J Magazine Winter 2019

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T Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center to be a beacon for Downtown’s LaVilla neighborhood JTA’s gleaming, new ‘diamond’ By MIKE CLARK // Photos by BOB SELF The Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center is so cool, so futuristic and so important to the renaissance of LaVilla that its name doesn’t do it justice. The people who came up with DUUUVAL need to come up with a nickname. To understand the importance of the Regional Transportation Center, you need to understand the history of its neighborhood, LaVilla. The LaVilla neighborhood and transportation are intertwined. LaVilla was once the boyhood home of James Weldon Johnson when Jacksonville welcomed African-Americans and other immigrants, like the Cubans and Chinese. With its location near the rail lines and Union Terminal, LaVilla has a strategic location along the East Coast. A. Philip Randolph, who graduated from the Cookman Institute, became the head of the porters union and later was one of the most influential people in the country. It was Randolph who pressed President Harry Truman to integrate the armed forces. It was Randolph who organized the 1963 March on Washington, which included Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But LaVilla and the South slid into decline in the 1900s as Jim Crow discrimination took over the South. Sadly, much of LaVilla was torn down during the River City Renaissance of the 1990s. A kind of urban depression set in. Union Terminal no longer greeted rail passengers as AMTRAK moved to a hard-to-find location in Northwest Jacksonville. But the history of LaVilla couldn’t be suppressed. A few stalwarts persisted. The Clara White Mission set aside an upper floor with historic artifacts. The Durkeeville Historical Association persisted with almost no funding. The Ritz Theatre and Museum was sometimes more influential outside Jacksonville than at home. Urban planner Ennis Davis spread the history of this area. The Times-Union Editorial Page sought to do our part, partnering with the University of North Florida in an uncovering.jax website. But something dramatic was needed. Nat Ford, CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, has provided it. Ford found plans for a Regional Transportation Center that had been on the shelf for decades. The Times-Union Editorial Board had received presentations on the plans. But like so many other impressive plans in Jacksonville, they never turned into concrete. The traditional design was connected to the Prime Osborn Convention Center and its iconic Union Terminal. There was logic to it. But the problem was that the cost of the Regional 30 J MAGAZINE | WINTER <strong>2019</strong>
Workers put the finishing touches on the exterior of the front of JTA’s new Regional Transportation Center in Downtown’s LaVilla neighborhood. WINTER <strong>2019</strong> | J MAGAZINE 31
Page 1 and 2: THE MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH OF JACK
Page 3 and 4: architecture ◆ engineering ◆ co
Page 5 and 6: KEEPING AMERICA MOVING CSX is the n
Page 7 and 8: David Cawton II, Manager of Media &
Page 9 and 10: FROM THE EDITOR Indicators show pro
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Page 13 and 14: SPRINGFIELD NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY V
Page 15 and 16: 64-year-old building for $3.7 milli
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Page 21 and 22: Todd Brearley, the Design and Const
Page 23 and 24: { } “At the end of the day, what
Page 25 and 26: Steven Frich of First Transit dusts
Page 27 and 28: { } “I had a number of people who
Page 29: We know Jacksonville. Times-Union i
Page 33 and 34: Work continues on the framework of
Page 35 and 36: for Speed Virgin Trains USA is expa
Page 37 and 38: JEFF DAVIS (MAP); ASSOCIATED PRESS
Page 39 and 40: VIRGIN TRAINS USA STATIONS /// ///
Page 41 and 42: While Jacksonville is one of the co
Page 43 and 44: To ride in the core city, a cyclist
Page 45 and 46: With the closing of The Jacksonvill
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Page 51 and 52: Work continues on Riverplace Boulev
Page 53 and 54: lanes and two lanes won’t hurt tr
Page 55 and 56: Decades ago, an experiment to add o
Page 57 and 58: But this time, they faced a popular
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Page 63 and 64: short ride as fun as possible. “G
Page 65 and 66: Earlier this fall, Downtown’s Fir
Page 67 and 68: Pastor Jerry Vines delivers a sermo
Page 69 and 70: “I would love for the city to rec
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Page 73 and 74: A streetlight illuminates the sidew
Page 75 and 76: The lack of light and the absence o
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Alan Bliss, executive director of t
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A group of Bolles School students l
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BOB SELF As thousands of Downtown w
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that runs smarter and leaner by plu
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PREMIER MEDIA AND MARKETING IN GREA
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Downtown Investment Authority turne
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are nonprofits. We have 635 apartme
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Parking Continued from page 88 Broo
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Innovation Continued from page 87 w
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Top-ranked and trusted. Your family
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