by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Ed Burr says he has 11 clubhouses at the country clubs his company owns. Now, he says, he’s going to build one without a golf course.
The clubhouse will be one of the major amenities in Phase I of the Shipyards, the multi-million — maybe a billion — dollar development which starts coming out of the ground early next year along the river on the eastern edge of Downtown.
“We are building a community Downtown,” said the LandMar president at Wednesday’s press conference. “A clubhouse is part of a golf community and this will be part of our urban community.”
When complete, it will be a massive community with housing, retail and commercial properties as well as a large public space, including an extension of the Northbank Riverwalk and development of the 700-foot pier that today sits barren just to the east of Berkman Plaza.
Development will start early next year and the signature piece, a soaring condo/retail tower roughly comparable to The Strand development across the river, ready for occupancy in 2009.
The first phase, said Miami architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia, will include rows of housing along both Bay Street and the river, a large marina and the tower, which will be built on a peninsula which will jut out into the river.
“It will be almost like an urban resort,” said Fort-Brescia, who also designed Hines’ The St. John. “It is an exceptional piece of property. The depth of the water and the length of the property along the river make it a place where land and water meet beautifully, and that residents can enjoy all.
“There is an extraordinary vision here. Mr. Burr is looking into the future. As an architect it is not often that we get to design a community in a city. We usually do a tower, or perhaps a city block. Mr. Burr is building his city.”
The tower will have over 300 units and will range from $300,000 for a small one-bedroom to well over $1 million for one of the several penthouses.
Mayor John Peyton said the development was the result of hard work.
“We are really lucky to have someone like Ed Burr do this for our Downtown,” said Peyton. “But they say that luck is the product of preparation meeting opportunity, and there’s a lot of sweat equity in this project.”
The City and Burr have been working on the overall design for over two years and several issues remain, as Burr mentioned when he recognized the City Council members present and joked “Is there a quorum?”
Burr’s company is best known for its golf course communities including North Hampton in Nassau County, South Hampton in St. Johns County and four in Palm Coast. Closely aligned with Duke Energy, he and his staff have built a string of successful developments throughout the state.
“This will be the jewel,” he said. “It is not often that a developer has the opportunity to bring a unique project to a downtown area. This will be part of Downtown; we have far exceeded the requirements to provide public spaces, so it will have the community feel that we wanted.”
The public access will include the pier, Riverwalk and extensive retail along the strip. Burr said that the exact retail will be announced later but would include shops and a “high-end restaurant.”
He is aiming for “urban professionals” to occupy the 1,000 units.
“We link directly to Downtown,” he said. “You don’t need a car. You can walk to work.”
Fort-Brescia said that, while the site is unique with its water-land component, it’s part of a trend of downtowns.
“Cities have changed dramatically in the last five years,” he said. “We do work all over America and we see it happening in cities that you wouldn’t consider. Columbus (Ohio). Charlotte. Atlanta. Houston. Places which were the symbol of suburban living.
“People are coming back to the cities. There is the value of time, the time one spends in a car. That time can be better used, and being able to live near the workplace provides that.”
photos by Miranda G. McLeod and Caroline Gabsewics