by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce wrapped up its 2010 schedule of meetings with a presentation from Terry Lorince, executive director of Downtown Vision Inc.
DVI was formed 10 years ago to advocate for Downtown issues and revitalization of the urban core. The organization receives 80 percent of its more than $1 million annual budget from ad valorem taxes paid by Downtown property owners with the balance funded through a City Council-approved appropriation.
“My job is fairly schizophrenic. I need to be Downtown’s biggest cheerleader and also its biggest critic,” said Lorince. “You won’t see the cheerleader today.”
She then recapped Downtown’s progress over the past 10 years and what has been realized through the investment of $1 billion in that time for projects from LaVilla to the Sports Complex.
Lorince said that in the past decade, the City provided financial incentives to developers that have resulted in the number of people who live Downtown, other than in retirement facilities, rising from none to about 1,500.
She also cited the extension of the Northbank Riverwalk and the City’s renovation of buildings for government offices and construction of the Arena, Baseball Grounds and improvements to EverBank Field.
Lorince said that with two-thirds of the investment devoted to projects outside the central 20-square-block commercial and entertainment area of Downtown and with City government being the “driver” in economic development, “it’s been done wrong.”
“What’s missing is private development. There’s been no spinoff from our $1 billion investment. We have to switch the game plan from public (investment) to public-private,” said Lorince.
She also commented on Downtown’s regulatory climate and used the unpaved parking lot with no landscaping on the west side of the SunTrust Building as an example.
“No other city would allow a parking lot like that,” said Lorince
Another issue, she said, is the decline in office occupancy and employment Downtown,
“I walked around Downtown one day at noon trying to get a picture of a busy street. I couldn’t find one. There are only about 18,000 people working on the Northbank and 6,000 of them are government employees,” she said.
“A third of the office space is either vacant or less than 33 percent occupied and we have 40 empty retail spaces,” said Lorince.
Downtown’s future development will be an important factor in the upcoming election in which a new mayor will be chosen by voters, she said.
“I have a message for the mayoral candidates,” she said. “When you leave office, maybe in eight years, what do you hope to have accomplished?”
The Downtown Council’s next meeting is Jan. 7 when Philip Green, manager of business partnership development in the University of North Florida’s Division of Continuing Education, is scheduled to be the guest speaker. For more details, go to www.downtowncouncil.org.
356-2466