7. The Jacksonville Landing 2 West Independent Drive

The festival marketplace was a concept created by the Rouse Company in the 1970s, intended to help revive flagging downtowns by creating new spaces concentrating retail and dining. Rouse had major early successes with Boston’s Faneuil Hall and Baltimore’s Harborplace, and came to believe festival marketplaces could work in smaller cities as well. Market research showed most of the smaller cities to be risky prospects, but Rouse moved ahead where cities or local entities were willing to provide funding for a chance at downtown renewal. Over the next 20 years, Rouse and other developers brought festival marketplaces to dozens of U.S. cities, from Battle Creek, Michigan to New York. Most, especially those in small and mid-sized cities, struggled to live up to the hype.

The Jacksonville Landing is such a case. While its riverfront restaurants and courtyard still drew crowds, most of the retail component struggled with the political fight between previous management and the City of Jacksonville. Several plans have circulated in the last few years; most involve demolishing the structure. In 2014, owner Toney Sleiman requested nearly $12 million in city money to implode the Landing and replace it with a mixed use development. That expense was widely criticized as exorbitant, so this year, the city came up with a compromise: giving Sleiman $18 million to buy and implode the Landing and replace it with, well, nothing.

If Jacksonville continues its current plan, the Landing may be the first festival marketplace in history to be completely demolished and not replaced. In short, demolishing the Landing would be a highly unusual move. However, it’s also highly unusual for a metropolitan area of 1.5 million to not have more than an isolated handful of businesses actually open at night and on weekends in its downtown in 2019.

8. Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home 17 West Union Street

The story of Downtown’s Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home dates back to 1851, when Calvin Oak was told that his case of tuberculosis would kill him within six months. Instead of being mentally defeated by his diagnosis, Oak relocated from Vermont to Jacksonville for a new start at life. In an environment characterized by fresh air and sunshine, Oak lived another 30 years and quickly became one of city’s most prominent citizens and businessmen. Oak became a manufacturer of guns, barrels and cartridges. His gun plant was hailed as Jacksonville’s first factory. He also acquired and operated a jewelry store on Bay Street.

In 1856, Oak went into the marble and mortuary business with his son, Byron. After Oak’s death, this business eventually grew into the Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home. In 1914, in need of a new modern facility, architecture firm Mark & Shetfall were commissioned to design a new two-story, Prairie School style building on Union Street, just west of Main Street. Despite its rich history, the abandoned building has recently suffered significant fire damage.

9. National Merchantile Realty & Improvement Company 324 North Broad Street

324 North Broad Street and adjacent storefronts, along with the Masonic Lodge and Richmond Hotel, combine to form nearly 400 linear feet of historic buildings still surviving as a part of what was the black side of Downtown Jacksonville during the Jim Crow era. Today, they provide us with the only remaining visual example of what LaVilla’s urban density resembled during its heyday at street level. In 1910, the black owned National Mercantile Realty & Improvement Company was located at 324 Broad Street (center building in photo above). By 1930, a local market chain owned by Clarence Saunders operated a market on the ground floor. The building was acquired by the City of Jacksonville in 1994 for $34,000. Since that time, the building has fallen into great despair. Despite proposals for adaptive reuse being presented, the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) has favored letting the building remain empty because the private sector is not willing to spend much money acquiring a property that has already collapsed internally due to a lack of maintenance by the property owner over the course of 25 years.

10. Universal Marion Building 21 West Church Street

The Universal-Marion Building is another large Mid-Century building with a history worth preserving. Designed by Ketchum & Sharp, the 268’ tall, 19-story tower was the tallest building on the Northbank and second tallest in the city when it was completed in 1963. It was also one of a handful of buildings in Florida to feature a revolving rooftop restaurant. The 250-seat Ember’s Restaurant was said to be the largest revolving restaurant in the world, rotating 360 degrees every 1.5 hours when it opened in 1964. The complex also included a six-story, 180,000 square foot J.B. Ivey & Company department store and a parking garage that once included a Purcell’s Womens department store on the ground level. The building’s original premier tenant was founded by Louis Elwood Wolfson. The firm co-financed the production of Mel Brooks’ first movie, The Producers, which won an Oscar and later became a major Broadway play. It also funded Woody Allen’s first movie, Take the Money and Run.

Recently, JEA selected the Ryan Companies to design a new administrative tower a few blocks west. As a result, JEA intends to attempt to sell the Universal-Marion Building. While the mid-century mixed-use office and big-box retail complex may not be of significant value to JEA in its search for a new headquarters, the building is an important part of Jacksonville’s urban landscape that’s worthy of being seriously considered for adaptive reuse as opposed to demolition.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com