he understands the city doesn’t
have the money to fill every hole that exists
in that differential.
Meeks was hoping that gap could be
partially filled by people in town with the
resources to take on a project, seeing it as a
source of civic philanthropy.
But that hasn’t happened.
In several cities, those efforts are successfully
driven by nonprofits that help
developers fill the financing gap through
revolving loan funds donated by corporations.
Discussions about that approach for
Jacksonville began in 2014 with InvestJax,
which hasn’t yet funded a project.
What has worked
in other cities
Fifteen years ago, Cincinnati officials
took the bold step of creating a nonprofit
real estate development company to focus
on revitalizing its dilapidated Central
Business District and restoring an adjacent
neighborhood once considered one of the
most dangerous in the country.
Cincinnati Center City Development
Corp., known as 3CDC, soon took control of
two private investment funds that provided
loans to help bolster Downtown and distressed
neighborhoods.
It also received generous support from
the city’s business community, including
Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank
and Western & Southern Financial Group.
Each year since 3CDC was formed in
2003, corporations have contributed $1.2
million toward the nonprofit’s operating
budget, said Joe Rudemiller, communications
director for 3CDC.
That amount covered the entire operating
budget in 2003, when there were six to
10 employees, he said. Now, as 3CDC has
grown to 70 full-time staff members and 120
seasonal temporary workers, the amount
accounts for 15 percent of the operating
budget. While 3CDC receives no taxpayer
money for operating costs, it does receive
government grants and loans on a project-by-project
basis.
In addition, corporations contributed
$250 million for 3CDC to use as a revolving
low-interest loan fund for projects.
The results have been staggering, leading
to an investment of more than $1.3 billion
in Cincinnati’s Downtown and Overthe-Rhine
neighborhood. The first major
project was completed in 2006, just three
years after 3CDC began.
Rudemiller said the nonprofit’s work has
The exterior of the Elena Flats building during its renovation into its original four-unit complex.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 96
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 79

With successful Downtown projects gobbling up the seed money
for development, how will the next wave of progress be funded?
GROWING PAINS
BY CAROLE HAWKINS
FOR J MAGAZINE
ILLUSTRATION BY J MAGAZINE
Downtown Investment
Authority
CEO Aundra
Wallace this
budget season
will ask the
city to refill two
trust funds he uses to
incentivize private development in
Jacksonville. The trusts can claim
an arms-length list of successful
redevelopment deals: the Laura
Street Trio, the Jones Furniture
building, two multifamily complexes
in LaVilla and a dozen Downtown
eateries, including the Cowford
Chophouse.
Now, the seed money
behind the mini retail and
housing rebirth is spent.
So what’s next?
It’s a symptom of
a bigger problem.
The DIA has a
$100 million master
plan to redevelop
the urban core,
but not a dedicated
funding stream to
pay for it.
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J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

The DIA didn’t cause the situation. And, you’d be hard pressed to
hear blame laid at the feet of City Hall or Council either. But if Jacksonville
wants revitalization, it’s still everybody’s problem.
The dilemma is due partly to Jacksonville’s tight finances following
the recession. But also because spending money on disinvested
urban cores can be politically tricky.
Disinvestment’s long road
Strong downtowns normally generate cash for counties. But if downtowns
deteriorate and are disinvested, it can be hard to
get the corporate offices, high-rise apartments and
retail outlets which generate top property-tax
dollars to move back inside city limits.
Jacksonville’s Downtown suffered two
rounds of disinvestment within the last half
century. The first occurred in the late 1960s,
when nearly every downtown in the U.S. collapsed.
Housing developments, shopping
malls and office parks grew at metro perimeters,
lured by large swaths of cheap land.
The second disinvestment occurred in the
1990s, when banking deregulation decimated
one of Jacksonville’s main industries, and
Downtown bank corporate offices relocated to
other parts of the country.
Over the last 30 years, city leaders have infused
more than a half billion dollars of taxpayers’
money into Downtown government
buildings and amenities as part of two large
infrastructure campaigns, the River City Renaissance
and the Better Jacksonville Plan.
The investments weren’t out of the ordinary.
Tampa poured a similar amount into its downtown
over the decades. Still in Jacksonville, the
revitalization engine hasn’t kicked in, perhaps
because the improvements have been to
public buildings scattered around
the city’s large Downtown.
“Part of the problem
with ticket surcharges
or parking or increasing
fees for city parks is it’s really
the equivalent of brownie
sale or bake sale money. It’s
not enough money. It’s not
going to move the needle.”
John Delaney, FORMER Jacksonville MAYOR
HOw do cities pay for
their downtowns?
Historically, city
redevelopments have
appeared as large infrastructure
spending
programs that rebuilt
sports stadiums and
courthouses or added
streetlights and river
walks.
In recent times
with disinvested urban
cores, the definition
of downtown
revival has expanded
to include economic
development. City development
authorities
today get involved,
not just in refurbishing
parks, adding street signs or upgrading performance venues,
but also in offering incentives to private companies — corporations,
retailers and developers — whose presence downtown makes it a
vibrant place to live, work and play.
DIA’s master plan for Downtown revitalization includes everything
from redesigning thoroughfares and extending the Riverwalk
to tax rebates for new apartment complexes and grants for small retailers
to open restaurants.
Cities can raise hundred of thousands of dollars for infrastructure,
either by issuing bonds repaid by property taxes, or by adding a halfcent
to its sales tax. Some of the largest spending programs for Downtown
Jacksonville historically have come from these revenue sources.
Jacksonville’s River City Renaissance raised $235 million by issuing
city bonds to redevelop the Times-Union Center for the Performing
Arts and the Gator Bowl (now TIAA Bank Field), relocate
and renovate City Hall and extend the Riverwalk.
The Better Jacksonville Plan raised $2.25 billion from a half-cent
sales tax and spent about $500 million of it on Downtown, building
the Veterans Memorial Arena, the Baseball Grounds, the Duval
County Courthouse and the Main Library.
City leaders have found that really the only way to fund large infrastructure
projects is to use politically sensitive property taxes or sales
tax. But in the wake of the recession, competition is stiff for property
tax funding. And the money generated by the half-cent sales tax is
spoken for through 2030. And anyway, revitalizing Downtown isn’t
just about funding infrastructure.
There are other ways Florida law allows cities to fund downtown
redevelopment. But rules restrict those revenues, so they can be
used only for narrowly defined purposes. For example, money from
gas taxes can only fund roads and transportation.
Also, none of the other funding sources pay out hundreds of millions
of dollars within a few years, as a property tax or sales tax does.
A bed tax? Jacksonville already collects the full 6 percent allowed
by state law. It brings in about $9 million annually for sports and
tourism.
A surcharge on tickets at Downtown theaters and venues? Jacksonville
has it and recently raised the rate from $1 to $2.50 a tick-
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 81

“We don’t have the option
to not be creative. We
have a limited amount of
resources because of those
legacy projects. And also
because of the city’s current
fiscal situation.”
Tom Daly, DIA Finance Manager
et, netting a little over $1 million more in cash annually for venue-maintenance
costs.
Former mayor John Delaney, architect of the Better Jacksonville
Plan, said these other options can’t pump the same level of dollars
into Downtown as the infrastructure programs of past decades did.
“Part of the problem with ticket surcharges or parking or increasing
fees for city parks is it’s really the equivalent of brownie sale or
bake sale money,” he said “It’s not enough money. It’s not going to
move the needle.”
There’s another tool cities can use to
pay for downtown redevelopment:
tax increment financing, or TIF. Cities
in Florida overwhelmingly fund
downtown redevelopment this way.
A tax-increment financing district dedicates
taxes generated by rising property values
toward improvements within that district.
A local government draws a boundary
around the area it wants to redevelop and
designates it a Community Redevelopment
Area, or CRA. As property values rise, the increase in the tax revenue
is set aside for redevelopment inside the CRA.
CRAs have the potential to raise tens of millions of dollars a year.
Orlando’s downtown TIF delivered over $26 million in 2016.
But until revitalization kicks in and property values rise, a CRA
may generate very little.
Jacksonville has two CRAs. One on the Southbank, which earns
about $4 million a year. And one on the Northbank, which today is
underwater, saddled by debt service from deals that were executed
a decade before DIA was founded.
They are the only dedicated funding streams DIA has.
Getting creative
With only a small stream of income for the Southbank and no TIF
money coming in to support DIA’s master plan on the Northbank,
the agency got creative.
At DIA’s inception, Council placed $4.1 million in a Downtown
Economic Development Trust Fund for DIA. City leaders found another
$5 million in an almost-forgotten Historic Preservation Trust
Fund. DIA had about $9 million for revitalization.
The DIA leveraged the dollars with private-public partnerships. It
assembled a dizzying list of 27 incentives to make Downtown more
feasible for corporate, retail and homebuilding partners. There are
local property tax rebates, state housing incentive programs, state
tax refunds for jobs in qualified industries and federal tax credits for
historic rehabilitation.
“We don’t have the option to not be creative,” said DIA Finance
Manager Tom Daly. “We have a limited amount of resources because
of those legacy projects. And also because of the city’s current
fiscal situation.”
What does creative financing look like?
DIA recently loaned apartment developer Vestcor $325,000 toward
its $23 million LaVilla project. It defrays just a little more than
1 percent of the costs. But because of it, Jacksonville’s Housing Finance
Authority was able to designate the complex a “local preference
housing project.” That gave Vestcor access to another $9 million
in federal low-income housing tax credits.
The tax credits would normally be paid out to an investor over the
course of several years. But by selling those credits to a third-party
tax credit syndicator for 95 cents on the dollar, Vestcor was able to
get money up front.
A chunk of cash like that puts a $23 million project within reach. All
sparked by a relatively small investment from the city.
Two local grant programs have been especially popular: the Retail
Enhancement grant and the Downtown Historic Preservation
and Revitalization grant. The money for the programs came from
the $9 million in DIA’s two trust funds.
While many incentives knock a few percentage points off of project
costs, both the Retail Enhancement and the Historic Preservation
grants have the ability to pay a small retailer up to 50 percent
toward renovation.
Restaurants like the Bellweather, Urban Grind Coffee, Bold City
Brewery, LIVE Bar and Element Bistro/Myth Nightclub, the Barnett
Bank building, Jones Furniture building and Cowford Chophouse
were all aided by these grants.
But now the trust funds that paid for these programs are nearly
empty. The Economic Development Trust Fund has less than
$800,000 left. The Historic Preservation Trust Fund is in the red. The
DIA has already pledged $4 million beyond its reserves towards the
Laura Street Trio, payable when the project is finished.
The well that for three years nurtured redevelopment on the
Northbank has run dry.
Priming the pump
If the CRA is the pump that, under normal circumstances, pours
money back into revitalization, what will it take to prime it? It won’t
take funding the whole CRA plan, said DIA Board Member Oliver
Barakat. But it will require funding part of it.
“My opinion is that number is $20 million a year in public infrastructure
and incentives,” he said. “What percentage goes into incentives
and what percentage goes into infrastructure still needs to
be debated by the board. But $20 million a year for five years, and
we’ll be done.”
That much money would convert one-way streets into two-way
boulevards. Implement directional signage, so visitors can easily
navigate Downtown. Put in basic landscaping so Downtown’s
streetscapes are consistent, and install necessary street lights. It
would incentivize redevelopment for projects like Berkman Plaza
and Snyder Memorial Church. And set aside private-public partnership
money for particular kinds of investments.
“We have a laundry list of incentive programs in the plan, and
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J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.
In 12 years, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. has invested more than $250 million in its
downtown and Over-the-Rhine districts, attracting more than $825 million. Included are plans for this
18-story mixed-used development that will feature a grocery store, parking garage and residential units.
Low rents, high construction
costs: The case for incentives
In an ideal world, downtowns don’t
need incentives to attract investment. The marketplace
itself is the incentive. Developers jump
in because they can get as much as a 20 percent
return after costs. That return essentially comes
from rent—how much rent a finished building
can earn.
But in Jacksonville, rents are still too low to
support the cost of construction,
said Steve Crosby
of private capital fund
InvestJax. A bank might
only risk a loan as high as
50 percent of a project’s
costs, instead of, say, 70
percent.
In theory, investors
could put up the rest of
the capital. In practice,
they don’t. Simple math
dictates if an investor pays
out more money to earn a fixed amount back, it
lowers the rate of return.
“People like to be critical of developers for
not being willing to take a chance,” Crosby said.
“But the money is mobile ... investors can do this
anywhere in the country.”
It’s no accident many of Downtown’s biggest
redevelopment projects have been spearheaded
by local developers, people who have a stake in
the community. They are risking a lower, or even
no, return for the sake of helping their hometown’s
urban core, Crosby said.
For a Downtown project, an equity investment
plus a bank loan doesn’t normally add up to
100 percent of costs. The gap can be as wide as 35
to 45 percent, Crosby said. It’s a large hole to fill.
Groups like InvestJax can lessen the gap by a
few percentage points. Such funds ask for a greater
return than a bank, but require less of a return
than a developer. They reap rewards as a second
lien-holder or a preferred equity investor.
Private capital funds have been used to revive
other downtowns. The Cincinnati Center City
“People like to be critical of
developers for not being willing
to take a chance, but the money
is mobile ... investors can do this
anywhere in the country.”
Steve Crosby, private capital fund InvestJax
Development Corp. invested more than $250 million
in its downtown and Over-the-Rhine districts,
attracting more than $825 million in 12 years.
Jacksonville is beginning to see some of this
type of investment. The Local Initiative Support
Corporation, or LISC, a fund similar to InvestJax,
provided a portion of the financing for the Laura
Street Trio project and the 20 West Adams project.
Still, there’s only so much risk a private fund
can take on. To strike a deal, whatever funding gap
remains must be filled by incentives. That means
grants— local, state, and federal dollars awarded
entirely for the public good the project brings.
— CAROLE HAWKINS
many of them are just not well funded yet,”
Barakat said.
The city has already made important
commitments. This year’s budget programmed
$8 million to demolish the former
City Hall and courthouse, $1 million for
lighting and landscaping, $1.2 million to repair
Friendship Fountain and $1 million to
extend the Southbank Riverwalk. It’s a fair
chunk of projects lifted right off the pages
of DIA’s master plan for Downtown.
But, the city is not funding an entire redevelopment
strategy. Just single projects
taken in isolation. A dedicated revenue
stream for DIA would guarantee an integrated
redevelopment strategy that keeps
delivering beyond any single administration
or budget cycle.
One tool left
in the toolbox
It’s hard to swallow, but if Jacksonville
wants to move forward with urban core revitalization,
there are few ways left today to
fund it outside of ad valorem taxes.
Is $20 million a year too much to ask
for? Perhaps the city could instead move
existing obligations that are depressing the
Northbank TIF over to the general fund, as
former Jacksonville mayoral Chief of Staff
Chris Hand has suggested.
Need to spend even less? The city could
simply replenish the original $9 million
outlay for Northbank incentives. Look at
how much DIA already did with that in
three years.
With Jacksonville’s economy in recovery,
benefits are trickling down. The city
expects to take in $40 million more tax revenue
in 2018, and it took out bonds for an
additional $100 million this year.
Rather than lowering the tax rate in the
upcoming budget cycle, a portion of the
growing revenue stream could be invested
in Downtown.
Successful redevelopment in downtowns
like Tampa, Orlando and, more recently,
Fort Lauderdale offer compelling
reasons why. They aren’t examples of how
Jacksonville is failing by comparison — our
city is using all the same methods to redevelop
our downtown as they did. Instead,
their stories could inspire us. They tell us
Jacksonville will succeed too, if we stay the
course.
Downtown Jacksonville needs a funding
stream. And to get it, Jacksonville
needs to confront its crisis of faith. It’s time
to decide: Do we believe in Downtown revitalization?
Carole Hawkins is a freelance journalist.
She lives in Murray Hill
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 83

CORE EYESORE
By Paula Horvath
While the exterior of the Old Stanton High School in LaVilla looks remarkably intact, the 101-year-old school is in need of funding if it is to be saved.
Time taking a toll on LaVilla’s
historic Old Stanton High School
ometimes perception is not
reality, and observation
S doesn’t tell the full story.
Such is the case with Old
Stanton High School at 521
W. Ashley St. in the LaVilla area of Downtown.
From the outside, it is a forlorn sight. Although
its grounds are kept neat and tidy, it
seems abandoned, its huge windows staring
vacantly out onto the surrounding streets.
Yet that’s not the whole story of this historic
school that has solidly anchored the
corner of West Ashley and Broad streets for
a century.
Ashley St.
Church St.
Duval St.
Broad St.
Clay St.
DUVAL COUNTY
COURTHOUSE
Beaver St.
Pearl St.
OLD STANTON
HIGH SCHOOL
521 W. ASHLEY ST.
PHOTOS BY WILL DICKEY // J MAGAZINE
N
The imposing three-story brick building
once throbbed with life. It is steeped in
history, a testament to the vigorous push by
Jacksonville’s African-American community
to ensure education for their children.
In fact, for many years after it opened in
1917, Old Stanton High School existed as
Duval County’s only high school for African-Americans.
It existed for decades after
that as a vocational school.
Thousands of students have walked its
broad front steps. Many thousands of hands
have caressed the wood bannisters on the
inner stairwells, wearing them down to a satiny
polish. The 23 original classrooms have
JEFF DAVIS (MAP)
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J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

A mural of Bishop Richard
Allen, founder of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church,
adorns a wall in the auditorium
of the Old Stanton High School.

The interior of the auditorium of the Old Stanton High School once was a hub of activity, seating up to 600 students.
witnessed countless hours of educational
progress.
Robert Mitchell, who graduated as a senior
during the school’s final year in 1952,
remembers the liveliness and laughter that
filled the school’s halls each time the bell
sounded to change classes. He also recalls
the intoxicating events performed on the
school’s stage by visiting African-American
entertainers.
Most importantly, however, Old Stanton
provided a nucleus for the
African-American students
and their families.
“We had a lot of marvelous
teachers and administrators,
and from them came a community
… built around just one
school,” Mitchell said.
“You were able to grow and
appreciate what it means to
work together as a group and
the achievements you could
witness. We knew there was always
faith in a better day.”
Historically, Old Stanton
represents the fight by African-Americans
intent on gaining
an education in a society
that excluded them from its
public schools.
The building that today stands on West
Ashley Street was the third building to bear
the name of Edwin Stanton, President Abraham
Lincoln’s secretary of war, and serve
African-American students. The first structure
burned in the Great Fire of 1901, and
the second, a poorly constructed replacement,
was later demolished.
Old Stanton counted as its alumni
such luminaries as journalist T. Thomas
Fortune, Eartha M.M. White, James
Students work on a lesson during an adult education typing class at Old
Stanton High School in 1935.
Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon
Johnson, who later served as its principal.
Despite the success of its graduates, the
school was consistently underfunded, and
maintenance of the building was a continuing
problem.
It closed as a high school in 1953 when
the “New” Stanton High School on West
13th Street opened its doors. It existed as a
middle school for one year then was transformed
into a vocational school
for African-Americans until
1971.
In that same year, the Duval
County School Board decided
to relinquish the building and
give it to a court-appointed
board of trustees. Since then,
the building has been mostly
vacant. The city gave the board
$300,000 to begin restoration in
1982. In 1987, the state gave it
an additional $500,000.
It’s been partially utilized off
and on for various purposes, including
as the home for Edward
Waters College’s Academy of
Excellence until 2003. Today
it houses a day-care facility as
well as the Jacksonville Centre
of the Arts on its first floor.
Florida Photographic Collection
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J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

Remnants of a wall mural remain on the third floor of the Old Stanton High School. In 1953, the school was transformed into a vocational school before closing in 1971.
Mitchell, who serves
as the chairman of the
school’s board of trustees,
admits it’s been an uphill
battle since 1971 to maintain
and begin restoring the
building. He and the other
trustees are now searching
for funding to do necessary
work on the old school’s
windows and roof.
A tour of the formidable
building today gives insight into both what
it once was and what it could be today.
The first floor — called the “basement”
by Mitchell — is where the school’s cafeteria
and vocational shop classes were once
held. Today this lower floor houses both
the day care and the arts group.
It’s on the second floor that the structure
begins to show its age and its tremendous
possibilities.
Light streams through high windows
within an enormous auditorium that once
featured a stage on one end and a balcony
on the other. The high walls have been
stripped of most of their covering of plaster
and paint, revealing the red bricks beneath.
It’s not hard to see this space, which
once could seat 600 students, as the perfect
place for community events and meetings.
“We had a lot of marvelous
teachers and administrators,
and from them came a community
... built around just one school.”
Robert Mitchell
1952 GRADUATE OF Old Stanton High School
A wide brick-walled hall stretches between
the balcony and cavernous space at
the front of the building that was once divided
into classrooms, a principal’s office
and a library. Again, it doesn’t take much
imagination to see an art gallery or museum
eventually within this space so brilliantly
lighted by windows that arch from
waist-level to ceiling.
The building’s third floor is much of the
same — red bricked walls and wide open,
well-lit spaces. A visitor need only step up
to a window to see the mammoth Duval
County Courthouse looming only a block
away. What a sweet spot this could be for
attorneys and others who want to be within
walking distance of the courthouse.
Mitchell says the board of trustees is
open to any suggestions as far as building
uses, although ideally he’d like to retain
at least a portion of the
building for some kind of
educational function. That
was, after all, the first and
primary use of Old Stanton,
and Mitchell believes
it’s important to “maintain
that original purpose.”
“We’re working hard,
very hard, to preserve
and restore this building,”
Mitchell said. Saving such
buildings as Old Stanton is essential because
it reminds people of their history.
“We are the result of others who came
before us,” he said. “These are the symbols
of those on whose shoulders we stand.”
Today Old Stanton is a building worthy
of such attention. The possibilities here
are enormous. Old Stanton stands as an
historic monument to the legacy of African-Americans
in Jacksonville.
Unlike so many historic buildings in
LaVilla, Old Stanton remains standing. But
it needs attention and funding from this
city, not neglect.
Paula Horvath is an editorial writer and
Editorial Board member at The Florida Times-Union
and teaches multimedia journalism at the University
of North Florida. She lives in St. Nicholas.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 87

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
By Roger Brown
‘Great Downtowns
start with people’
Former Visit Jacksonville CEO
impressed with the collaboration
he sees happening Downtown
B
ased on his professional resume alone,
former Visit Jacksonville CEO Paul
Astleford is someone whose insights are
worth seeking and taking to heart.
Astleford, who retired last fall from Visit Jacksonville
after nearly five years as its leader, previously ran
tourism bureaus in two major cities with thriving
downtown areas —
PAUL
ASTLEFORD
WORK:
Former CEO of
Visit Jacksonville
FROM:
Hazleton, Pa.
LIVES IN:
Epping Forest
Columbus, Ohio, and
Chicago — and
also served as a top
executive with
Disney Resorts in
Orlando.
But it is
Astleford’s
personal journey
to Jacksonville
that also makes his
perspective so invaluable. It is the quintessential
story of our city and its potential.
Long before he ever got the Visit Jacksonville gig,
Astleford and his wife would drive through the city
while traveling and tell each other that it seemed like a
great place to live. And today, even though he’s left Visit
Jacksonville, Astleford says he and his wife are staying in this
city.
“We’re here for forever now,” Astleford says with a chuckle.
“Jacksonville is our perfect home.”
So that makes Astleford the perfect person to feature in this
edition of J Magazine’s Q and A:
BOB SELF
How would you characterize the current state of
Downtown?
Well, overall, there are two huge characteristics right
now that really impress and encourage me.
For years and years, there had been a silo mentality
about developing Downtown Jacksonville. Each individual or
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 89

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“Right now, there are so many bright people really striving to
make Downtown what everyone feels it can and should be.”
PAUL ASTLEFORD, FORMER CEO OF VISIT JACKSONVILLE
organization seemed to just want to do their own thing and work
separately from others.
But now there is clearly a much more collaborative approach
and spirit in looking at improving Downtown — people are talking
to each other and working together on ideas and potential projects,
even when they don’t always agree on some specific things.
Also the level of leadership in our city all across the board, from the
business community to our government leaders, is at a fantastic level.
Right now, there are so many bright people really striving to
make Downtown what everyone feels it can and should be.
That’s been a fun thing to see develop over the last several years.
We still need to keep building on this sense of collaboration. We
still need to keep working toward creating an overarching vision for
Downtown — not just what we need to do or fix, but who we want
to be and how we want to project that as a unified voice to the rest of
the world.
But we’re getting there.
You can really feel that we’re now on the right track.
You have been quite eloquent in suggesting that one of the things
that’s held Jacksonville back in the past has been our inferiority
complex — that we’ve tended to be overly negative in how we
perceive our city, and that has limited our belief we can achieve
big things Downtown. Have we made any strides in shaking off
that inferiority complex?
There’s no question. The transformation we’re now seeing from
a silo mentality to a collaborative approach is bringing out a lot of
the energy, enthusiasm and pride about Jacksonville that haven’t
been there before.
One year from today, what should be happening in Downtown
Jacksonville for us to say that we’ve made real progress over the
past year?
I would think one of the most important things is to have many
more residents living Downtown a year from now than we have
today. That’s because the more residents you have in Downtown
— particularly the millennials who love living in the walkable areas
of the Downtown — the more it will automatically start to create
more attractions, more restaurants and everything else that will
keep the Downtown building and growing and achieving great
things.
So it all starts with people?
Yes, absolutely. Great downtowns always do start with people.
You need vision, you need ideas. But it all comes down to people
wanting to work together on Downtown, people wanting to live in
Downtown. That’s what makes the vision and ideas work.
Roger Brown has been a Times-Union editorial writer
since 2013. He lives in Downtown Jacksonville.
And you noticed that right away when you arrived in Jacksonville?
Yes, I noticed it when I got here, that inferiority complex.
But now that we have public-sector leaders, private-sector
leaders, people throughout the whole community talking to each
other, that’s the kind of transformation that I’ve seen make other
cities and their downtowns really thrive.
What cities specifically?
Two cities.
One is Charlotte; they had people in that city who worked
together to pretty much literally draw a picture of what they
wanted the city to look like in the future. They had a collaborative
vision that Charlotte could be the banking capital of America.
They have followed through on that and made it reality, and their
downtown is thriving.
The other city is Oklahoma City. One of the great takeaways about
that city is it had three consecutive mayors who were consistent in
sticking to this broad collaborative vision about Oklahoma City’s
future direction. It wasn’t like one mayor left, and the new one
started over from scratch. There was a consistency about working
together instead of working separately, and it’s made a major
difference in the evolution of that city and its downtown. They’ve
done some amazing things in their downtown. It’s pretty inspiring.
Now Serving Brunch
SUNDAYS FROM 11AM - 3PM
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 91

12 HOURS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 67
remain eight months after the storm
wreaked havoc Downtown.
Some of the floating docks, with damage
dating back to Hurricane Matthew the
year before, are still unusable.
The long-promised new basin replacing
the old courthouse parking lot is taking
forever to complete. So is the work around
the Hyatt and the repairs to the section of
Liberty Street that collapsed more than
three years ago.
Guest rooms at the Hyatt come with ear
plugs, not exactly an accessory that shouts
welcome to Jacksonville’s prime riverfront
hotel.
On a more positive note, the benches
along the Riverwalk that had once fallen
into disgraceful condition have been
refurbished and painted, and the lights that
vandals insisted on damaging have been
replaced with the more durable historic-style
lamp posts.
While the Riverwalk is used, it doesn’t
attract the number of people that it should.
Regular festivals and activities centered
on the Riverwalk, things we had in the past,
would help.
So would cabanas with food and drinks.
Perhaps the “nodes” — planned points
of attractions and identity on both the
Northbank and Southbank Riverwalks —
will be the impetus to change that.
7:30 a.m.
In June of last year, Mayor Lenny Curry
told the Times-Union editorial board that
he was going to take back the Landing,
which sits on city-owned riverfront property,
from the Sleiman family.
What should be a showpiece for Downtown
has instead become an embarrassment.
Curry said Sleiman Enterprises had
mismanaged the property, adding “we’ve
got a plan internally to put the screws and
keep pushing this.”
On this April day, as the calendar turns
close to a year since Curry made his threat,
the Landing is still a shadow of what it
should be, and the doors were locked when
I was searching for a place to eat breakfast.
8:30 a.m.
First Watch, which serves breakfast,
brunch and lunch, is a pleasant, inviting
place with friendly staff and good food.
Its doors were open.
The restaurant is part of the development
that complements the 220 Riverside
and other new apartments in Brooklyn
— an area that is fast becoming another
success story for Downtown.
It also is illustrative of the pace of Downtown
revitalization: It’s frustratingly slow.
Years ago, on one of the hottest days I’ve
experienced in Jacksonville, I joined others
under a big tent as plans to redevelop
Brooklyn were announced.
Pretty pictures. Pretty drawings. Bold
talk. None of it turned into reality.
Finally, with the birth of 220 Riverside,
success is on the horizon even though
Unity Plaza, which was touted as a great
gathering place for people, has turned out
to be a dud so far.
Other plans are in the works for Brooklyn.
Hopefully they won’t be slow coming
to fruition.
9:45 a.m.
In February 2015 when the refurbished
and redesigned Southbank Riverwalk
opened, City Councilman John Crescimbeni,
not known for effusive praise, said,
“The distinctive new look of our Southbank
Riverwalk will quickly make it an iconic
Jacksonville landmark.”
In appearance, it certainly lives up to
that assertion.
The original Southbank Riverwalk, built
three decades ago when Jake Godbold was
mayor, had been a roaring success.
But it grew old and tired and became a
detriment instead of a destination.
The $17 million spent by the city to remake
the Southbank Riverwalk produced a
remarkable rebirth.
But, as is often the case, on this April
day with bluebird skies, the Riverwalk was
basically deserted.
More activities would help, and the
promised improvements to Friendship
Fountain should be a draw.
But the same problem plagues both the
Northbank Riverwalk and the Southbank
Riverwalk: a lack of parking for the public.
On the Northbank, there are 10 spaces
under the Fuller Warren Bridge marked
for public Riverwalk parking in the lot that
becomes the Riverside Arts Market on
Saturdays.
And there are 25 spaces for the public at
Sidney Gefen park.
The public, however, isn’t likely to know
those spaces exist.
One small sign mentions the spaces
under the Fuller Warren Bridge. There’s
no signage alerting people to the spaces at
Gefen park.
Better signage heralding the existence
of the Northbank Riverwalk and where the
public can park should be a no-brainer.
But even with better notice, 35 parking
spaces for the public is not enough for
the crowds that should be coming to the
Northbank Riverwalk.
It’s even worse on the Southbank Riverwalk.
Although I keep being told there is parking
for the public, I have yet to find it.
If it’s there, signs would be helpful.
The public can park on Riverplace Boulevard
for two-hour time periods.
But getting to the Riverwalk from there
can entail a dash across a wide, busy roadway
and then a search among the buildings
to find an entrance to the Riverwalk.
Why hide your light under a bushel?
We should shout our Riverwalks from
the rooftop.
10:45 a.m.
Downtown hasn’t always been the most
pleasant place to visit.
For years, there has been debate about
adding public art to make Downtown a
more welcoming and enjoyable experience.
For the non-art crowd, this was a waste
of money. For others, it was essential for
adding life to Downtown. The latter were
right.
This is another Downtown success story
in the making.
My walk along Downtown streets on this
morning was spiced by giant murals appearing
unexpectedly on the sides of buildings
and by brightly colored sculptures.
Two of the ugliest things inflicted on
Downtown for years – large utility boxes
stuck in the middle of sidewalks and the
giant, drab pillars supporting the Skyway –
are now a riot of colors and bold designs.
The art shouts that Downtown is unique
and has soul.
The naysayers should say nay no more.
11:45 a.m.
For two years, I sat through meeting
after meeting as a special City Council
committee chaired by Denise Lee debated
on how to reclaim what was then called
Hemming Plaza from the unsavory crowd
that congregated there.
The plaza was dirty, and gambling,
drinking, drugs and public urination were
common.
It was hardly a fitting atmosphere for a
place that serves as the front door to City
Hall.
There was a name change and a new start
as the Friends of Hemming Park took over
92
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

management of the park.
There have been bumps along the way,
but the Hemming Park of today is much
improved from the plaza of yesterday.
It’s clean and neatly landscaped. Bright
colors set a new tone.
On this day, three food trucks were
ready to serve the lunchtime crowd.
The sweet sounds of a young woman
playing the guitar and singing on the
park’s corner stage mixed with the chatter
of those sitting in the shade of oak trees
dining at brightly colored tables.
It was a parade of humanity: people
in suits, others in wild outfits; City Hall
employees and lawyers; children having
a good time on the park’s playground and
mothers pushing babies in strollers; other
people walking their dogs.
Wayne Wood, who was instrumental in
establishing the Friends of Hemming Park,
walked by as he checked how things were
going.
He’s aware of the criticism about topping
the walls around the fountains with planters
to stop people from sitting on them.
It was the previous design, he said, that
encouraged the homeless and loiterers to
take over the plaza, sometimes basically
living there.
It’s now clear that the planters were the
right call.
The park is a work in progress. In
the hour I sat there, you still heard the
profanity that offends many. But it was in
conversation, not shouted across the park
as I had heard in previous visits to the plaza
before changes were made.
Yes, it’s a work in progress, but it’s headed
in the right direction.
12:45 p.m.
I left Hemming Park and walked along
Hogan Street to The Court Urban Food
Park located next to the SunTrust Tower’s
parking garage.
This is a wonderful space, clean and
bright, where on this day four food trucks
were busy serving customers.
That’s the way it has been every time
I’ve been there.
I couldn’t help but chuckle as I remembered
the time a couple of decades
ago that Frank Nero, then the head of
the Downtown Development Authority,
met me Downtown in search of a hot dog
stand.
We found one and shared a
peace-making meal, as we often disagreed
on Downtown issues.
Nero long ago left Jacksonville, but
I’m certain he would be pleased that the
Although I may sound pessimistic about the
slow pace of getting things done to make
Downtown better, that panoramic view
testifies that much has been accomplished
since I moved to Jacksonville in 1978.
few hot dog stands have blossomed into
an array of food trucks serving standard
American dishes as well as exotic foods.
There’s no shortage of lunchtime dining
in Downtown now.
Besides the food trucks, there are
numerous cafes set up in small spaces and
large restaurants.
On this day, they were busy with customers.
I ducked into the Brick Coffee House in
the Edward Ball Building on Adams Street
and enjoyed a bowl of chicken dumpling
soup and a strawberry smoothie while
reading a magazine.
All in all, it was a pleasant Downtown
lunch break.
1:45 p.m.
It was time to move from the successes
and beginning successes Downtown to the
failures.
The first stop was Berkman Plaza II.
The 23-story riverfront building has sat
as an unfinished skeleton since 2007 when
a section of a parking garage collapsed and
construction halted.
For more than a decade now, the building
has been an open wound in Downtown.
For months, there have been rumors that
progress was coming.
In August 2017, Mayor Curry told the
Jacksonville Daily Record “that eyesore has
to be gone one way or another.”
Curry added, “Expect to see something
there.”
On April 18, 2018, it still stood as a testament
to failure.
2 p.m.
My next stops were The Shipyards and
Metropolitan Park.
For years I wrote columns about efforts
to develop The Shipyards, a prime piece of
riverfront that can hold the secret to Downtown’s
success.
Plan after plan, pretty drawing after
pretty drawing never became reality.
There is renewed excitement now that
Jaguars owner Shad Khan has outlined his
ideas for The Shipyards and Metropolitan
Park.
The excitement was just as strong for The
Shipyards when proposals were trumpeted
by TriLegacy and then Landmar.
On the day of my visit, The Shipyards
property remained empty and Metropolitan
Park mainly devoid of people.
4:15 p.m.
I ended my day spent Downtown where
it began — on the Northbank Riverwalk.
As the workday wound down, people
began returning to the Riverwalk — the
joggers, bicyclists, walkers, folks sitting on
the benches and enjoying conversations
and the fresh breeze coming off the river.
The Riverwalk provides a panoramic
view of Downtown — both the Northbank
and the Southbank.
Although I may sound pessimistic about
the slow pace of getting things done to make
Downtown better, that panoramic view
testifies that much has been accomplished
since I moved to Jacksonville in 1978 and
began working for the Times-Union.
The Southbank was basically deserted
then. Now it’s brimming with office towers,
high-rise condos and apartments, and the
massive operations of Baptist Health.
If The District, another long- envisioned
project on the former site of JEA’s Southside
Generating Station, indeed comes through,
it will be a game changer for Downtown.
Another will be the plans Khan has
announced for The Shipyards and Metropolitan
Park on the Northbank if this time
dreams become reality.
The revitalization of Downtown in Jacksonville
hasn’t by any means been a sprint;
it’s a marathon.
Now could be the best chance we’ve
had in years to finish the race.
I’ll either be cheering at the finish line
or once again be frustrated by unfulfilled
dreams.
RON LITTLEPAGE wrote for the Times-Union
39 years, the last 28 as a columnist, before
retiring last year. He lives in Avondale.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 93

When a young black man
was stopped for jaywalking and
threatened to be jailed by a
Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer,
investigative reporters Ben ConARck of
The Florida Times-Union and Topher Sanders of ProPublica
began examining jaywalking citations issued by JSO.
For four months, the two reporters sidestepped an obstructive
public agency, pored over thousands of police records and
interviewed dozens of pedestrians, public officials and traffic experts.
In the end, the journalism that came out of the tireless reporting –
“Walking While Black” – exposed the problematic
practices of a police force that routinely stopped black
people who hadn’t broken any laws.
Their work on the project has now been honored with two
of the country’s most prestigious journalism awards.
Ben ConARck
The Florida Times-Union
Topher Sanders
ProPublica
winners of:
%
» Columbia Journalism School’s «
2018 Paul Tobenkin
Award
for race reporting
[Past winners include: The Washington Post,
The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun]
%
» University of Colorado’s «
2018 Al Nakkula
Award
for police reporting
[Past winners include: Minneapolis Star Tribune,
USA TODAY, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
+

For their far-sighted, meticulously reported investigation that raises
critical questions about how the criminal justice system treats one
population versus others, we are proud to award the journalists
behind “Walking While Black.”
– JUDGES FOR THE 2018 PAUL TOBENKIN AWARD
#truthmatters
READ THE REPORT: www.jacksonville.com/walkingwhileblack

IN NEED OF REHAB
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 79
not only included renovating buildings for residential and commercial
purposes, it also has focused on fixing up civic facilities and programming
them as a way to draw people Downtown.
He said Cincinnati is fortunate to have such a strong base of corporate
partners “willing to come back year after year.” Many of the businesses’
executives are members of the nonprofit’s board of trustees.
The corporations were not only motivated by civic pride, Rudemiller
said, but they also realized the deteriorating conditions in
the city could negatively impact their businesses. The revitalization
effort helps provide a more attractive environment for businesses
when they’re recruiting employees.
Soon, other cities followed Cincinnati’s example.
Atlanta’s Westside Future Fund, formed in 2013, has focused on
four neighborhoods near Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Atlanta
Falcons play in the heart of Downtown.
The Urban Land Institute reported the not-for-profit fund also
is working with the Atlanta Police Foundation to have more officers
move into troubled neighborhoods, an effort funded by Pulte
Homes and a foundation named after Arthur M. Blank, who owns
the Falcons and Home Depot.
And in Jacksonville?
Four years ago, InvestJax was created to provide “patient,” that
is, long-term, capital for Downtown projects. It also provides “focused
intellectual resources” for real estate and new business development,
according to the Civic Council’s website.
Steve Crosby, who at the time was an executive with CSX Corp.,
was placed on loan from the railroad company to create and lead
the fund. He retired from CSX in December 2017 but said he continues
to volunteer as InvestJax’s chief executive officer.
He said he has met with many businesses to explain the concept,
discuss opportunities and gauge their interest.
“I think revitalizing Downtown is viewed as important and
probably as important as anything, but not more important than
anything,” Crosby said, describing those conversations.
He said part of that belief is because, “by lots of measures, our
Downtown is in really good shape.” There aren’t burned-out buildings,
drug dealers or prostitutes on every corner.
“We are trying to make a pretty good Downtown be a great
Downtown,” Crosby said. “That’s not a bad problem to have.”
He said InvestJax’s value to Downtown isn’t solely to find capital
for projects.
“For us, success is just having things happen whether we’re
financially involved or not ... If we can use introductions or nonfinancial
capital to make that happen, that’s great,” he said.
Both he and Miller talked about the “capital stack,” or funding
mix, for redevelopment deals that detail different sources and levels
of investment.
Miller said after looking at several potential deals, such as for the
Jones Furniture Building and the Ambassador Hotel, it was clear the
capital stack would require public and private money and possibly
grants.
“We will raise a lot of private money, but right now there is no
public money. We are hoping for more money for DIA,” said Miller,
who’s been head of the Civic Council since 2013. “There needs to be
a partnership.”
She said the urban core has been at the forefront of her organization’s
agenda from the beginning, pointing out the group has begun
its third Downtown task force. The latest is comparing the process
for getting deals approved in other cities versus Jacksonville, which
she said is “very long and discouraging to outside investors.”
Miller expects the group to complete its work by summer 2019.
“At that point, we’ll hopefully have a better sense of how InvestJax
fits in moving forward,” she said.
She said InvestJax will probably wait until then to select a project,
unless perhaps if the right project came along and the other necessary
funding sources were in place.
Crosby said he has a “comfort level” that money will be there
when the right project surfaces. He speculated the fund’s inaugural
project could be “a few million dollars.”
Meeks would like to see that first project happen. Asked if he was
disappointed that InvestJax hasn’t help fund a project, the DIA vice
chairman said, “I would be enthused if they did.”
The view from real-estate people
Christian Oldenburg, managing director of Colliers International
Northeast Florida, a commercial real-estate firm, grew up
in Jacksonville.
“I’ve lived here long enough to remember when the (Jacksonville)
Landing was the cool place to go,” he said with a laugh.
Oldenburg feels in the cycle since 2010 or 2011, there has more
energy surrounding Downtown than there has been before. He
attributes that to a confluence of many things, including Jacksonville
Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s plans for an entertainment district
and the Shipyards development and the fact that the Barnett
Bank Building and Laura Street Trio projects are underway.
That’s a welcome change from the years when there wasn’t
much to get excited about.
“Candidly, Downtown has never been a tremendous showpiece
for Jacksonville,” Oldenburg said.
The “showpiece” tag was put on places like the Beaches, Sawgrass
and most recently, the St. Johns Town Center, where he said
the development has “just been phenomenal.”
For years, there has been a lack of energy surrounding Downtown.
“But that has very much taken a turn in the right direction,”
Oldenburg said.
However, he conceded, the urban core still doesn’t make sense
to developers when the decision is based strictly on cost. Building
a new structure in the suburbs is typically cheaper than restoring
a building Downtown, where issues can range from asbestos removal
to following historic-preservation guidelines.
“It takes not only the city to step up, but the
corporations that call Jacksonville home
and who want to see it thrive.”
Christian Oldenburg
managing director of Colliers International Northeast Florida
96
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018

“There are in-fill buildings selling for $2 million
to $3 million a unit there. There are no office
vacancies left in those building.”
Margie Seaman, founder of Seaman Realty and Management
Co., said another deterrent to some of the vacant buildings being
filled is a zoning issue. She believes there should be a zoning overlay
that allows all Downtown buildings (with certain exceptions such
as office towers) to automatically allow commercial, residential and
office uses.
Seaman said she had a client who wanted to
open a storefront on the ground floor at 112 E.
Forsyth St. and live upstairs. She said it cost the
client a couple of contract extensions, thousands
of dollars in legal fees and a lot of heartache to go
through the zoning change process.
“That’s zoning from another time,” she said of
the current restrictions.
Seaman, who is from New York, said she has
seen firsthand how successful the zoning strategy
has been in communities outside of Manhattan.
“There are in-fill buildings selling for $2 million
to $3 million a unit there. There are no office
vacancies left in those buildings,” she said. “You
have people living and working in those buildings.”
Oldenburg praised the work being done in
Cincinnati and the successful partnership between
the local government, 3CDC and the philanthropic
businesses.
“It takes not only the city to step up, but the
corporations that call Jacksonville home and
who want to see it thrive,” he said.
Oldenburg acknowledged that Cincinnati is
home to more major corporations than Jacksonville.
And he wondered how community support
would have been different today if businesses
like The Charter Co. and Barnett National Bank
had survived and flourished versus shutting
down or being bought out.
Creative reuse of lazy assets
When DIA Operations Manager Guy Parola
looks at the list of vacant properties and land, he
sees some success stories and works in progress.
n The Barnett Bank Building and Laura
Street Trio are being restored by local developer Steve Atkins’
SouthEast Group and the Molasky Group of Companies from Las
Vegas.
n The building at 20 W. Adams St. was vacant when information
for the duPont study was compiled, but the long-planned 20West
Café has since opened. “I just had lunch there,” Parola said in May.
n DIA has partnered with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority
and Rummell Munz Partners to help develop a strategy for LaVilla,
which was mostly ignored until recently when Vestcor completed the
Lofts at LaVilla apartments and broke ground on a second complex.
Margie Seaman
founder of SeamAn Realty and Management Co
DOWNTOWN
MYTH BUSTERS
The “Downtown Jacksonville: Our
Assets and Opportunities” study
opens by exploding a few myths:
MYTH NO. 1
People from out of town
own most of the property.
Not true. Local people own 74
percent of the Downtown property.
MYTH NO. 2
There’s no place to park. Not
true. There are 11,927 public spaces
in garages and 6,100 spaces on
surface lots. The parking frustrations
are created by three factors: oneway
streets that create confusion
for drivers, archaic parking meters
and a lack of signage and publicity
for the parking that exists.
MYTH NO. 3
Churches, especially First
Baptist, own all the land. Not
true. Churches own just 4 percent
of the parcels and 6 percent of total
acreage. In fact, the largest owner of
Downtown property is government.
n The old city hall annex and Duval County courthouse on Bay
Street are likely to be demolished to make room for a proposed convention
center complex that could include a hotel and parking garage.
The DIA also has sent out proposals to sell some of the city’s other
lazy assets. The DIA recently approved the
sale of the building at 905 W. Forsyth St. to an
adjoining property owner.
In addition, the authority’s Retail Enhancement
Program has helped fill some vacancies
by offering financial assistance to companies
such as Jimmy John’s and Super Food and
Brew.
Some cities offer government-owned property
at a steep discount or even for free in an attempt
to find the right developer.
That’s something Meeks said he would support
for Snyder Memorial Church — a stately
building across the street from Hemming Park
and City Hall — if a qualified developer had a
plan and the resources to execute it.
“I’m only one vote … but I’d vote for that,” he
said.
Many believe the DIA has done a good job
with the limited taxpayer dollars it has received.
The results are scattered throughout Downtown,
including the Southbank and Brooklyn.
The problem is, more public funding is
needed.
Now that the city’s pension debt is being
addressed by a half-cent sales tax that begins
after the Better Jacksonville Plan sales tax expires
around 2030, that should free up money.
Downtown should be among the top priorities
to receive additional funds.
But even that may not be enough.
“So, part of it is what we want,” Meeks said.
“And I can tell you living in our neighborhood
(Springfield), we need more investment in our
infrastructure in a variety of ways.”
Meeks said many people, including himself,
are willing to pay for it through a tax increase.
But, can someone run for City Council and say, “We’ve got things
we need to do and we need to raise our millage rate by a point?”
Meeks asked. “Or would that doom the person to never getting elected?”
Perhaps a better question is how long can the city afford to not
properly fund its priorities.
Marilyn Young was an editor at The Florida Times-Union
in 1998-2013 and was editor of the Financial News & Daily
Record in 2013-2017. She lives in northern St. Johns County.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 97

THE FINAL WORD
Bold ideas coupled
with sustained vision
key to revitalization
JOHN
DELANEY
EMAIL
jdelaney9@me.com
hen I was mayor, my staff and I
W often engaged in what we called
“The Utopia Exercise.” We would
focus on an issue to resolve. In order to get to
big, uninhibited thinking, the exercise had four
rules. First, assume you have all the money
you need. Just plain pretend. Second, no one
will oppose the plan. Third, you can change
any rule or law that gets in the way of any element
of the plan. And fourth, there is no media
to get the plan out before it’s fully developed.
In other words, start by not being limited. The goal
of the exercise is to focus first on the problem and
ideal outcome — not the obstacles. At least for the
purposes of creative conversation, initially eliminate
the negative — the potential lack of funding, the worry
that HR or legal staff will voice concerns, or that it
will be leaked before it’s fully developed and naysayers
will come out.
Those four rules are pretty liberating.
The thinking that emerged with our staff through
this process led to the Better Jacksonville Plan and
the Preservation Project, both containing elements to
encourage growth back into Downtown.
For the BJP, the premise was that while growth
brings good things to an economy, it also has downsides.
Growth negatively impacts the environment,
and it leapfrogs older communities and Downtown.
Infrastructure just doesn’t keep up — roadways, sewer
plants, drainage systems, etc. So, the ultimate question
was: How do we manage growth without regulation?
We came up with a $2.25 billion plan, which was a
knee-knocking number. But we settled on proposing
a half-cent sales tax referendum to pay for the plan,
and the public approved it with a decisive vote of 57
percent.
Like BJP, the Preservation Project was also a response
to Jacksonville’s rapid development. Again, the
Utopia Exercise yielded some lofty goals to strategically
manage growth: We wanted to save about 10 percent
of the remaining land in the county and preserve it for
future generations. Through partnerships with the JEA,
St. Johns River Water Management District, the state’s
Florida Forever land preservation program and others,
we exceeded our goal, preserving about 10 percent
of the entire county — not just the undeveloped land
— and developing parks in areas where they were
critically needed. Today, Jacksonville has the largest
park system of any city in the country and more acres
per person as well.
So, what does this have to do with Downtown
today?
It’s a reminder that true revitalization requires bold
ideas and a sustained vision. For effective change,
the leadership and the vision must extend beyond an
election cycle.
Mayor Jake Godbold imagined that an NFL team
would shake off the city’s long-held inferiority complex.
Mayor Tommy Hazouri wanted to get rid of the
city’s tremendous odor problem that had haunted
Jacksonville for decades. Mayor Ed Austin landed
that NFL team, modernized management in City Hall
and passed the River City Renaissance, a downtown
infrastructure plan that did not require tax increases.
Mayor John Peyton stabilized the City’s finances after
the brutal Great Recession.
Cities that have revitalized their downtowns —
Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Charlotte
— all had a vision that endured and leaders who were
committed to real change. Downtown must be a major
focus of any mayoral administration and City Council.
That priority should remain constant. We have done a
good job —opportunistically. But not in a consistent,
cohesive way.
There is no question that there has been progress
and that there is an infrastructure of people and groups
committed to Downtown. We have developed some
great entertainment venues, and there are more people
living Downtown. For decades, we’ve recognized the
need for a convention center closer to Downtown’s
core, and that vision is gaining traction. Plans are jelling
around the Shipyards and the Sports Complex with
Shad Khan, a known change agent.
We have plenty of obstacles in modernizing our
Downtown: It’s large, spanning three miles from the
convention center to the stadium; we have a limited
tax base; and we compete with five other major Florida
cities for state resources.
We all know the challenges, but let’s stay the course
and continue to shoot for Utopia.
JOHN DELANEY, who was mayor of Jacksonville
in 1995-2003, is president emeritus of the University
of North Florida. He retired last month.
98
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2018