(10-14-2020, 12:47 AM)Minshew Mania Wrote:

(10-13-2020, 11:18 PM)High Octane Wrote: So whats the big deal with Lot J? Is it supposed to be a ton of renovations around the stadium to make the area more attractive?

I live in Chicago and never visited Jax so i'm just curious. I'm wondering if its similar to what the Cubs owners did around Wrigley field. About a billion dollars went into renovating and gentrifying the area.

Jacksonville has 0 entertainment in the downtown area. It's pretty bad. Literally every building is for commercial purposes. Lot J, among other ideas being tossed around with the Shipyards, is supposed to try to provide some sort of tourist attractions. Unfortunately they dropped the ball with the recent demo of the landing and are putting a park there instead of something more substantial. Our local Government seem to have a resistance to putting anything cool in our downtown area, probably so they can siphon more taxpayer money into their children's trust funds.

I vividly remember people being genuinely confused when we hosted a superbowl, because there was "nothing to do". At least some of them figured out they had to drive 30 mins away to the beaches.

I actually really like the park idea personally. It is an achievable way to make the main st. entrance to downtown more attractive to future investment and visitors. People enjoy spending time outside and downtown Jacksonville has surprisingly few "green spaces" to do that. It also isn't an absurd amount of money/ time/ risk to make it happen and with regular maintenance should be viable indefinitely. Another mall competing with the town center juggernaut, in the limited footprint of the landing, with more difficult access in and out, is a much harder project to realize and sustain. Ultimately that is what killed the landing.

I also would like to see Lot J and the Shipyards progress. River adjacent property for entertainment like the renderings I've seen is pretty common in other cities. Plenty of public parking around the stadium when events aren't happening will be appealing. Of course boosts for those businesses during games or shows will help get the area going. The area also isn't quite as business heavy to your point, so they aren't forcing into a space, they are trying to focus on an area to grow a real entertainment district. Hopefully the start of better things for downtown.

The approach makes sense to me on the front end, hopefully it doesn't completely blow up in the taxpayer's faces.

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