6. Park Buildings

A 2018 conceptual design for replacing the Jacksonville Landing with green space promoted by the mayor’s office.

By now, it’s well known that Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry and chief of staff Brian Hughes both desire the 6-acre Landing site be redesigned to include a larger mix of green space and pedestrian paths. In a June 2018 Jacksonville Daily Record article, Hughes called their vision “a front lawn for the core of Downtown.” Included in a conceptual redevelopment plan for the site were two smaller buildings that would require collaboration between the public and private sector.

The Lake House Waterfront Cafe is a family-friendly fast casual concept located inside of Houston’s Discovery Green. The restaurant is known as offering some of the best burgers in the city, made to order tacos and fresh guacamole, a variety of Texas hot dogs, delectable grilled chicken, signature salads and drinks, all with healthy doses of flavor, style and all-American nostalgia. Guest can choose to sit inside, at an outdoor lakeside deck, under a shaded veranda, or picnic in the park.

A lawn alone is something people tend to drive past without stopping. Downtown needs spaces that attract people to congregate and spend time in. Great parks can do this, but they also require the inclusion of amenities that go well beyond grass and sidewalks. Recently constructed award-winning urban parks include everything from restrooms, centralized visitors centers (see point #X) and playscapes to retail, bars and restaurants (see point #4). This means they typically cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

Houston’s Discovery Green

In Downtown Houston, Discovery Green is an award-winning $125 million, 11.78-acre urban park adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center. Featuring a lake, bandstands, venues for outdoor performances, dog runs, playgrounds and multiple recreational lawns, Discovery Green is the result of a public-private partnership between the City of Houston and several local philanthropic organizations.

In contrast to Jacksonville’s tendency to demolish existing buildings, Discovery Green replaced blocks of surface parking and included new construction of facilities. Portions of the Landing structure could be re-purposed and integrated into a larger waterfront green space. In Jacksonville’s case, the Landing offers an opportunity to do this all with far less money. An interactive green space integrated with economic activity could be created with selective demolition of the structures to create more space, while reusing certain sections to house new uses.

Discovery Green’s The Grove restaurant is said to offer an exciting urban dining experience unlike anything else in downtown Houston. Since its opening in 2008, it has been labled as a definitive see-and-be-seen culinary hot spot in the city.

5. Urban College or University

UM-Flint’s University Pavilion was originally constructed as an urban mall in Downtown Flint, MI.

Taking note of how the Savannah College of Architecture and Design (SCAD) has revitalized Savannah’s urban core, city leaders and downtown advocates have dreamed about local colleges and universities expanding into the urban core for years. Having 126,000 square feet of available commercial space could be one way to secure additional economic opportunity through higher educational uses.

In 1985, James Rouse opened the 100,000-square-foot Water Street Pavilion in downtown Flint, Michigan. Quickly failing, the Landing-like marketplace closed for good in September 1990. Seeking to repurpose the property as a community gathering space, the Downtown Development Authority sold the failed marketplace to the University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint). UM-Flint then spent $3 million to renovate the structure into a university administration building and community gathering space. Now called University Pavilion, the building also includes retail uses such as a bookstore operated by Barnes & Noble and a food court on the first floor, along with riverfront open space anchored by an outdoor ice skating rink.

Closer to home, Jacksonville has its own retail-to-higher education success story. In Baymeadows, the Grand Boulevard Mall opened in 1983 featuring 65 upscale retailers. Way too ritzy for Jacksonville, the mall failed after the 1990 opening of The Avenues. In 1994, the ownership sold the mall to Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) for $4 million. FSCJ would go on to convert the dead mall into its Deerwood Center campus.

In recent years, the University of North Florida, Jacksonville University and FSCJ have all made investments into expanding within two or three blocks of the Landing site. The master plan for FSCJ’s Downtown Campus calls for significant expansion, including the construction of a $12 million Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Center & Student Advancement Building. Perhaps it’s time to see if any of our local colleges and universities may be willing to expand their downtown footprint with the addition of up to 126,000 square feet of riverfront space to play with?

4. Waterfront Restaurants

Waterfront dining at the Jacksonville Landing in Spring 2019.

No matter what anyone thinks about the prospects of retail surviving or the former management at the Jacksonville Landing, one thing that isn’t debatable is the location’s popularity for waterfront dining. Less than a year ago, Hooters announced the completion of a remodeling effort bringing a new, contemporary design to its Landing location:

Hooters of America, LLC, announced that the Hooters of Jacksonville Landing location has recently received a completely remodeled look. With a fresh interior and exterior design featuring sleek and contemporary finishes, modernized furniture and technology, and a more comfortable dining experience, the remodels represent the new image of Hooters.

“Hooters is proud to introduce the modern design enhancements to the Jacksonville community,” said Mark Whittle, Chief Development Officer, Hooters of America. “The updates were all made with our guests in mind; we hope that local customers will celebrate the remodeled location as an ideal place to kick back and relax after work, get together with friends to view their favorite sports teams, and enjoy a delicious meal with their families.”

A waterfront dining destination, this 5,188 square foot, 175 seat restaurant features an outdoor patio with an additional 100 seats, has become a long time favorite downtown destination for sporting events that’s also open at nights and on weekends.

Inside Fionn MacCools Irish Pub & Restaurant at the Jacksonville Landing.

The successful Fionn MacCool’s Irish Pub & Restaurant has a similar story. A year ago, the popular downtown eatery also renovated its space at the Jacksonville Landing. Opening just in time for the 2011 Florida-Georgia game, the downtown bar and restaurant is billed as “casual dining in an uptown atmosphere”, offering a menu of traditional pub fare, such as fish and chips, bangers and mash and lamb stew, along with steaks, seafood, sandwiches and salads. Both successful restaurants are among the few Landing tenants the city plans to provide money to buy out their long term leases. The fact that these restaurants survived through the political gamesmanship between the City of Jacksonville and Jacksonville Landing Investments over the last few years is a testament to the Landing’s power for waterfront dining. These restaurants suggest there’s still a place for waterfront dining and entertainment at the Landing site and it wouldn’t necessarily hurt the city if they remained tenants in a revamped future for the property.

After a recent renovation of Miami’s Bayside Marketplace, waterfront dining in the Florida sun is more popular than ever.

3. Special Event Space

Many uses such as food halls, public markets and craft breweries are adaptable to be utilized as special event spaces. In Norfolk, the Waterside District is a festival marketplace concept that failed twice. Despite those failures, it has now become one of the most popular attractions in the downtown core. In 2015, the City of Norfolk and The Cordish Companies announced a deal to retrofit Waterside into a food hall. The revitalized center opened in spring 2017. A waterfront destination like the Jacksonville Landing, Waterside District also offers an incredible setting for private events of any size or budget, from corporate happy hours for 25 to wedding receptions for 500 people.

At Houston’s Finn Hall, events can be booked ranging from 15 person intimate dinners and cocktail receptions to a full hall buyout accommodating 1,000 guests. Legacy Hall in Plano, Texas combines a food hall with a beer garden, craft brewery and live entertainment to bring a new meaning to the dining and drinking experience. In Jacksonville, Engine 15 Brewing Company’s Downtown Tap Room and Biergarten also includes the Glass Factory, an old warehouse turned into a popular event space. Don’t underestimate the ability of the Landing’s waterfront spaces to become popular special event venues with the right management in place.