Downtown Investment Authority Chairman Donald Harris outlined a wish list of developments Monday that he envisions could help re-energize and revitalize the Northbank and Southbank, but he also asks the community, and in this instance the Meninak Club of Jacksonville, to provide their observations.
Some in the community immediately took him up on the offer.
"Why don't people come Downtown anymore?" was the closing question to Harris.
Meninak member and retired Circuit Judge Frederick Tygart posed the question and suggested to Harris the authority and City need to answer it before deciding how and where to spend resources.
"You've got to answer that question before you can know" how to proceed with plans, Tygart said.
Before Tygart, the second-to-last comment from the audience of 54 came from 28-year-old Nick Courtney, a Downtown-based financial services adviser who said the key to development was jobs. He said jobs should be the "sole focus" of Downtown redevelopment.
"Talk to Rob Clements about why he moved those jobs and take that to every company," Courtney said, referring to the chairman of Jacksonville-based EverBank Corp., which moved 2,000 operations employees this year from the suburbs to what is now EverBank Center Downtown.
Housing and services will follow those jobs, Courtney said.
"The jobs have to be there," he said, adding that one company's move "will create a domino effect."
Harris didn't disagree and had said earlier in his presentation he would like to see four or five more EverBank projects Downtown.
Meninak meets weekly at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk on the Downtown Southbank. Harris, 52 and a Jacksonville native, is general manager of the hotel and a longtime leader in the hospitality industry. The hotel sits along the Southbank of the St. Johns River.
(Personal disclosure: I am a member of Meninak. Another disclosure: Daily Record Publisher Jim Bailey is a member of the Downtown Investment Authority. He didn't attend the Meninak meeting. He was giving a speech about Downtown to the Kiwanis Club of Jacksonville.)
Mayor Alvin Brown signed legislation in October approving the authority's nine-member board, which comprises Harris, Bailey and Clements along with Oliver Barakat, Tony Allegretti, Melody Bishop, Kay Harper, Don Shea and Paul Perez.
Brown appointed Bishop, Clements, Harper, Harris and Perez. Brown also appointed Harris as the inaugural chairman. City Council President Bill Bishop appointed Allegretti, Bailey, Barakat and Shea. The first meeting was Oct. 17.
Harris said Monday the group had some tasks, with one priority being the hiring of a CEO. "We're going to hire the best in the world," he said. "Jacksonville deserves the best in the world."
Harris said after the meeting the hire could take about five months.
Harris said the authority would then redo the Community Redevelopment Area plan, create a five-year strategic plan and then a marketing plan to brand Jacksonville. The authority funding comes from the CRA tax increment financing areas, but he said funding would be split with the mayor's new Office of Economic Development.
The office directs economic development outside of Downtown, while the authority handles the Northbank and Southbank projects.
Harris opened his remarks saying in the 1960s and '70s, Downtown "was the place to be."
"You're going to have to give us directions," Harris said.
"What worked in the past? How can we create a groundswell for Downtown Jacksonville, Florida? We have to get everyone excited about Downtown Jacksonville. We've just got to," he said.
He also asked the members about Downtown after dark. "How many of you feel safe coming Downtown to have dinner at night?" Several raised their hands.
Asked about how the City would address the homeless population Downtown, Harris responded that "we can't skirt the issue."
He said the City needed to define the problem.
"We've got to be very solution-oriented, which means we have to come up with an answer," Harris said.
Harris acknowledged the many Downtown plans and white papers produced in the past decades, saying "we have to start taking action."
"We could rebuild Jacksonville four times with the plans we have," he said.
Harris made points and observations and also raised questions that he apparently wants the authority to answer:
• "If you go back, wouldn't it have been a great idea to put the St. Johns Town Center on the St. Johns River?" he asked, referring to the 240-acre retail, entertainment, hotel and restaurant center at Butler Boulevard and the Interstate 295 East Beltway. He called that a "no brainer."
• Jacksonville needs to define itself and create a brand, with the river being a strong one. "We have the best river," he said. "We have to make the river more exciting."
• The IBM Smarter Cities Challenge report about Downtown, released in October, "has to be the roadmap where Jacksonville needs to go."
• The Laura Street renovation project, which now takes about four blocks from the Landing to Hemming Plaza, should "take another 7-8 city blocks" in the surrounding area, he said.
• How should Jacksonville develop and enhance a Downtown entertainment district?
• How does the City redevelop the vacant Shipyards property along the Northbank riverfront?
• The Riverside and Brooklyn areas near Downtown will change, especially with the 220 Riverside residential and retail project under development. "It's going to look like you're in another place," he said.
• The neighboring San Marco, Brooklyn, LaVilla and Springfield areas all will feed into creating a successful Downtown.
• How can more vacant buildings be filled? Could historical buildings be converted into housing, such as lofts?
• Transportation access must be improved, and Harris twice referred to extending the Skyway to EverBank Field. "We have to do what makes sense. We have to figure out a way to make it work," he said of the Skyway. Referring to an extension to the stadium, he said, "We have to figure out a way to do that."
• How can the City attract more capital investment Downtown?
• "What would be great Downtown is a college, with college dorms," he said. Florida Coastal School of Law, based in Baymeadows, has been studying housing options Downtown for its students but has not released results.
• The authority must define "economic impact" and how incentives should be used.
• Downtown could benefit from "an event every weekend."
• The old Duval County Courthouse site must be addressed, and a convention center is up for discussion.
• Regarding Downtown retail storefronts: "We can get them revitalized."
• The rebuilding of the Southbank Riverwalk should begin in June, he announced.
Harris did not directly respond to Tygart's question, which was directed at the authority in general.
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