The Downtown Development Review Board of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Thursday reviewed the conceptual design for a portion of a project the board approved in December, 2009.
The Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center was intended to consolidate the operations of Amtrak, JTA Skyway, Bus Rapid Transit and fixed routes and Greyhound Bus Lines.
The site plan also included a four-story, 90,000 square-foot office building for JTA, the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Highway Patrol and several City transportation and engineering functions.
Those plans were shelved soon after they were approved when transportation project grants could not be obtained.
The new plan is to develop the project in phases, with the first being a new terminal for Greyhound at the corner of Houston and Johnson streets, north of the Osborn Center.
The design includes a 10,500-square-foot terminal building and space for nine bus lanes for passenger operations plus parking spaces for other buses, employee parking and a retention pond for storm water management.
DDRB considered deviations allowing the design to eliminate an entrance and the requirement for 50-percent transparency on one side of the building.
Architect Ethan Lubriel of AECOM in Sunrise, Fla., who made the original presentation, also presented the terminal design Thursday.
He said it is a prototype design for Greyhound and will be located on property owned by JTA and the City.
Changes from the original plan include the elimination of the driver dormitory and the preservation of the historic McDaniel Building in LaVilla.
Part of the interior layout is devoted to a food service area, said Lubriel. The transparency deviation was requested in order to avoid having windows into the kitchen and storage areas along the sidewalk on that side of the building.
Lubriel described the exterior design as “complementing the architecture” in the LaVilla District, including that of the Osborn Center. He said landscaping would screen much of the building and the bus loading area.
Proposed materials for the terminal are the same as those approved for the original concept: precast concrete and brick.
Board member Tim Miller said he thought the design was, “light, airy and inviting,” and “it’s a marked improvement over what they have now, which isn’t saying a lot.”
Board member Jim Bailey, who publishes the Daily Record, said he was concerned that the proposed terminal’s location would be isolated from the Skyway station and the convention center two blocks away.
JTA Director of Resource Development Steven Arrington said the plan is to improve the pedestrian pathway between the proposed terminal and the Skyway station and possibly to reroute the Downtown trolley to provide direct service to the new Greyhound terminal.
He said the project is “something that can begin now,” and “the stars have aligned.”
The board approved the conceptual design and a request for final approval of the design with minor changes is scheduled for the boardís next meeting Dec. 8.
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