by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The City selected Pittsburgh design firm Urban Design Associates to redesign the Brooklyn and Riverside Avenue District. The proposal, approved earlier this month by Mayor John Peyton, seeks to use Brooklyn’s natural assets to attract mixed–use development.
Peyton chose UDA from eight candidates. The firm’s proposal emphasized past projects in Norfolk, Va. and Nashua, used access to waterways to spur housing, retail and commercial development. UDA’s package pointed to the St. Johns River, McCoy’s Creek and Brooklyn’s proximity to the central business district as potential drivers for the neighborhood’s revitalization.
Brooklyn has lagged behind the adjacent Riverside neighborhood, which in recent years has become home for some of Jacksonville’s leading businesses — St. Joe, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, The Haskell Company and Fidelity National Financial. The selection of UDA was the first step toward capitalizing on Brooklyn’s potential said mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy.
“People ask ‘Why that area?’ and the reason why we’re focusing there is because it’s one of the key areas where we want to attract infill housing,” said Murphy. “The idea is to make the area more attractive to bring people there.”
The UDA proposal called Brooklyn and Riverside “two different worlds.” While Riverside has thrived, Brooklyn has become enveloped by “blight, vacancy and an aura of neglect.”
UDA pointed to transportation projects — an I–95 interchange and the current widening of Riverside Avenue — as obstacles to Brooklyn development. That sentiment was echoed at Wednesday’s Downtown Development Authority board meeting.
“We’ve sat here, basically doing nothing, while major highways and roads have been built across McCoy’s Creek,” said board member Gerry Nichols. “It makes it more difficult to do anything with it.”
As the DDA reviews downtown’s master plan, former City chief of staff Audrey Moran said the area should be developed as “a prominent gateway” to downtown’s west end. DDA managing director Al Battle said the City could connect McCoy’s and Hogan’s creeks with walkways, encouraging pedestrian traffic. UDA’s plans appear to mesh with those concepts.
In addition to accessible waterways, UDA’s proposal said the designer will capitalize on Brooklyn’s proximity to the Osborn Center in LaVilla, the neighborhood’s history and a strong employment base along Riverside Avenue to attract development.
According to initial estimates, the redesign will cost $205,000. UDA also asked to be compensated for travel, long–distance communication and photography.
The planning process will span three phases. First, UDA will collect land–use, traffic and transit data and interview neighborhood stakeholders. Following a phase-two trip to the City to test design theories, UDA will prepare a draft plan. That plan will be amended through meetings with City planners, culminating in the project’s final draft. Additional public forums may be added at the City’s discretion.
The final draft should be ready in five or six months, according to UDA.
The firm’s previous designs used prominent riverfronts to revitalize residential, shopping and commercial districts in Norfolk Va., Nashua, N.H., and Cincinnati.