by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The city’s new pioneers are finding just about everything to their liking as they go back to downtown’s future.
The only real drawback is the “elephant in the living room” no one wants to talk about.
“I think the thing I like best is I hardly drive anywhere anymore,” said Amy Crockett, who moved into 11 E. Forsyth in March from San Marco. “I don’t have rush hour. It’s only three blocks from where I work, so I walk every day.”
Crockett’s building and the W.A. Knight Building, just south of Hemming Plaza, have been rehabilitated to attract a new generation of residents to replace those who begat the suburbs years ago.
The former Roosevelt Hotel will reopen as The Carlington in a year or so when renovations there are complete.
Apartments and condos are also available at Berkman Plaza and The Parks at the Cathedral.
A revitalized downtown depends on a blend of residents, visitors, large businesses and small shops. Such a mix will make the area “an exciting place to live, work and play,” according to Downtown Vision Inc., where Crockett works as communications and office manager.
If sales continue the way developers hope, downtown will be home for hundreds of new residents.
Planned or completed are 124 units at 11 E. Forsyth, 198 apartments and 20 townhouses at Berkman Plaza, 12 lofts at the Knight Building, 99 units at The Carlington and 51 townhomes at Parks at the Cathedral. The Shipyards on Bay Street is under construction and The Strand is getting started the Southbank.
Crockett and her fiance, Trey Harrell, “were very interested in all the developments downtown,” she said. “We took our time and checked out everything. We decided 11 E. fit our personalities best.”
The “intangibles” at the building won them over, she said, but the layout of the 950-square-foot apartment “was the biggest kicker, I think.
“And what we don’t have downtown, like grocery stores, are as close as they were in San Marco.”
Crockett and Harrell agreed to a year-long lease, “But we’re definitely looking at staying. I love the building, I love the view, I love being downtown.
“It’s exciting.”
W.A. Knight Building
If possible, Jay Terry is even more enthusiastic about the loft he has been renting since January at the W.A. Knight Building on West Adams Street.
He has plenty of company.
Seven months ago, 12 lofts were available in the building, and Terry was the second to move in. The last unit will be occupied Sept. 1.
“Yesterday, when I stepped out of the place, there was a couple from Mandarin out front,” said Terry. “They said they were thinking about moving in. They were so disappointed to find out all the lofts had been rented.
“I’m so glad I’m not imagining this. It’s tipping this way.”
Terry is a licensed massage therapist and personal trainer. For the past seven years, he has been co-owner of the Center for Natural Health on San Marco Boulevard. He moved to downtown from a neighborhood near San Marco.
“I did my homework on downtown,” he said. “The timing was right. I made some more inquiries and checked with the [Jacksonville Economic Development Commission].” Several of his clients dealt with downtown development and design, and were glad to give him all the information he wanted.
“I’d been looking around; I’d been investigating, but it was more of an intuitive thing,” he said. “I felt things were moving, and not because of the Super Bowl. I don’t think that will do much for downtown, just get us in a national arena.
“But I had seen it on the Southbank, in San Marco.
“I like the fast pace. “I just do. No one thinks of downtown Jacksonville as fast-paced, but it’s getting there.”
The lure of downtown apparently is being felt by others, too.
During the Hard Hat Tour earlier this year, “I was in my loft, and I had over 200 people come through,” said Terry. “Something’s happening with our area.”
The “something” may mean downtown is ready to mature culturally and socially, he suggested.
“Terry Lorince [executive director of DVI] has done a wonderful job,” said Terry. “She’s taken some Northern ideas, where cities are more compact, and tried to apply them to downtown Jacksonville.
“Anyone who knows about big cities understands the vitality of downtown is the heart of any progressive city,” added Terry, who lived in New York City for 14 years. “Entertainment and cultural venues need to be side by side, to give people a reason to be there.”
In addition to renovations at the former Roosevelt Hotel, the City has allocated money for updating the old Lerner’s Building. Three abandoned buildings across from the Barnett building will also be rehabilitated into Laura Place.
The Knight Building, built with old Florida sandstone, housed dozens of offices and was completed in 1923. Because of its historic designation, strict regulations had to be followed during renovation.
“They’ve preserved whatever they could,” said Terry.
Two or three restaurants have already opened in the neighborhood, and others are getting facelifts.
Terry’s only complaint has nothing to do with the building, which he said is “perfect.”
The complaint is the “elephant.”
“I don’t want to see anything change,” he added, “but parking is ridiculous. On my block alone, there are two bus stops, a freight loading space on the opposite side. We only get four or five spaces. And three of them are half-hour parking.”
However, the management at the Knight Building found parking spaces for the tenants in Independent Square.
“Other than that,” Terry said, “I think the City has really thought of everything downtown.”
Knight’s first tenant
Howard Holloway didn’t know he was a “downtown pioneer” when he became the Knight Building’s first new tenant.
“I didn’t find out till later,” said Holloway, who moved in at the end of November. “I didn’t think it was a situation where nobody really lived downtown.”
Holloway, who grew up in New York, moved to Jacksonville from Washington, D.C. He actually applied for the apartment, sight unseen, before coming south. Competing for limited space in the big city, he said, teaches people to negotiate on the run.
“You come in with money, go in the apartment and look around,” he said. “If you want it, you’d better have your wallet ready.”
All he really knew about housing in the city was he wanted to live in the Downtown area.
“I hate driving,” said Holloway, who is studying health administration at Jacksonville University and working part-time for JEA. “I won’t do it if I don’t have to. I had a car in D.C., but I used it rarely.
“Driving, traffic, parking, time, stress. I try to eliminate all that. I’m all about convenience and what’s closest to me.”
Holloway is also the resident manager of the Knight Building, making his life “quite busy.”
He would like to have more neighbors and see a few more shops that are familiar in larger cities.
“I would like to see more people living downtown,” he said. “I understand Jacksonville doesn’t really like change, so maybe it’s going to take a little while. It takes a lot to get change to happen.
“This has turned out great, but it is a little bit of a transition compared to what I’m used to. More restaurants would be good, more of the arts, a dry cleaners. More Mom and Pop markets, bodegas, little stores here and there.
“Hopefully, they’ll come along.”
The Parks at the Cathedral
Greg Radlinski, an attorney with the General Counsel’s Office, had two reasons for wanting to move to The Parks at the Cathedral on Church Street.
One was that he and his wife, Jane, were missing a lot of downtown events because of the 90-minute round trip from Orange Park.
The other, more pronounced, feeling was that, if he didn’t stop making that long commute every day, sooner or later he would become a statistic.
“I am one happy camper,” said Radlinski. “I love living downtown.”
The Radlinskis lived in Orange Park for 18 years. He commuted daily to Jacksonville for the past 13 years in what, he suggested, was becoming a demolition derby.
“My prime motivation was the commute,” said Radlinski. “I knew time was running out as I drove that [U.S.] 17-[I] 10-[I] 95 merger. I just had to get off the highway, or I would be road kill.”
The three-story townhouses at The Parks range from 1,550 to 1,943 square feet.
The Radlinskis thought about moving to downtown for years and had considered buying an older home in one of the established neighborhoods.
“But buying an older home is like buying a money pit,” he said. “We wanted new construction.”
When The Parks project was announced four years ago, Radlinski was at the first organization meeting and was the third to sign up for a unit. They moved in March.
Radlinski’s father, Victor, is a widower, and he has decided to move from Pensacola into a Parks townhouse of his own around the end of August.
“My wife loves it . . . because I’m happy, and she likes the amenities,” said Radlinski. “Whatever is not immediately downtown is readily available across the bridges, which is easy to get to.
“I’m really happy we did this. And I’ll do whatever I can to talk up downtown.”