by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
A pair of road improvement projects in Riverside are finally starting to take shape. But one of the area’s most prominent corporate tenants thinks the projects will ultimately be judged according to their impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.
As founder and chairman of of one of the country’s leading design-build firms, Preston Haskell knows good construction work when he sees it. And so far, he’s been impressed with the early work on the $150 million I-10/I-95 interchange in Brooklyn. But he gives a more lukewarm review to the Riverside Avenue expansion project unfolding outside The Haskell Company’s front door.
“The work on Riverside is slowly, tortuously winding to a finish,” said Haskell. “But I think we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.”
The Florida Department of Transportation began holding public meetings on the Riverside project in 1992. The project will ultimately widen Riverside to six lanes and expand nearby Forest Street.
The FDOT expects to open the expanded Riverside by December of this year or January 2006. Spokesperson Mike Goldman said utility problems encountered by contractors have slowed down work.
“Whenever you’re working in an older section of the city, you’re going to run into utility conflicts, but work is moving slowly but surely toward completion by the end of the year,” said Goldman.
Haskell is taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the expansion until he sees the impact on the Riverside and Brooklyn neighborhoods. He’d like to see the two neighborhoods joined as one cohesive district and worries that an expanded Riverside Avenue could become an obstacle.
“It would be better to have one neighborhood, not two,” said Haskell. “But, it’s a little unclear what’s going to happen. I think they should have thought more about the impact on the neighborhood.”
Haskell isn’t the only one with those concerns. Urban Design Associates, the firm hired by the City to develop an urban renewal plan for Brooklyn, questioned the need for the expansion. However, UDA principal Don Carter said the plan could be adjusted to incorporate a wider Riverside.
UDA envisioned a connection with Riverside Avenue as an essential part of its plan to revitalize Brooklyn. UDA went so far as to rename the district “Brooklyn/Riverside” to reflect a closer relationship.
UDA said investment from Riverside Avenue’s corporate tenants — the Haskell Co. is joined on the riverfront corridor by developers St. Joe and the Auchter Company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Fidelity National — would be necessary to bring back Brooklyn. Haskell said he thinks the wave of development along Riverside will begin to trickle into Brooklyn once the real estate along the river is used up.
“I think you’ll see investment moving in there and further south along the river,” he said. “But there’s still some land left on the river. The parcel immediately next door to us and the parcel adjacent to Blue Cross and Blue Shield are too valuable not to be developed.”
Haskell has nothing but praise for the early work on the I-95/I-10 interchange also underway in Brooklyn. FDOT-hired contractor Archer Western, has been impressive, he said, since starting work in February.
“You can tell when a contractor knows what it’s doing, and Archer Western knows what it’s doing,” he said.
Haskell had been critical of repeated delays to the project’s start. Haskell was initially told by Gov. Jeb Bush that construction on the project — nicknamed “The Big I” — would start by 2002. In late 2004, he found out that construction would be postponed until after the February 2005 Super Bowl. That prompted a letter of protest to the FDOT.
The project still has a long way to go; it’s scheduled for a 2011 completion. When it opens, the Big I will relieve traffic congestion and improve access to the interstates. That should further spur development in the area, said Haskell.