by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
What will the Riverside Avenue area look like in a few years?
Many are predicting that it will become a corridor of office buildings, retail shops and, yes, there’s the possibility of a Skyway extension.
Two major new projects have been announced: headquarters buildings for St. Joe and the Marks Gray law firm. More are expected as widening of the road continues and the 2005 coming of a huge interchange to like the street with I-95.
The Skyway is a possibility and the land will be waiting.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is reserving land along Riverside Avenue for a possible future transportation corridor that could include light rail, a high speed bus lane, high occupancy vehicle lanes or other new innovative transportation alternatives.
“With what they have indicated to us, we are going to keep that property open for future use of the JTA,” said Mike Goldman, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation. “We rarely will sell public property to private developers and if we do it there is a very fair process where everyone will have a shot at it. Riverside Avenue is a State-owned road, but May Street is City-owned. Whatever the City of Jacksonville or the JTA wants to do with that property, they would have the first rights to it.”
Everything between Riverside Avenue and May Street is under the Department of Transportation’s jurisdiction for the widening of Riverside Ave.
The FDOT has purchased and flattened many buildings along May Street to prepare for the widening project, which will allow four to six lanes to be added to the north side of Riverside Avenue and to the west side of Forest Street. Construction should start early next year.
“We are keeping the area open between May and Riverside that we are not using for the roadway,” said Goldman.
The widening area stretches from Riverside Avenue to May Street and from the Acosta Bridge to Forest Street.
“The State’s property will stay in the State’s hands unless the JTA wants to use it for a transportation corridor,” said Goldman. “Until then, we will keep it as a buffer and some of it would be for ponds. They have been public about a transportation corridor to the Riverside area. The future development to the property next to it could be affected by the JTA’s plans for a transportation corridor.”
The JTA confirmed that the land will be held for future transportation development.
“That is correct; the FDOT is reserving land for future transportation-related work,” said Steve Arrington, director of engineering for JTA. “There is no current program for extending the Skyway right now, but there was, and still is in the long range, plans to extend it down into the Blue Cross and Blue Shield area, when it is justified. There is no funding program for an extension of the Skyway right now, nor are we requesting any this year.”
The JTA is currently involved in a Transportation Alternative Study which is looking at new innovative transportation alternatives along Riverside.
“Determination of the preferred concept will be within the year,” said Arrington. “Funding to do the project will take several years to secure. One concern that many have is that the transportation agencies cannot secure property for projects until the acquisition has substantial impact, both in additional costs and disruption of activities. This would be a case where we are able to reserve property for future transportation needs. Any improvement that is made would assist activities in that area [Riverside], certainly on the long term and on the overall.”
Goldman said the widening has many benefits.
“Yes, we are widening the roadway, but it has public benefits far beyond just additional lanes on Riverside,” said Goldman. “It definitely enhances the downtown development potential.”
But in two years, when the road has been widened, the possible JTA transportation corridor may impact future development along the north side of Riverside.
“Anybody developing back there will have to consider for their long range plan that they are going to be next to a transportation corridor in one form or another,” said Goldman. “But, once we are finished, this is going to be prime developable property. It will be property next to a major thoroughfare connecting prime residential areas in Riverside to the downtown areas.”
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission recognizes that and encourages development following the widening.
“No one else [besides Marks Gray] has approached us for development,” said Al Battle, managing director of the Downtown Development Authority. “But with the road improvements, specifically to Riverside and the new I-10 and I-95 interchange, we think the road improvements will make the area more attractive to the development community.”
Battle said the traffic patterns will be modified to encourage development along Forest and Park streets to compliment the high density along Riverside Avenue.
“I think there is definitely an ability to encourage new housing and not to replace what is there, but to provide a better product to the people that are there now and to attract future residents,” said Battle. “In addition to the residential, the area’s proximity to Riverside, Five Points, and LaVilla make the Park Street corridor a very viable area for commercial, office and retail development as well.”
One thing Goldman would like to see the land used for is a parking lot to give easier access to the Northbank Riverwalk.
“Public access is a real problem, so if you could add a parking lot a couple of blocks away, people could walk down Jackson Street to get to the Riverwalk,” said Goldman. There will be 75,000 square feet of undeveloped property north of May Street left over after the widening which is going to be prime property for real estate developers.
In addition to saving land, the FDOT will put in a few retention ponds, one on the corner of Riverside Avenue and Forest Street and another further down Forest.
Goldman has been asked by several real estate developers about the land north of May Street. They want to know the time table of the roadway construction and what the JTA’s plans are.
One potential developer, the law firm of Marks Gray, has already submitted plans to build a 58,000 square-foot building on May Street between Dora and Jackson streets.
“We have applied for incentives and are awaiting the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s response,” said Nick Pulignano, a shareholder in Marks Gray. “We hope to begin construction between April and June depending on when we get the permits.