Jacksonville Mayor to Focus on Downtown

Jacksonville business leaders applaud Peyton’s plans

The clock’s ticking, money’s tight, but there’s plenty of work that can and must be done in the next 18 months, Mayor John Peyton told a packed house of business and civic leaders Wednesday.

Many in the standing-room only crowd at Snyder Memorial Church said afterward they’re encouraged by Peyton’s enthusiasm and plans to position Jacksonville to take advantage of opportunities when the economy turns.

“He’s lit a very important fuse,” said Bob Rhodes, a retired St. Joe Co. executive and former chairman of the city’s now-defunct Downtown Development Authority.

Before he leaves office in June 2011, Peyton aims to focus on creating jobs, revitalizing a dormant downtown and bolstering efforts to clean up the St. Johns River and improve public access.

“These are not proposals. These are not ideas for further study,” Peyton said. “These are deliverables.”

The mayor said he will hold himself, his staff and those in attendance accountable for at least getting the foundation laid for his goals — including turning Cecil Commerce Center into a job-development gold mine and working to get artists into affordable housing downtown.

Former mayor Jake Godbold said Peyton’s strength has always been laying out ideas. If there’s a weakness, Godbold said after the speech, it’s turning plans into reality.

“He’s got to sit his staff down, tell them he’s got 18 months and they need to pull the trigger,” Godbold said. “They need to get it done.”

Earlier this month, with broad council support, we filed legislation to fund Southbank Riverwalk repairs, Friendship Fountain restoration and Metropolitan Park redevelopment. Not only will these improvements spur future private investment. It will also put citizens back to work, while taking advantage of a record low bidding climate.

Building on successes like the Riverside Arts Market, the Northbank Riverwalk and other public spaces will draw people to our downtown.

Since its grand opening in April 2009, the market has become one of Jacksonville’s most popular weekend family outings, hosting around 15,000 visitors per week. We’d like to continue that success and provide weekend boaters access to the market with the construction of floating docks. We are in the permitting process now and expect them to be in place by August.

Over the past several years we’ve seen a boom in residential housing on the Southbank. These properties represent more than $166 million in private investments and more than 800 residents. With the increase of residents, we also have 10,000 employees who work in the area and enjoy amenities like the Riverwalk and Friendship Park.

It is critical that we replace the old, degraded Southbank Riverwalk structure with a more permanent and durable walking path with new railing, landscaping and lighting. We expect to begin construction this summer.

We will also restore what was once a beautiful, iconic fountain with new pumps and lighting. We will break up some of the concrete that surrounds the fountain and create a lawn for family picnics and other gatherings and create connectivity to the Southbank Riverwalk. You should see construction begin in the spring.

Currently there are few public spaces in the urban core where visitors can enjoy direct access to the St. Johns River. Metropolitan Park has a lot of potential, but needs to be redeveloped. This will not only open up our riverfront, but will provide another destination venue for the 2.5 million visitors who attend events every year.

The entire 30-acres of Metro Park will be redeveloped in phases, with $8.2 million supporting an enhanced children’s play area, removal of fencing barriers and the creation of a 4-acre lawn. You should expect to see an RFP for design in the coming months with a construction start date in early 2011.

As we create better access to our river, we can leverage this asset for a more vibrant downtown. Water and park view real estate can be one of the biggest contributors to our tax base. But we must manage our public spaces better. Better public space on our river can create a more vibrant downtown by attracting residents and visitors alike.

Each year more than 13 million people come to downtown to enjoy a symphony concert, attend a sporting event, attend one of our houses of worship or visit one of our art museums.

No other part of town draws that level of traffic. But, how do we build on that? How do we make Jacksonville’s downtown not only a good place to work, but a great place to live? In the next 18 months, there are 5 things I will do to prepare for the re-development of downtown:

1. Bringing People Downtown

First, we have to make downtown an attractive place to be for new residents and visitors. Not just when there is a Jaguars game, or a Jazz Festival or an Art Walk.

Our goal is to have 10,000 residents living downtown. We have three beautiful residential towers on the Southbank that need to be filled and unique urban apartments in the Carling and 11 East.

But less expensive residential development is a key element in creating a critical mass of downtown residents. And I’m focused on a short-term solution that draws on successes I’ve seen recently in New York.
The creative class often leads revitalization efforts – particularly in urban environments.

Let me tell you about my sister. She’s an artist. She used to work for a small gallery in SoHo – then the only affordable place for artists to set up shop. Soon after, retail followed and SoHo became one of New York’s most sought-after communities. They moved to Chelsea and, again, retail has begun to follow.

We can do the same thing here. It may not be on that large a scale, but it can have the same impact. Downtown could be our city’s next burgeoning neighborhood.

Today, landlords are working with artists to offer low- to no-rent spaces, hoping the traffic these galleries generate will help create long-term value. At Art Walk earlier this month, I spoke with some of those artists who said they want to live downtown. They want a place to display their art. They want a neighborhood that is both affordable and fosters that kind of environment.
That’s why on January 26, I have called together a team of restoration and retro-fit experts and downtown property owners to discuss adaptation of building and related codes that would allow for low-cost retrofitting of vacant buildings for housing purposes.

We must compete with price. Creating less expensive housing options for a diverse artist community, or the downtown office worker, or the suburbanite who wants to save money and eliminate his commute could bring life back to our downtown streets.

Downtown is already home to 56,000 workers and some of our city’s largest employers including Baptist Healthcare, Aetna, AT&T and CSX. Any downtown development plan must take into account the corporate business presence we’ve already established. Retaining those companies and continuing to attract new businesses – like Purdue, Dalton Agency and Chamblins – will hasten growth in the urban core.

We must also have a candid conversation about our convention center. For years we’ve debated the size, the potential expansion and other site locations for our convention center. With more options becoming available, it’s time to change the nature of that discussion.

In the 25 years since it opened, we’ve learned what the experts told us from the beginning. Convention centers do not work without a flagship hotel, a nearby entertainment district and a large exhibit space. Every year our convention center loses potential customers because our convention space doesn’t meet any of those three must-haves.

Successful convention centers are buttressed by 1,000-room hotels. The good news is we have one of those, it’s just not located next to our convention center. More good news, space next to the 1,000-room hotel on the river will become available with the completion of the new courthouse.
That is where our convention center should be – next to a large hotel showcasing our greatest natural asset with connectivity to the entertainment district along Bay Street. Imagine conventioneers enjoying our riverfront, bringing life to our streets and creating a demand for more places to dine and shop downtown.

Mayor Jake Godbold was right to insist we renovate this iconic structure and name it after one of Jacksonville’s great business leaders. We must be flexible, however, for how we get the highest and best use of this facility. Our forefathers may have gotten it right the first time by unknowingly developing the first phase of a multi-model transportation hub. By moving the bus station off of Pearl Street, bringing Amtrak back into downtown and tying in the Skyway and future light and high-speed rail, that space can again be used as a regional transportation center.

Walkable Streets

As we focus on brining more residents and visitors to our urban core, we must have more walkable streets. Think about some of the cities that have turned the corner in revitalizing downtown districts: Greenville, Nashville, Ashville, Charlotte, Chattanooga. The common denominator is walkability. You walk around great cities; you don’t drive.

Last year the city invested more than $3.7 million in the redevelopment of Bay Street. We widened the sidewalks, created a better traffic flow, and greened up the space.

This area is quickly becoming downtown’s entertainment district. The businesses along Bay Street are relative pioneers in downtown’s redevelopment story.

Later this year, we’ll begin a $3 million construction project on Laura Street that will be a pedestrian-friendly corridor between Hemming Plaza and the Jacksonville Landing. I deeply appreciate the city council’s support of these projects and I believe that the Bay and Laura Street corridors are the beginning of a more walkable community.

Smart Real Estate Deals

We must take advantage of the current real estate market. As the market has declined, so have real estate prices in our downtown. Five years ago, the Barnett Building and Laura Street Trio was purchased for $11 million. Today, the asking price is about half that.

As we begin the improvements along Laura Street, it’s imperative that we explore adaptive reuse and historic preservation of the old Barnett Bank building and the Laura Trio. As mayor, I will be the chief marketer for those buildings, working hard to find a private development partner to take advantage of these great, historic buildings.

Making Downtown More Appealing

We must make downtown a more friendly and inviting place to be. As we continue to make downtown the destination location, we also want to address the perception, by some, that the riverfront is just a hangout for panhandlers and our homeless community. Because our homeless resources are focused mostly on meal and beds, many have no place to go during the daylight hours.

Over the next 18 months, working with partners, we will open a daily resource center. This center will provide daytime services such as laundry facilities, bathrooms, job training, healthcare and referrals. This will also help reduce the burden on Hemming Plaza and the Main Library. Located at the Sulzbacher Center, the success of this effort will rest on the coordination between our major homeless providers and others in the non-profit community. I am confident that this will improve the district for downtown residents and visitors alike.

Reduce Capacity

Lastly, we need to manage smartly the land available for development in our community, in favor of reuse. We have the third highest vacancy rate in the nation. This is not the time to add inventory. The JEA property on the Southbank and the Shipyards on the Northbank must be land-banked or preserved to favor infill development and reuse.

It is good business practice for the tax payer to encourage downtown development. With our population scheduled to double in the next 30 years, it makes sense to encourage development in the urban core – a place designed for density. When we build in the suburbs, we have to build roadways, drainage systems and other expensive infrastructure. Downtown has that infrastructure. We just have to complete the infill development.

Public Safety

Earlier I talked about the importance of community leaders coming together to help overcome great obstacles. Violent crime continues to be one of our greatest challenges. But never have we seen the high levels of collaboration and support brought on by our desire to reduce violent crime.

Jacksonville is boldly embracing prevention and intervention as important elements of a comprehensive crime fighting initiative. We are receiving national attention for our approach and attracting partners such as Teach For America, KIPP and the Gates Foundation. We are becoming the model for a comprehensive, citizen-driven approach to reducing violent crime.

In the two years that The Jacksonville Journey has been operational, we’ve secured more than $43 million in funding and seen progress on many fronts. According to the Sheriff’s Office, we had 16 fewer murders in 2009 than the year before. That’s nearly a 14 percent reduction. While the numbers are preliminary, one less murder in our community is a good thing. In addition, out of school suspension rates have dropped by 71 percent. That is an astonishing number. It shows us what can happen when we shine the light on broken practices.

The Jacksonville Journey oversight committee is asking the tough questions, holding programs accountable and recommending changes when needed. Nothing about this process has been easy or quick. But we’re on the right path for building a safer and more prosperous community.

Closing

As you can see there is a lot to be done in a short amount of time. These are not proposals. They are not ideas for further study. These are deliverables. Deliverables that I am holding myself to, my staff to and community leaders like you to.

Over the holidays, I had some time to reflect on our past six years in office. We’ve accomplished a lot given the often challenging circumstances we’ve faced, even overcoming tight budgets. We have an obligation to succeed and pave the way for future progress, regardless of the given reality.

As leaders, it’s up to us to draw on our strengths and do our very best to push forward during even the most difficult times. That’s one of the reasons we’ve focused on pension reform.

We are currently at the negotiating table with the unions, with a plan that is critical to our city’s financial solvency. I will be discussing those issues in the days ahead. We continue to be challenged with reductions in revenue and increases in employee-related expenses.

Budget cycles in the near term promise to be challenging but we must not use these economic conditions as an excuse to defund this government or hinder our progress.

We have too many things going for us to slow down. We have a strong and diversified economy. We have the most enviable form of government in the country. We are well positioned for growth and prosperity here in the Sunbelt. We have the largest park system in America. We are good stewards of our environment. We have an effective, collaborative not-for-profit sector. We have a visual arts community. We have an amazing military presence that compliments our city. We have a network of logistical advantages that make us more competitive
We live and work in a great place, but we have more work to do. We have obstacles to overcome and opportunities to exploit. That is why I have a sense of urgency these last 18 months. I have set a course and I encourage you to join me as we work to prepare our city for a strong recovery and bright future.
Thank you!