2. More Businesses Leaving Downtown
Fionn MacCool’s would be one of the businesses currently open at night, seven days a week that Downtown would likely lose.
Regardless of what one feels about the Jacksonville Landing and its owner, the center is home to a number of retailers, restaurants, and bars including Sports Mania, BBVA Compass Bank, Fionn MacCool’s and Mavericks Live that currently sublease space within the center. As such, taxpayers are being asked to pay an additional $1.5 million for obligations related to terminating subleases and forcing these businesses out in order for bulldozers to clear the site.
Three of these businesses, Hooters, Coastal Cookies and An Apple a Day have been tenants of the Landing since 1987 and continue to be supported by patrons. In fact, less than a year ago, Hooters remodeled its 5,188-square-foot restaurant:
Atlanta, GA (RestaurantNews.com) 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.”
From the moment they walk through the doors, guests will relish a brighter feel with more open space to encourage social interaction and beckon people walking by to come in and join in the fun. The new design elements including high-back chairs and booth seating will surely keep guests comfortably seated for hours. This location seats more than 175 guests and is 5,188 square feet. This Hooters location features an outdoor patio with over 100 additional seats, creating a spacious environment that is an ideal setting for group dining.
One element fans will be sure to notice is the centralized location of the bar area, which offers a full range of liquor, beer and wine options. The restaurants are surrounded by a series of large, high-definition televisions for more clear lines of sight to guests’ favorite sporting events.
The buildings themselves embrace a modern atmosphere, with a rustic undertone in order to maintain aspects of Hooters’ original beach oasis theme. The design features sleek finishes on the interior and exterior of the buildings, but there’s still a hint of the original architecture through the use of wood throughout each space.
The remodeled Hooters of Jacksonville Landing located at 2 Independent Drive, Suite 103, Jacksonville, FL is now open.
In a Northbank core that desperately needs more retailers, entertainment venues and restaurants, we should think twice about ridding ourselves of places we already have, let alone paying to fund their removal.
1. Relocation of the Landing’s Uses To The Sports & Entertainment District
Lot J at TIAA Bank Field
No matter what excuse you’ll hear locally regarding downtown revitalization, Jacksonville will never have a vibrant pedestrian friendly downtown street scene until it masters the simple concept of clustering complimenting uses within a compact pedestrian scaled environment. This is the simple characteristic every vibrant street scene in the country has in its possession, and establishing it is less about money invested and more about creating synergy between adjacent uses that draws additional foot traffic and economic opportunity. In the press release, one can’t help but notice this particular Mayor Curry quote:
“On behalf of the citizens of Jacksonville, I appreciate their willingness to work with me so that Jacksonville can consider an alternate path forward for the location of the Landing.”
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that what’s proposed at Lot J is very similar in nature to what the Landing was built to be. It should be expected that Iguana Investments will seek additional millions in subsidies from taxpayers to assist in the development of properties around TIAA Bank Field because the local market is nowhere close to being large enough to support anything in the various Shipyards and Lot J renderings through 100% private sector investment. Taxpayers should not be asked to rob from Peter to pay Paul, which is occurring with the pending relocation of JEA’s headquarters and complete removal of the Jacksonville Landing to later be replaced with Lot J’s Cordish development.
A conceptual master plan illustrating “long-term” development of infill around TIAA Bank Field. Future plans call for the development of a dining and entertainment complex and other uses, as the market allows. (Iguana Investments)
The quickest way to blow a ton of public money and have very little to show for it is to subsidize new development and setting it up to directly compete with the core that taxpayers have been asked to invest in and subsidize for five decades of continuous downtown redevelopment talk. While new development in the Sports and Entertainment District is certainly desired, fiscal consideration should be given to understanding Jacksonville’s market size and seeking ways to ensure new development compliments and builds upon the established downtown core without siphoning away the businesses that still remain.
Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com