by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Urban design students from the University of Florida traveled to Jacksonville last week, bringing with them renderings of potential development blueprints for the Southbank.
Part of a semester-long project, the fourth year students were broken up into seven teams, each focusing on a singular facet of redevelopment in the area including entertainment, retail, education and corporate components.
“We like to challenge our students to be as original as possible,” said Terry Schnadelbach, a UF urban design professor. “And obviously Gainesville isn’t exactly a very urban city, so it was nice for us to be able to use Jacksonville for creative inspiration.”
City Council member Suzanne Jenkins, who represents the much of that area of downtown, said the renderings may be serve as a guide for future Southbank growth.
“I think it’s great that these students decided to look to the Southbank for creative ideas,” said Jenkins. “This is the perfect time for us to be looking at what direction we want to take there as more and more developers have been stepping up to the plate.”
Jenkins, who led a charette last month with a similar focus, added the renderings would be discussed at non-profit group JaxPride’s annual Ideas & Actions seminar on April 6.