by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Don’t be surprised if the downtown Jacksonville riverfront has a Spanish flair one day thanks to trips Chamber Executive Vice President Jerry Mallot made last year and the one he’s leading today.
A contingent of Jacksonville elected officials, business leaders and developers left Thursday on a 10-day trade mission to Germany and Spain. When they come back, the hope is new business relationships with German firms will have been forged and fresh, and they have new ideas for further revitalization of the riverfront with a distinctly Spanish flavor.
“We are going to Spain to look at a riverfront development that is one of the most impressive in the world,” said Mallot, who heads the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Cornerstone initiative, which aids the City in attracting new businesses. “It’s in Bilbao, Spain. I saw it last year and I was blown away.”
Mallot is joined by Mayor John Peyton, City Council President Elaine Brown, LandMar President Ed Burr, Wachovia’s Bob Helms, George Gabel of Holland & Knight, the international chair of the Regional Chamber of Commerce; Tom Van Berkel, chairman of The Main Street America Group and the current Cornerstone chairman; Chamber President Wally Lee and John Freeman, head of the international division at the Chamber. Terry Lorince of Downtown Vision Inc. and Nancy Kilgo, JEA’s director of legislative affairs and economic development, are joining the group in Spain.
“Our primary purpose in Germany is that this is the first major business recruiting mission to Germany,” explained Mallot. “This is a leadership trip which is why the mayor and Council president are going. We are going to meet with about 20 companies and a series of individuals.”
Mallot said the group plans to meet with German representatives from the aviation, automobile, life sciences and logistics industries.
“It’s about prospecting,” said Susie Wiles, chief of special initiatives and communications for Peyton. “It’s an economic development mission.”
In Spain, the group will be treated to what has become one of the premier tourist destinations in the world.
When the city of Bilbao, in the northwestern corner of the country, decided to revamp its riverfront, Mallot explained, they did one thing Jacksonville is doing: formed a public/private partnership for virtually the entire project. They also did something Jacksonville has yet to do: establish a landmark destination that everything else can build around.
“They put a world-class Guggenheim Museum right on the river,” said Mallot, adding the revitalization effort also had a recurring theme. “Everything reflects a work of art. They built a hotel with modern art on the inside and outside. There is a consistent theme for a mile-and-a-half of their downtown riverfront.
“We are meeting with the development group that did the project and the vice mayor. We want to know how they did it and what resources they used.”
Mallot said a similar strategy could be used in Jacksonville. If City officials and developers opt to discard the theme concept, Mallot believes it’s still imperative that a landmark attraction be established and serve as a focal point for the rest of the riverfront on both the Northbank and the Southbank.
Right now, says Mallot, the Landing is that landmark attraction, but he has other ideas.
“I would bring in a Guggenheim Museum. It’s a worldwide attraction that people from all over would come to see. Then, they would also see everything else. It’s a magnet,” said Mallot, adding what Bilbao did almost a decade was risky, but has proven well worth the risk. “We have had recommendations like an aquarium, but every city gets those kind of recommendations. I saw the museum as a unique development and I was impressed that Bilbao didn’t do what other cities do. Something really unique like that could be important to the whole development.”