by Bailey White
Staff Writer
With a number of popular restaurants, two drugstores, several antique shops, a church, florist and bookstore, the Park and King streets intersection in Riverside already attracts a crowd, especially at lunchtime.
Now the area, one of the city’s oldest in terms of architecture, is getting a facelift.
“I think the minute you dress up Park and King, more people will start to realize, ‘This is really nice,’” said City Council member Jim Overton, who represents the area.
Back in the early 1990s, Overton set aside $400,000 in City money for four Riverside/Avondale area streetscape projects and so far one has been completed.
“It looks like Park and King will be the next to get up and get done,” he said.
And that is thanks to the Park and King Area Association, a group of the area’s merchants, business and property owners and residents who have been working on the project for about five years now.
“We didn’t realize how big this project would turn out to be,” said Linda Waldrep, one of the founders and early presidents of the group and now a co-chair of the streetscape improvements. “What started as just the intersection has stretched to include an area that is almost one and a half miles.”
The project includes new sidewalks, landscaping, antique-style lighting and underground utilities
Funding will come from the City and the association. Numerous grants, private donations, and even money raised from selling personalized bricks for the sidewalk, will help cover the association’s part of the project.
“We’re responsible for the sidewalks and the landscaping,” said Susan Washil, the other co-chair on the project. “We’ll be using crepe myrtles and palms because we want maintenance to be as easy as possible.”
The sidewalks will have an octagonal design and feature decorative brick trim at the corners.
Both women admit the project has taken longer than they originally thought, but in some cases, that has turned out to be a good thing.
“JEA came on board with the lighting and that put a hold on the project, but it will be worth it,” said Waldrep. “They’re putting their money into underground utilities, which will really help.”
“And the City has been really good to us and wanted to complete both phases at the same time, so we’re lucky to get such a big area included,” said Washil.
The street lamps will be replicas of the original single bulb lights that lined the streets and JEA’s help will lift the responsibility of maintenance off the shoulders of the merchants.
The lighting is an especially important element in the project. Once known as the “Great White Way,” after the nickname for Broadway in New York City, Washil said the area was known for its lights.
“This was one of the only areas in Jacksonville whose lights you could see from the sky,” said Washil
As for the streets, they’ll be repaved between College and Oak streets on King and between James and Acosta streets on Park.
When exactly will the project get started?
“We’re in the midst of coordinating some of JEA’s work,” said Jeff Beck, division chief of the streets and drainage department of the Public Works Department. “Our next step is to get all of our contacts in place to get work underway.”
Beck estimates the project could take between nine and 12 months, so communication between the City, merchants and property owners is key.
“I think we’ll have a town meeting with the City within the next two months,” said Waldrep. “They’ll also keep a troubleshooter on hand for any problems that may arise, and we’ve been assured that we’ll get as much warning as possible about work that could interfere with our businesses.”
All this is certain to create what Waldrep calls a destination area that 10 years ago had 60 percent vacancy rates and wasn’t always welcoming.
Washil ran a catering business from one of the properties she owns in the area and avoided going back to the shop at night.
“The area was very high crime,” she said. “And in some places there was heavy drug trafficking.”
Neighborhood walks with Overton and Sheriff Nat Glover helped considerably, as did the association’s clean-up days and faith in the area.
“The improvement is phenomenal,” said Sam Salem, whose family has owned the Whiteway Delicatessen on King Street since the 1960s. “Now we have the drugstore, a big draw and we have antique shops around that help give the area its own identity.”
“The businesses have really helped shape the area for the better,” said David Holladay, associate pastor of the Riverside Baptist Church on Park Street.
“It’s like a little town down here,” agreed Washil. “It’s definitely become an antique mecca. We’re in the middle of Five Points and Avondale and we have our own identity.”