by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Improvement of the Bay Street corridor that began before Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 will soon resume. The previous work included installing pavers in the sidewalk as well as planting Washingtonia palm trees on the north side of Bay Street from Market Street eastward.
Contracts for Phase II of the Town Center project are expected to be awarded by the end of March and the entire project should be complete by November, said Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC).
“This is the public sector’s component of the project,” said Barton. “That corridor is filled with some gems of historic architecture that can be a catalyst to bring vibrancy back to that section of Downtown.”
The design includes replacing the sidewalks on both sides of the street with pavers to match the first-phase installation, installing historic light fixtures, constructing new planting areas along the street, intensifying the landscaping at the corner of Ocean and Bay streets adjacent to the parking garage and replacing the palm trees that were installed in 2005 with varieties that will provide shade on the sidewalk.
“Ironically, the shade trees were removed to install the palm trees in Phase I,” said Barton, who added palms are the tree of choice for some landscape designs, especially in areas with underground utilities due to their smaller root balls.
However, shade trees are more appropriate because “Jacksonville is the South. It’s not the tropics,” said Barton. “We have an opportunity to create a unique sidewalk experience, a beautiful shaded boulevard. An attractive, inviting streetscape makes retail space easier to lease.”
Barton said the streetscape projects for Downtown’s ongoing improvement were moved to the top of the list for a couple of reasons.
“So much of Downtown’s redevelopment has focused on the vertical aspect with building condominium towers and restoring historic buildings,” he said. “Vertical is glamorous, but one of the things that has contributed to a lack of momentum is we haven’t paid attention to the horizontal street-level experience.”
He also said projects like Phase II of the Bay Street Town Center make sense to be moved to the front of the list in light of the City’s projected fiscal challenges for the next few years, as well as the current adjustment underway in the real estate market.
“Streetscape projects recognize our limited resources and give us a great return on the investment. By creating a more workable Downtown, we’ll be well-positioned to take advantage when the real estate market comes through its cycle. Streetscape is infrastructure,” said Barton.
Phase II is expected to come in at $1.5 million including a 15 percent contingency. $960,000 is already appropriated and the remainder will be appropriated from tree mitigation funds.
The JEDC is also supporting utilizing the Riverwalk to greater advantage by programming more small events. Barton said while Riverwalk expansion has up until now been concentrated on making the boardwalk longer, the Downtown Task Forces that met last year recommended a focus on programming at the Riverwalk rather than new construction.
“We need to schedule smaller events and more of them. We have to create certainty and regularity because that’s what builds loyalty and support,” said Barton. “We think it would be better for Downtown to have 1,000 consumers on the Riverwalk 20 weeks a year instead of 20,000 consumers for one night.”