J Magazine Winter 2019

THE MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH OF JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN 

Transportation Issue 

NEED FOR SPEED 

WHEN WILL 

HIGH-SPEED 

RAIL COME TO 

JACKSONVILLE? 

P34 

END OF AN ERA 

A HIGH-PROFILE 

DOWNTOWN 

MEGA-CHURCH 

DOWNSIZES 

P64 

IN THE DARK 

WHEN THE SUN 

GOES DOWN, 

THE CORE CAN 

GET GLOOMY 

P72 

THE FUTURE 

BAY STREET 

INNOVATION 

CORRIDOR IS 

CLOSER THAN 

YOU THINK 

P86 

JTA CEO NAT FORD HAS HIS EYES SET ON THE FUTURE 

TRANSIT MAN 

P18 

WINTER 2019

Urban Urban Living Living in in Downtown Jacksonville 

100% 100% 

occupied occupied 

100% 100% 

occupied occupied 

coming coming fall fall 2019 2019 

coming coming fall fall 2020 2020

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SPRING 2018 

ATTRAC 

DOWNTOWN WITH 

URBAN PLAYGROUNDS 

P48 

E OF THE REBIRTH OF JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN 

018 

LEADERSHIP 

I S S U E 

WHO’S LEADING 

DOWNTOWN? 

SUMMER 2018 

P20 

RIVERFRONT 

WHERE HAVE 

ALL THE BOATS 

AND BOATERS 

GONE? 

THE MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH 

OF JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN 

Greater 

Together 

MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH OF JACKSONVILLE’S DOWNTOWN 

THE PLAY 

I S S U E 

NORTHBANK 

NOW THAT THE 

CITY HAS SEIZED 

THE LANDING, 

WHAT’S NEXT? 

P30 

POWER MOVE 

JEA DIDN’T NEED 

TO LOOK FAR FOR 

ITS NEXT HQ 

P38 

P56 

PRESERVATION 

A PASSION FOR 

RESUSCITATING 

OUR HISTORIC 

BUILDINGS 

P72 

TURF WARS 

A FOOD TRUCK 

AND BRICK & 

MORTAR EATERY 

BATTLE BREWS 

P80 

DISPLAY THROUGH MAY 2018 

$4.95 

LA 

CRASH 

NDING 

WHEN WILL WE FIX THE MOST CONTENTIOUS 

(AND EMBARRASSING) PIECE OF PROPERTY 

IN DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE? 


SPORTS 

TEAMS PUSHING 

FAN EXPERIENCE 

BEYOND THE GAME 

P36 

CONNECTING 

NEW ARRIVALS 

SEE TECHNOLOGY 

AS A NECESSITY 

DISPLAY THROUGH NOVEMBER 2018 

$4.95 

MILLENNIAL 

I S S U E 

THE ‘M’ FACTOR 

P76 

FALL 2018 

P18 

BUSINESS 

ENTREPRENUERS 

FIND CHALLENGES, 

SEE POTENTIAL 

P42 

HOUSING 

AFFORDABILITY, 

AMENITIES FUELING 

APARTMENT BOOM 

P70 

CAN OUR DOWNTOWN BE A 

MAGNET FOR MILLENNIALS? 


WOMEN’S 

I S S U E 

P28 



WINTER 2019 


WHEN WILL 

HIGH-SPEED 

RAIL COME TO 

JACKSONVILLE? 

P34 

END OF AN ERA 


DOWNTOWN 

MEGA-CHURCH 

DOWNSIZES 

P64 

IN THE DARK 

WHEN THE SUN 

GOES DOWN, 

THE CORE CAN 

GET GLOOMY 

P72 

THE FUTURE 

BAY STREET 

INNOVATION 

CORRIDOR IS 

CLOSER THAN 

YOU THINK 

TRANSIT MAN 


P18 

P86 

H 

THE MAGAZINE OF 

THE REBIRTH OF 

JACKSONVILLE’S 

DOWNTOWN 

H 

PUBLISHER 

Bill Offill 

GENERAL MANAGER/ 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Jeff Davis 

EDITOR 

Michael P. Clark 

ADVERTISING 

Liz Borten 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Ennis Davis 

Frank Denton 

Carole Hawkins 

Shelton Hull 

Steve Lackmeyer 

Ron Littlepage 

Dan Macdonald 

Lilla Ross 

THROUGH AUGUST 2019 

$6.50 

OF 

SUMMER 2019 

INTRIGUING PEOPLE 

THINK YOU’VE MET 

ALL THE FASCINATING 

PEOPLE DOWNTOWN? 

THINK AGAIN. 

P44 

THE 

STATE 

PLAY 

ARD 

der at 

town 

il lounge 

atos 

F U T U R E 

I S S U E 

THERE’S FUN TO BE 

FOUND DOWNTOWN, 

BUT IS IT ENOUGH? 


P20 

» AUDREY MORAN, 

KEAGAN ANFUSO 

and ISSIS ALVAREZ 

(clockwise from top) 

are three of the 

Jacksonvi le women 

we asked for opinions 

on Downtown. 

DISPLAY THROUGH NOVEMBER 2019 

$6.50 

FALL 2019 

GROWTH 

VYSTAR GOES ALL IN 

WITH ‘INNOVATIVE’ 

DOWNTOWN HQ 

P42 

EMERALD TRAIL 

34-MILE GREENWAY 

PROJECT INCHING 

CLOSER TO REALITY 

WHAT DO WOMEN WANT IN THE URBAN CORE? 

WE ASKED THEM. 

DOWNTOWN 

& WOMEN 

P20 

P50 

MAILING ADDRESS 

J Magazine, 1 Independent Dr., Suite 200, Jacksonville, FL 32202 

CONTACT US 

EDITORIAL: 

(904) 359-4307, mclark@jacksonville.com 

ADVERTISING: 

(904) 359-4099, lborten@jacksonville.com 

DISTRIBUTION/REPRINTS: 

(904) 359-4255, circserv@jacksonville.com 

DISPLAY THROUGH MAY 2019 

$6.50 

MOSH 2.0 

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY 

MAKES PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 

P16 

SPRING 2019 


YEAR END 

I S S U E 





WHEN WILL 

HIGH-SPEED 

RAIL COME TO 

JACKSONVILLE? 

P34 

END OF AN ERA 


DOWNTOWN 

MEGA-CHURCH 

DOWNSIZES 

P64 

IN THE DARK 

WHEN THE SUN 

GOES DOWN, 

THE CORE CAN 

GET GLOOMY 

P72 

THE FUTURE 

BAY STREET 

INNOVATION 

CORRIDOR IS 

CLOSER THAN 

YOU THINK 

TRANSIT MAN 


P18 

P86 

WE WELCOME SUGGESTIONS FOR STORIES. 

PLEASE SEND IDEAS OR INQUIRIES TO: 

mclark@jacksonville.com 

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based on the information contained in this publication. 

© 2019 Times-Union Media. 

All rights reserved. 

A PRODUCT OF 

CRIME IN THE CORE 

JUST HOW SAFE IS 

DOWNTOWN? 

WE FOUND OUT 

P28 

AQUAJAX 

REVIVING THE 

PUSH TO BUILD 

AN AQUARIUM 

P36 

MARKETING JAX 

HOW A LOCALLY 


OUTDOORS 

I S S U E 

PLACEMAKING 

CONNECTING THE 

HUMAN EXPERIENCE 

TO REVITALIZATION 

P32 

GOING GREEN 

EDITORIAL BOARD

KEEPING 

AMERICA MOVING 

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contents 

Issue 4 // Volume 3 // WINTER 2019 

Meet the 

Transit Man 

18BY FRANK DENTON 

34 40 44 48 

Need for Speed 

BY ENNIS DAVIS 

Wheel Commute 

BY LILLA ROSS 

Bon Voyage 

BY RON LITTLEPAGE 

Road Diets 

BY MIKE CLARK 

54 60 64 72 

Street Smarts 

BY STEVE LACKMEYER 

Easy Rider 

BY DAN MACDONALD 

End of an Era 

BY LILLA ROSS 

In the Dark 

BY MIKE CLARK 

78 82 86 88 

Casket Factory 

BY MIKE CLARK 

Tunnel Vision 

BY SHELTON HULL 

The Future 

BY CAROLE HAWKINS 

Parking Squeeze 

BY CAROLE HAWKINS 

BOB SELF 

6 

J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2019

David Cawton II, Manager of Media 

& Public Relations at the Jacksonville 

Transportation Authority, takes a selfie 

with Mike Clark, editor of J Magazine, 

Todd Brearley, Design and Construction 

Project Manager for the Jacksonville 

Regional Transportation Center 

and Nat Ford, CEO of JTA. 

J MAGAZINE 

PARTNERS 

DEPARTMENTS 

9 FROM THE EDITOR 

10 RATING DOWNTOWN 

11 BRIEFING 

12 THE BIG PICTURE 

14 THEN & NOW 

14 THE BIG PICTURE 

68 CHECKING THE PULSE 

90 CORE EYESORE 

92 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 

98 THE FINAL WORD 




WHEN WILL 

HIGH-SPEED 

RAIL COME TO 

JACKSONVILLE? 

P34 

END OF AN ERA 


DOWNTOWN 

MEGA-CHURCH 

DOWNSIZES 

P64 

IN THE DARK 

WHEN THE SUN 

GOES DOWN, 

THE CORE CAN 

GET GLOOMY 

P72 

THE FUTURE 

BAY STREET 

INNOVATION 

CORRIDOR IS 

CLOSER THAN 

YOU THINK 

P86 

TRANSIT MAN 


P18 


ON THE COVER 

With the Regional Transportation 

Center set to open in the spring, 

Jacksonville Transportation Authority 

CEO Nat Ford isn’t taking a break 

anytime soon. // PAGE 18 

STORY BY FRANK DENTON 

PHOTO BY BOB SELF

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consider joining our team. 

Programs, services, rates, terms and conditions are subject 

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vystarcu.org

FROM THE EDITOR 

Indicators show 

progress surging 

across Downtown 

MIKE 

CLARK 

PHONE 

(904) 359-4307 

EMAIL 

mclark@ 

jacksonville.com 

hen J magazine was established 

W 10 issues ago, we thought the 

time was right to give Downtown 

a push. 

It seemed Downtown was on the cusp of progress 

but the power of inertia seemed to be bigger than 

momentum. 

Well, the tide has changed. 

After pleading for apartments, the Downtown Investment 

Authority was faced with three strong bidders 

seeking to build market-rate housing in LaVilla. 

Long vacant structures — the Armory on Market 

Street and the original Independent Life Building at 233 

W. Duval St. — have buyers with exciting development 

plans. 

Nowhere is the progress Downtown more visible 

than the sparkling blue windows of the Jacksonville 

Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla. 

Nat Ford, CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation 

Authority, jettisoned overly expensive plans for the 

building with a design competition. 

Within three years, driverless cars will be traveling 

the Skyway and easing down ramps on Bay Street as 

part of the Ultimate Urban Circulator. 

Suddenly, transportation Downtown is cool again. 

And that is the theme of this 11th edition of J magazine. 

Transportation and Downtown have been twins for 

a long time. 

The St. Johns River provided an easy means of transportation 

for the former Cowford. 

Downtown once was the site of a working shipyards 

while Talleyrand remains busy just around the corner. 

Downtown still is criss-crossed by railroad lines and 

major interstates. 

Big changes are coming, historic changes that will 

make Downtown more convenient, more modern and 

even more fun. 

Frank Denton goes behind the scenes to ask what 

makes Nat Ford run? The CEO of the Jacksonville 

Transportation Authority has gained national acclaim 

for making huge changes to the city’s bus routes with 

very few complaints. 

Ford also took plans for a Regional Transportation 

Center, slashed costs and pushed for an ultra-modern 

design that looks a little it was moved from Walt Disney 

World. We explain how JTA did it and what it means. 

Someday rail service needs to return to the former 

Union Terminal, now the Prime Osborn Convention 

Center. Ennis Davis looks at the expanding Virgin Rail 

service in South Florida and advocates for its expansion 

here. 

Parking is a continuing bugaboo for Downtown. 

Carole Hawkins looks at parking troubles in Brooklyn 

along with possible solutions. 

Another bugaboo involves riding bicycles on city 

streets that aren’t designed for them. A few brave souls 

do, as Lilla Ross reports. Road changes, though, are on 

the way. 

Traveling at night can be a challenge Downtown. 

Why is it so dark? We tour Downtown on foot, by bicycle 

and car and literally count the light bulbs that are 

out on the riverwalks. Downtown has a long way to go. 

The St. Johns River Taxi offers a wonderful way to 

enjoy the river. But issues with the Landing have cut 

into regular trips. Ron Littlepage describes what is in 

store and what ought to be. 

Another continuing issue involves Downtown’s 

one-way streets. Oklahoma City, also a large city in land 

area, has finished converting its downtown streets to 

two-ways. An Oklahoma City columnist explains how it 

was done. 

First Baptist is selling much of its property Downtown, 

and Lilla Ross looks at what other churches are 

doing. Many are downsizing, too, but not St. John’s 

Cathedral. Dean Kate Moorehead and colleague Ginny 

Myrick describe in our Q&A why the Episcopalian 

church remains committed to Downtown. 

Every issue of J magazine needs a surprise. For this 

issue, Shelton Hull takes a tour of the tunnel system 

Downtown. Find out why they were built. Yes, you can 

take tours. 

Those are the stories along with our regular features. 

But this magazine would be awfully dull with only the 

words. 

The great photography by Bob Self and Will Dickey 

along with masterful layout by Jeff Davis make everything 

sparkle. 

MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of The Florida Times- 

Union and Editor of J. He has been a reporter and editor for the 

Jacksonville newspapers since 1973. He lives in Nocatee. 

WINTER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 9

POWER 

RATING DOWNTOWN 

By The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board 

Development on the rise as 

Downtown builds momentum 

7 

8 

7 

6 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

PUBLIC SAFETY 

LEADERSHIP 

HOUSING 

INVESTMENT 

Bicycle patrols are more 

visible. Police zone commanders 

remind people to report crime 

because there are so few serious 

incidents. Perception created 

by empty, dark streets is 

the real issue. 

Lori Boyer hit the ground 

running as expected as CEO 

of the DIA. But it’s all good 

with City Council members 

expressing strong support for 

funding subsidies for historic 

structures like Snyder Memorial. 

Apartments can’t be built fast 

enough, with nearly 100 percent 

occupancy the rule. And with 

Vestcor winning a competitive bid 

for market-rate housing in LaVilla, 

a barrier was broken. Housing 

now has new momentum. 

Early indicators are positive 

about out-of-town developers 

interested in the former 

courthouse and city hall sites. 

Also, South Florida developers 

are involved in the armory project. 

The District is hitting its deadlines. 

PREVIOUS: 7 

PREVIOUS: 8 

PREVIOUS: 7 

PREVIOUS: 6 

7 

6 5 

4 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

DEVELOPMENT 

EVENTS & CULTURE 

TRANSPORTATION 

CONVENTION CENTER 

There is more interest than 

ever in Downtown Jacksonville. 

Long-vacant properties like the 

old Independent Life Building 

at 233 W. Duval St. and the 

National Guard Armory now 

have developer commitments. 

With a $100,000 subsidy from 

Vestcor, the Lift Ev’ry Voice and 

Sing Park in LaVilla will finally give 

visitors something to see. 

The Regional Transportation 

Center will celebrate LaVilla and 

local transportation history. 

This score will increase once 

the Regional Transportation 

Center opens in April. 

A new on-call shuttle service 

in San Marco, subsidized by businesses, 

offers a model 

for Downtown. 

The Prime Osborn Convention 

Center looks especially dull 

across the street from the bright, 

shining, ultramodern Regional 

Transportation Center. This 

probably will have to wait for a 

completed District and Lot J. 

PREVIOUS: 6 

PREVIOUS: 5 

PREVIOUS: 5 

PREVIOUS: 4 

OVERALL RATING 

The rating is trending up because it feels like 

Downtown has passed from inertia to momentum. 

There are cranes in Brooklyn and developers competing 

for vacant lots in LaVilla. The FIS headquarters would 

be the first Downtown highrise in over a decade. 

PREVIOUS: 6 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 

JEFF DAVIS 

10 


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90% 58% 43% 

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»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» 

««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««« 

DIGITS 

Ever wonder 

who lives 

Downtown? 

Downtown 

Vision Inc. 

found out: 

Like or love 

living 

Downtown 

Work in 

Downtown or 

a surrounding 

neighborhood 

Have an annual 

household income 

of $100,000+ 

SOURCE: 

DVI’s 2018-2019 State 

of Downtown Report 

BRIEFING 

By The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board 

Thumbs up for Visit 

Jacksonville’s new app, 

especially the guided 

tours. African-American 

history, top parks, to 

brew pubs, there is 

a tour for just about 

everyone. 

Thumbs up for plans to 

resurrect and revive the 

historic Jacksonville 

Armory. This is a 

classic structure that 

needs to be saved. It has 

been empty too long. 

Thumbs up for 

Downtown Vision’s 

project to add lighting 

along Laura Street, 

not just during the 

holidays but year-round. 

A little progress should 

be celebrated. 

Thumbs down for 

the poor lighting 

Downtown, especially 

along the riverwalks. 

There is no excuse for 

all the light bulbs that 

are out. Poor designs 

make it worse. 

Thumbs down for 

Jacksonville’s glacial 

progress on dealing 

with parking. The 

proposal by former DIA 

HITS & MISSES 

board member Dane 

Grey to take it over 

revealed how much we 

are missing. 

Thumbs up to the 

Downtown Investment 

Authority for offering 

the public to speak 

at the start of every 

meeting, not requiring 

a three-hour wait like 

some public boards. 

Thumbs down for the 

city’s failure to seriously 

consider reusing the 

Jacksonville Landing. 

Like the old Civic 

Auditorium, it probably 

could have saved money 

for taxpayers. 

Thumbs up for the 

lynching exhibit at the 

Museum of Science and 

History and for moving 

it to other public 

spaces Downtown. 

Understanding our 

history helps us 

understand our city. 

Thumbs up to Visit 

Jacksonville’s new 

mobile visitor van, 

which deals much 

better with the 

840 square miles of 

DUUVAL. Brick and 

FIRST PERSON 

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»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» 

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»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» 

mortar should be 

minimal. 

Thumbs up for plans to 

add a boutique grocer 

to the developers 

of the former JEA 

and Independent Life 

building at 233 W. Duval 

St. It will be an iconic 

mark of progress. 

Thumbs up for DIA 

CEO Lori Boyer’s 

plan to focus retail 

Downtown along the 

Elbow on Main Street 

and in the Laura-Hogan 

street area. Ample 

parking is nearby. 

Two-way streets will be 

added. 

Thumbs up for Council 

Member Matt Carlucci’s 

plan to boost the 

Historic Preservation 

Fund. Many Downtown 

buildings need a 

little boost to make 

developments viable. 

Thumbs up for the 

incentives that were 

used to attract and 

keep FIS Financial 

Services to the 

Brooklyn area. These 

incentives have 

produced huge benefits. 

“This has been like a 50-year objective in Jacksonville to 

do something Downtown. We are probably as anxious as 

anybody to break this curse and get something going.” 

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS OWNER SHAD KHAN ON PLANS TO break ground 

on HIS LOT j DEVELOPment by the end of the first quarter OF 2020 


JACKSON 

OAK 

MAY 

J MAGAZINE’S 

PROGRESS REPORT 

PRIME 

OSBORN 

CONVENTION 

CENTER 

BROOKLYN 

PARK 

ADAMS 

HOUSTON 

UNITY 

PLAZA 

FOREST 

JOHNSON 

LEE 

DAVIS 

WATER 

MAGNOLIA 

LAVILLA 

MADISON 

REGIONAL 

TRANSPORTATION 

CENTER 

The ultramodern building in LaVilla 

is expected to be finished on time and on budget 

with move-ins beginning in January and completed 

by late March or early April. Besides its major 

transportation impacts, it is being viewed as the 

anchor for redevelopment in LaVilla. 

RIVERSIDE AVE. 

SNYDER MEMORIAL CHURCH 

The beautiful church at Hemming Park has been 

empty too long. Boyer of DIA says there have 

been three serious inquiries about reusing it, 

possibly with a restaurant in the sanctuary space. 

NEW JEA HQ 

Despite all the sales talk, the JEA board has decided to 

go ahead with a new headquarters building. Design has 

gone to the Downtown Development Review Board. 

The site at 325 W. Adams St. is near the Duval County Courthouse. 

JEFFERSON 

BROAD 

FLORIDA BLUE/ 

GUIDEWELL 

The company turned over a parking 

lot for the FIS building and is 

constructing a new parking garage at Forest and 

Magnolia streets. The garage will be available to the 

public on nights and weekends. GuideWell will add 

750 new jobs at its Riverside Avenue tower. 

FORMER INDEPENDENT LIFE BUILDING 

The original Independent Life Building at 233 W. Duval St. also 

was JEA’s headquarters in the 1970s. This site was identified as 

one of J magazine’s eyesores. A developer plans to convert it 

into apartments, a rooftop restaurant and bar and a boutique grocery. 

CLAY 

PEARL 

FORMER 

GREYHOUND 

SITE 

In the last issue, a 

parking lot at 10 N. Pearl St., the 

former Greyhound station, was identified 

as an eyesore. Now there is a 

possibility that a 54-story skyscraper 

could be built there, said Lori Boyer, 

CEO of the Downtown Investment 

Authority. It would be the tallest 

building in town. 

ACOSTA 

BRIDGE 

JULIA 

TIMES- 

UNION 

CENTER 

HEMMING 

PARK 

HOGAN 

FORSYTH 

BAY 

LAURA 

JACKSONVILLE 

LANDING 

VYSTAR 

As employees 

move into VyStar’s 

new Downtown 

building, work continues on an 

adjacent low-rise space at 100 

W. Bay St. And VyStar will own 

a nearby parking garage, too, an 

important addition for workers 

Downtown. 

BROOKLYN PLACE 

More restaurants are coming 

to the restaurant row along 

Riverside Avenue. Panera, 

Chipotle and Bento Asian Kitchen were 

reported by the Financial News with room 

still for a 1,520-square-foot retailer. We would 

like to see a major drug store there. Some 

much needed parking will be added with a 

connection to the Northbank Riverwalk. 

BEAVER 

ASHLEY 

CHURCH 

DUVAL 

MONROE 

MAIN 

MAIN STREET 

BRIDGE 

FRIENDSHIP 

FOUNTAIN 

RIVERPLACE 

MARY 

OCEAN 

PRUDENTIAL DR. 

SAN MARCO BLVD. 

N 

RIVERSIDE 

12 J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2019 

FIS HEADQUARTERS 

Fidelity National Information Services, FIS, will construct a new 12-story headquarters by 2022 near 

its current site on Riverside Avenue. With 300,000 square feet, it represents a long-term commitment 

of this growing Fortune 500 company to Jacksonville. Another 500 jobs will be added by 2029. 

FULLER WARREN BRIDGE

SPRINGFIELD 

NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY 

Vacant since 2010, the Armory at 815 Market St. now has an interested developer that 

plans to reuse it as a cultural art facility. There will be art studios, a performance stage, 

art galleries and event space. Included at the site will be about 100 units of housing. 

NEWNAN 

FIRST BAPTIST 

Downsizing of Downtown’s biggest landowner 

is a huge story. What is the best 

use of the 10 blocks for sale? Should it be 

sold piece-by-piece or could something major go there 

such as a medical innovation campus or even a school? 

MARKET 

LIBERTY 

WASHINGTON 

CATHERINE 

PALMETTO 

VETERANS 

MEMORIAL 

ARENA 

A. PHILIP RANDOLPH 

FORSYTH AND ADAMS 

TWO-WAY STREETS 

The site of a future retail hub Downtown, 

planning for turning Forsyth and 

Adams into two-way streets is underway with traffic 

studies, Boyer said. How elaborate should the changes 

be? Boyer hopes real changes start by the end of 2020. 

BASEBALL 

GROUNDS 

GEORGIA 

FRANKLIN 

SPORTS 

COMPLEX 

ADAMS 

GATOR BOWL BLVD. 

TIAA 

BANK FIELD 

DAILY’S 

PLACE 

NORTHBANK 

JACKSONVILLE LANDING 

Demolition has to be finished by June but 

Boyer says it is likely to be finished early. 

Meanwhile, the DIA will be examining 

previous studies and preparing for a possible design 

competition. The mayor wants something iconic, Boyer 

said. An activated riverfront plaza will be a big part of it. 

FORMER COURTHOUSE-CITY HALL 

Now grassy fields on the riverfront, these two major 

Downtown sites have drawn great interest nationally. Boyer 

says there have been about 100 inquiries, some from out-oftown 

developers. Bids are due Jan. 22 with disposition possible in February. 

ST. JOHNS 

RIVER 

SOUTHBANK 

LOT J AND THE 

SHIPYARDS 

The removal of the Hart 

Bridge ramp will begin in 

early January. That will open the way for 

the aggressive development plans of the 

Jacksonville Jaguars and their partner, the 

Cordish Companies of an entertainment 

zone at Lot J. Soil testing for the $450 

million project should take place soon. 

FLAGLER 

KIPP 

KINGS 

ONYX 

MONTANA 

THE DISTRICT 

After a six-month extension, the major Southbank 

development has met its recent deadlines. 

A performance schedule provided by Project 

Manager Susan Watts shows bonds to be issued in January for 

the Community Development District. Construction at the 

former JEA power plant site is scheduled to begin in April. 

HENDRICKS 

RIVERPLACE ROAD DIET 

Work is finishing with narrower streets to slow speeds, 

wide sidewalks for pedestrians and bicyclists, actual 

shade trees and a major bus stop that connects with 

JTA’s express buses. Meanwhile, across the river, design work is about 

60 percent done on a road diet for Park Street, the first phase of a 

project that will extend from the park Street viaduct to the interstate. 

SAN MARCO 

DOWNTOWN 

JACKSONVILLE 

TRACKING DEVELOPMENT IN THE URBAN CORE 


Augustine Development Group LLC 

THE BIG 

PICTURE 

BREATHING LIFE INTO AN 

UNINHABITED HIGHRISE 

A swanky rooftop restaurant and 

bar like this, along with 140 luxury 

apartments, is envisioned by developers 

planning to renovate the historic Independent 

Life Tower at 233 W. Duval St. 

In September, St. Augustine-based Augustine 

Development Group bought the 

14 


64-year-old building for $3.7 million and 

plan to invest about $28 million in the 

19-story, 180,000-square-foot structure. 

Initial plans for the highrise also 

include a rooftop pool, a high-end sushi 

and seafood restaurant and a ground 

floor grocery store. Construction on the 

building, which has sat vacant for nearly 

two decades, is scheduled to begin January 

and last 14 months. 

Jacksonville’s KBJ Architects designed 

the building, which was completed in 

1955. 

J MAGAZINE 

BOB SELF 


1959 

& Then Now 

Local historian Wayne Wood refers to the Henry J. Klutho designed 

St. James Building as “potentially the most world-famous building in Jacksonville 

and one of our greatest works of art” 

PHOTO FROM THE JACKSONVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

16 


2019 

T 

he St. James Building 

– current home 

of Jacksonville’s City 

Hall – was designed 

and built by famed 

architect Henry J. 

Klutho. Considered 

to be Klutho’s Prairie School masterpiece, 

the building at 117 West Duval Street 

featured a spectacular 75-foot octagonal 

glass dome and large abstract terra-cotta 

ornaments. 

When the building was dedicated in 

October of 1912, it was the largest structure 

in Jacksonville, occupying an entire 

city block. 

For more than four decades, the St. 

James was home to the upscale Cohen 

Bros. Department Store. In 1958, the store 

was bought by the May Company and 

renamed May Cohens before it eventually 

closed in 1987. 

At the urging of Mayor Ed Austin, the 

City of Jacksonville purchased the building 

in 1993 and restored it at a cost of $24 

million before reopening it in December 

1997 as the new City Hall. The project, 

funded by the River City Renaissance 

plan, moved Jacksonville’s consolidated 

government to the heart of the urban 

core. 

The site was originally home to the 

St. James Hotel – built shortly after the 

Civil War – with accommodations for 500 

guests as well as a passenger elevator, barbershop, 

wine room and telegraph office. 

The Great Fire of 1901 burned the hotel to 

the ground. 

J MAGAZINE 

PHOTO BY NATE WATSON 


T 

Transit 

With the sleek Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center 

set to open in the spring, JTA’s CEO NAT FORD is excited 

to take the city’s transportation system into the future 

By FRANK DENTON // Photos by BOB SELF 

18 


Man 


When Nat Ford looks 

at this town, he sees 

things differently from 

you and me. 

Where we may see our 

aged and mostly empty 

Skyway as a white elephant, 

he sees a valid original concept 

and a great foundation for updating 

and expansion. 

Where we might see an old lady sitting on an overturned 

grocery cart as a pathetic homeless person, he sees a bus stop 

that needs development. 

Where we did see the Mayport ferry as an expensive 

problem no one wanted 

to take on, he saw 

an essential public 

service that actually is 

more self-supporting 

than buses. 

Where we see a college 

or medical-center 

campus with a parking 

and mobility problem, 

he sees a technology 

opportunity. 

Where we see urban 

sprawl that will 

demand more expensive highways, he sees the potential for 

new transit stops that will generate smarter housing to take 

advantage of easy, modern transportation. 

And where we may see an automobile culture that feeds 

traffic, parking, safety, pollution, global-warming and expense 

issues, he sees a systemic challenge. 

Now, hitting his stride in his seventh year as the CEO of 

the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Ford envisions 

changing the very personal 

relationship you 

have with your car. He 

NAT FORD 

From: New York City 

Lives: Near the beaches (on the First Coast Flyer Red Line) 

Education: 

• Jacksonville University, executive MBA 

• Mercer University, bachelor of applied sciences 

• Golden Gate University, associate of arts 

Family: Wife Jannet Walker Ford, vice president of 

Government Relations for Cubic Corp. and JU Board of 

Trustees member. Six children, 2 grandchildren. 

wants you to have a 

choice of transportation 

modes, including 

making more use of 

your feet. 

He is working on a 

system of quiet autonomous 

vehicles moving 

people efficiently 

in, around and out of 

Downtown from all 

over the core city, and maybe even on college campuses and 

St. Johns Town Center. 

He sees two major Ultimate Urban Connector corridors 

Downtown — a Bay Street innovation corridor from the stadi- 

20 


Todd Brearley, the Design and Construction Project Manager for the new Regional Transportation Center, leads a tour of the project with CEO Nat Ford. 

um to the sparkling new Regional Transportation Center and a health 

corridor from Baptist Medical Center straight up Main Street to UF 

Health Jacksonville. 

Some of that is in the very near future, and you’ll be fascinated to 

hear what he see farther out. 

But to appreciate the vision of Nat Ford, you have to get there 

through three inflection points in his career that brought him to Jacksonville. 

Inherent passion 

Public transportation always has been an essential part of the life 

of Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. He was reared in Queens, N.Y., where his father, 

a Mississippi native, worked his way up from the New York subways 

track department to chief operating officer for the entire system, with 

tens of thousands of employees. 

“All of those years,” Nat Ford remembers, “I got a front-row seat 

to see what transportation was all about, a system that ran 24 hours a 

day, seven days a week, and with his increasing levels of responsibility, 

quite often he worked 24 hours, seven days a week. I remember 

him answering the phone, and it was the control center for the New 

York City subway system, looking for him to deal with management issues, 

operational issues, emergencies, things of that nature. And then 

off he went to take care of it.” 

Throughout his childhood, Nat routinely used the New York public 

transportation system himself. 

“A lot of young people actually used the subway to get to school 

and activities. I used the bus, the city bus, to get to elementary school, 

middle school and high school.” 

After he graduated early, at 16, after not having had to study much, 

Ford’s first year of college “may not have been one of the most successful” 

but, as we say, “built a lot of character … So I came back from 

school, and Dad was like, OK, well, you’re home, but you’re going to 

have to go find a job.” 

Ford worked for a while as a commodity market clerk, but after a 

few years, he was drawn to a much higher-paying job back at the transit 

authority — as a union train conductor. 

Over the next 10 years, perhaps inspired by his father’s success, 

Ford quickly worked his way up, always taking the Civil Service exam 

for the next higher job and winning four or five promotions. “Being 

unmarried, no children, that kind of thing, I was able to study a great 

deal,” he said. “And I was able to end up in the top 10 out of hundreds, 

if not thousands of competitors, for the next position.” 

Ultimately he became a superintendent of district operations. 

“So at that time, at the young age of my early 30s, I was managing 

a few thousand people and had a number of terminals and facilities 

and rail yards that were under my watch. A young person with a lot of 

responsibility.” 

Along the way, Ford found his passion and his first inflection point. 

“The real excitement came when I finally reached the level of train 

dispatcher, where I was running a terminal. I was actually, for an 

eight-hour period, literally processing hundreds of trains using a team 

of train operators, signal maintenance, things of that nature. I had the 

thrill of — I hate to describe it as such — but really nowadays, you see 


how kids are so hooked on playing these computer games. I had my 

entertainment every day and for an eight-hour period. 

“And again, being single, I worked a great deal of overtime. So I 

worked double shifts, and I worked at some of the busiest terminals in 

the New York City transit system. 

“It was a source of pride every day to move literally millions of people 

passing through your hands, so to speak. 

“From there, I was bitten by the bug. Every day you just strive to 

do better than you did the last day, and you had to make split-second 

decisions in terms of processing trains and passengers. And the next 

day, that orchestra, that symphony, started all over again.” 

Moving people’s lives 

In 1992, Ford took his ambition on the road. He became an assistant 

chief transportation officer for San Francisco Bay Area Rapid 

Transit, responsible for the commuter rail between that city and Fremont. 

The experience taught him not only another mode of transportation 

but also how to work with local governments and elected 

officials, as the route traversed multiple jurisdictions. 

After five years, Ford came south to be senior vice president of 

operations for the Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority, 

ninth largest in the country, where he expanded his band width to 

multi-modal operations, with more than 680 buses serving 25 million 

miles and a rail system with 38 stations connecting 48 miles of track. 

He was named CEO in 2000, leading the rehabilitation of the system 

When Nat Ford was hired as CEO of JTA in 2012, one of his first challenges was to fix a decades-old bus route system. 

and implementing the first complete passenger-fare smart cards in 

the country. 

This experience was his second major inflection point, as Ford 

began to learn that public transportation is more than modes, tracks, 

bus stops and equipment. 

He says he was profoundly influenced 

by his board, which included Juanita Abernathy, 

widow of civil-rights icon Ralph David 

Abernathy; Joseph Lowery, another prominent 

civil rights leader, and other community leaders. 

“It’s shaped who I am today to a large degree in terms 

of my leadership attitude,” Ford said. “Up until that time, my whole 

focus was more performance-related terms of on-time performance, 

vehicles, really statistically kind of just the day-to-day blocking and 

tackling of making the trains run on time. They helped me truly understand 

the importance of transportation to the community, from 

an economic standpoint, from a health-care standpoint, from an equity 

standpoint, in terms of accessibility, to hospitals, to jobs, to college 

and educational opportunities. 

“So that kind of spirit that I have now in what I do here at the JTA, 

yeah, it’s buses. And yeah, it’s the Skyway and yeah, it’s road projects, 

but at the end of the day, what I really preach to our staff is what does 

it mean, in terms of somebody’s lifestyle and generational lifestyle, 

and access to economic vitality and health care.” 

Holism and technology 

Ford returned to the West Coast for his third inflection point. In 

2006, he became CEO of the San 

Francisco Municipal Transportation 

Agency and broadened his 

experience by being responsible 

for the city railway, parking and 

taxis. 

He led the integration of the 

siloed system. 

“The citizens actually chose to 

do that, because they did not like 

the disjointed decision-making 

around transportation. Transit 

was a No. 1 priority. But people 

walk, they bike, they actually park 

and they wanted a holistic strategy 

for the governance and objective, 

professional decision making 

on the balance between those different 

modes.” 

Even more important, Ford 

discovered that technology could 

make complex systems function 

faster, smoother and more efficiently. 

The San Francisco agency 

launched the nation’s first parking-management 

system, an app 

that provides real-time information 

about parking availability. 

“The idea was to cut down 

congestion in 48 square miles,” he 

said. “I have to get you in a parking spot as soon as possible. I don’t 

need you circling around looking for a parking spot on the street 

and quite often a lot of the municipal parking lots were empty. We 

developed an app that actually got you right to a parking spot, and 

if you chose, that app would also take you into a nearby municipal 

garage where the rates were actually lower. So we got into congestion 

22 


{ } 

“At the end of the day, what I really preach to 

our staff is what does it mean, in terms of somebody’s 

lifestyle and generational lifestyle, and access to 

economic vitality and health care.” 

– NAT FORD – 

pricing by adjusting prices to ensure that we had a certain amount 

of availability on the street and maximize the availability of off-street 

parking.” 

At the same time, Ford watched the birth of ride-sharing, which 

became transformational. “Uber came along because of scarcity of 

taxis in San Francisco. While I sat there, I started getting emails about 

this new transportation technology using an app. We watched it, but 

we could not get the taxi industry to adopt credit card swipes, GPS, 

things that Uber leveraged and utilized to actually create a business 

model that has now gone through the roof. 

“Technology for me has been critical in terms of its impact on 

transportation going forward in this industry — autonomous vehicles, 

artificial intelligence and using the Internet of things to effectively provide 

people better services.” 

Gavin Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco and now governor 

of California, had expanded Ford’s responsibilities but left to 

become lieutenant governor in 2011. 

“We had an acting mayor, and he and I decided it was time for me 

to move on. He was looking for commitment from me that I would not 

continue to look for jobs in other parts of the world. I think six years 

doing a job like that was enough, and it was time to get back home on 

the East Coast.” 

Ford did independent consulting work in 2011-12. “The interesting 

thing about that was I got a chance to work around the country 

for a number of large engineering construction firms, helping them 

actually compete for transportation infrastructure jobs. I got a chance 

to spend time in a lot of cities around the U.S. working with these international 

firms.” 

Bringing it all here 

Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s public transportation system was 

mired in problems and controversy. A Times-Union investigation 

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© 2019 Jacksonville Transportation Authority. All rights reserved. ASD-19020. 


{ } 

“I came from New York where I’m managing 

a train coming every 30 seconds to Jacksonville 

with a bus every 75 minutes. So it was like almost 

going to the moon in a lot of ways.” 


found that 258 JTA bus drivers had 1,276 criminal and 

driving violations since the 1970s, leading to the departure 

of CEO Michael Blaylock. 

Ford’s name surfaced as a rising star in the world of 

public transportation, and he came to interview. 

“During the interview process,” he remembers, “I was taking 

lunch or something, and I just observed this elderly lady sitting 

on an overturned shopping cart at a bus stop that really was just a 

pole in the ground, a kind of worn-down, goat-path-looking area. 

And I just thought that this was the place I wanted to come. This 

Powered by cheaper, cleaner compressed natural gas, a JTA First Coast Flyer stops at a North Jefferson Street bus stop. 

The Flyer was launched as a premium rapid-transit service connecting Downtown to outlying neighborhoods. 

was the place to be able to improve on her experience with all the 

30-plus years of experience working around the country. When I 

left that lunch and came back the other way, I actually saw her still 

sitting there almost an hour later.” 

He was hired in 2012, and one of the first challenges he had to 

take on was a decades-old bus route structure that presumably 

caused that woman’s long vigil on the grocery cart. 

“The philosophy at that time was, we just we put the least 

amount that we need to put out there, in terms of service,” Ford 

said. “I came from New York where I’m managing a train coming 

every 30 seconds to Jacksonville with a bus every 75 minutes. So it 

was like almost going to the moon in a lot of ways.” 

With the attitude he developed in Atlanta about the impact of 

public transit on people’s lives, Ford led JTA into a massive restructuring 

of the bus system. He told the T-U editorial board in 2013: “We 

want a faster system, one that’s more understandable and more direct.” 

After public outreach that included 14 public meetings, 19 community 

advisory groups, 95 community events and scores of meetings 

with business and civic groups, JTA launched its overhaul in 

2014 — redesigning all bus routes 

to provide more buses more often, 

increasing on-time reliability, 

increasing service late at night 

and weekends, spacing bus stops 

more efficiently, simplifying busroute 

numbering and providing 

riders online, real-time information 

on bus arrivals and departures. 

Improvements included 

almost six miles of new sidewalks 

and 62 new curb cuts. 

“It’s definitely bold,” Ford said 

on a return visit to the editorial 

board just before the launch. 

“(We) couldn’t take a delicate approach 

to this.” 

The impact was immediate, 

with dramatic service improvements 

and ridership increases by 

6 percent overall and as much as 

18 percent on weekends. 

Looking back, Ford said, “No 

one across the country had ever 

done anything like that. Maybe 

with 30-plus years of experience 

and a little bit of New York cockiness 

in my mind, it was like, we’re 

going to do this, we’re going to 

be the first to do it. We’re going 

to take that bold risk and that bold challenge. And we did it. It has 

been replicated by cities all around the country now as the way 

for transit systems to be viable, to not ignore, but find a way to 

deal with the political issues around something like that. For 

the JTA, I think that’s what set us on the course to where we 

are today.” 

24 


Steven Frich of First Transit dusts an autonomous vehicle as Marcus Dixon of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority helps set up a display in Hemming Park. 

More progress 

The next year, JTA launched the First Coast Flyer, its premium 

bus rapid-transit service, speeding people to Downtown connections 

from the Beaches, northern neighborhoods and The Avenues 

Mall area, with the final route down Blanding Boulevard to Orange 

Park Mall coming in 2020. The buses offer free Wi-Fi and news and 

weather monitors. The sleek, aerodynamic Flyer vehicles are powered 

by cheaper, cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG). 

In 2016, JTA took over the Mayport ferry, the service that no one 

else wanted because it seemed maintenance-heavy, revenue-light 

and politically laden. “Everyone was, like, Nat, you lost your mind. 

You’re the new guy who came into town, and they’re going to saddle 

you with the ferry,” Ford said. But he found that fares covered 

50-60 percent of the cost, “better than any of the bus routes that I 

was running, so it’s coming closer to covering its actual cost. 

“I also saw that by taking responsibility for the ferry and making 

it work and making it a viable part of the infrastructure, it would 

also give JTA the opportunity to really begin the journey of looking 

at transportation from a holistic standpoint. So if it moves people, 

be it a ferry, be it an automobile, be it public transport, and scooters 

and bikes at some point, we think we have a role in that. Not 

because we need to manage it, but we need to make sure that it’s 

all interconnected. And it operates harmoniously.” 

The next interconnection Ford wanted was the Jacksonville Regional 

Transportation Center, tying together the Skyway, the bus 

system, Greyhound intercity service, a pedestrian overpass 

and, ultimately and ideally, more. 

“From a walkability standpoint,” he said, “you don’t 

want folks walking three or four blocks with a suitcase or 

whatever. You want them to have close transportation 

connections. That’s the only way public transportation works, having 

close connections from one mode to the other.” 

There already was a Regional Transportation Center plan when 

Ford arrived, but it was a $130 million to $150 million plan with a 

$60 million budget. He called in the planners and told them, “Give 

me a $60 million project. And interestingly enough, I would say the 

$60 million project is much more compact and iconic in design.” 

You can see the striking building going up on West Forsyth just 

north of the Prime Osborn Convention Center. It is set to open in 

late March or early April. 

All this relatively quick innovation and progress won Ford fans 

like Jeanne Miller, JTA board treasurer as well as president and 

CEO of the Jacksonville Civic Council, an influential organization 

of business and civic leaders. 

“He’s a visionary,” Miller said. “He’s very, very accomplished, a 

stellar example of a true expert in transportation. He has a great deal 

of professionalism and high standards for everyone, including himself. 

He has raised the standards of excellence (at JTA) in all aspects. 

“What Nat has brought to the entire organization is the broader 

view of how transportation affects the daily lives of current and 

future users, for example millennials … You’re carrying loved ones, 

you’re carrying people to their doctors’ appointments and their 

jobs. It’s a covenant with passengers that we will bring you from 

point A to point B. Transportation is an integral part of everyone’s 

lives, especially in Jacksonville.” 

Ford’s early successes also brought national recognition. In 

2016, Ford was named a White House Champion of Change in 

transportation innovation. That same year, JTA won the Outstanding 

Public Transportation System Achievement Award of the 

American Public Transportation Association. Ford became chair 

of that organization. 


The Skyway travels along the 

track that takes passengers 

from the LaVilla neighborhood 

into Downtown. 

26 


{ } 

“I had a number of people who were whispering 

in my ear, when are you going to tear that thing down? 

You had folks who were commenting about tearing 

down the Skyway who have never ridden it.” 


The future is almost here 

One of the reasons Ford sees things differently from you and me is 

his way of looking at old problems in new way. His team doesn’t just 

include transit specialists. 

“A lot of folks we brought in are private-sector folks. Our head of 

the U2C program is from Amazon. His No. 2 is from Amazon, where 

they were steeped in robotics and artificial intelligence and things of 

that nature. We are attracting talent to the JTA that is not ‘transportation’ 

or ‘transit’ talent, but people who are innovative and creative, 

and we are excited about the energy 

inside this organization.” 

Now that JTA has updated 

most of the existing transportation 

system, Ford wants to figure 

out how to create a more effective 

system using new technology to 

serve a revitalized Downtown and 

surrounding neighborhoods. 

Perhaps testing the limits of his 

New York cockiness, Ford began 

to eye our most visible symbol of 

transportation failure: the Skyway, 

the 30-year-old, 2.5-mile monorail 

people mover that, despite being 

free, moves relatively few people. 

“I had a number of people who 

were whispering in my ear, when 

are you going to tear that thing 

down, you gotta tear that thing 

down,” he said. “You had folks who 

were commenting about tearing 

down the Skyway who have never 

ridden it. They didn’t realize that 

you have escalators, elevators, 

you’ve got a roof system, you’ve 

An Ultimate Urban Circulator autonomous vehicle that the JTA is considering is trailered to a display in Hemming Park. 

got a lighting system, you’ve got a 

lot of infrastructure. And over in 

Brooklyn, you have a very large 

control center that has been built there and a maintenance facility.” 

So Ford put together a diverse advisory group that studied the Skyway 

and found that the original 12-mile planned route for the Skyway 

was remarkably similar to the current Downtown revitalization plans. 

And if those plans work, with many more people living in and visiting 

Downtown, the city will need those other roughly 10 miles of transit. 

It’s clearly impractical to expand the Skyway. “Cost prohibitive, 

takes forever, casts shadows, all of those different issues. But you’ve 

got the core, you’ve got a skeleton, 2 1/2 miles that gives you time savings 

above the fray of automobiles. Why not leverage that?” 

It turned out that the original Skyway proposal was a roadway, for 

rubber-tire vehicles. 

“At the same time, we started hearing about this technology 

around autonomous (driverless) vehicles,” Ford said, “and that’s 

when the light bulb went off.” 

What emerged was the current plan to convert the existing Skyway 

from monorail into roadways and, where they end, build ramps to go 

down to ground level to continue the roadway. “We do these autonomous 

vehicles, take them at grade, and we could get from 2 1/2 miles 

to 10 miles a whole lot faster than an aerial structure at a lot less cost.” 

He figures that, by the time JTA secures the funding for the expansion, 

“the AV technology should be mature enough in another five to 

seven years, it should be more than mature enough that we can operate 

it in mixed traffic or dedicated lanes.” 

At that point, the old Skyway will become the Ultimate Urban Connector, 

or U2C, with at least 22 stops in Downtown and surrounding 

neighborhoods. 

Meanwhile, JTA is evaluating different AVs at its test track on East 


{ } 

“The way I look at it, we’re living in that same type 

of transformative time frame, where we went from 

a horse and buggy to the horseless carriage ... 

but the changes are happening much faster now.” 


Bay across from the sports complex. Other companies 

are coming in to participate, and state and federal transit 

officials are following JTA’s research and testing. 

“I’m sitting back here and saying, is this the next Uber 

that’s happening?” Ford said. “That’s where we are as the JTA. 

We’re not on the bleeding edge of technology, but as we make 

our decisions, we are recognizing that transportation is transforming, 

technology is advancing. Artificial intelligence is advancing. 

Electrification is advancing. So as we are making our infrastructure 

decisions now or planning decisions now, we incorporate that in.” 

The technological innovation doesn’t stop with the U2C. It will be 

part of the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, a smart-cities project that 

will embed technology along Bay from the sports complex to the JRTC, 

providing a constant stream of real-time data to ease traffic flow. 

Take the people to transit 

Now that, hopefully, you’ve gotten your head around U2C, what 

might be next on Ford’s plate is TOD, which stands for transit-oriented 

development. That idea is to take public transit to the places 

where people want to, and likely will, live and actually facilitate the 

housing development — rather than have transit later chase the development 

in a catch-up. 

Right now, JTA is trying to sell or lease five “lazy” parcels around 

Downtown, with more parcels to come when the Rosa Parks Transit 

Station on West Union Street moves to the JRTC. The way Ford sees 

TOD: “If we increase this density and increase residents Downtown, 

we will at some point be charging fares on the U2C, so we 

pick up the fare revenue, and our system becomes more efficient 

and effective because of people riding it … and we are priming the 

pump for more density and more ridership and fare revenue.” 

Ford says developers already are watching what JTA does and 

considering that in their plans. “On First Coast Flyer routes, if you 

look in within a quarter-mile of each one of those lines, you’d be 

surprised that the level of development or permits that are being 

pulled and anticipated already on the east line, the north line and 

the southeast, but on the (upcoming) southwest line, we are actually 

already seeing where people are kind of handicapping the development 

that will occur along our BRT lines.” 

Taking transit to the people 

Ford’s technology ambitions go beyond Downtown. As part of 

what it calls its Agile Plan, JTA already has talked about deploying autonomous 

vehicles with Jacksonville University and FSCJ and plans 

to approach the Mayo Clinic and maybe even St. Johns Town Center. 

“The idea is, one, there is a transportation need,” Ford said, “but 

two, that would continue with our learnings as it relates to these vehicles 

and how they operate in pedestrian environments and in different 

environments where AV technology deployment may make sense, 

because eventually in the long run you’re looking at the JTA having a 

fleet of autonomous vehicles.” 

While the U2C ultimately would extend through Brooklyn and on 

to Riverside, the demand is already there. Brooklyn alone has more 

than 1,000 new apartments built, under construction or credibly 

planned, but accessing the Skyway requires hiking over to LaVilla 

across the Park Street viaduct. 

But wait! Remember that large control center and maintenance 

facility is in Brooklyn. Ford has his staff looking at opening a Skyway 

station at that facility so Brooklynites could hop on the monorail for a 

free ride to the Central Station and connect to the rest of the system. 

“A quick immediate step,” he said. “What would it take? We have 

the maintenance leads (rails) that are used to bring the vehicles out 

in the morning and back in the evening. Is there a possibility that 

those leads can be leveraged in the interim? Just to provide that 

connectivity?” 

The ultimate vision 

If you think those plans and ideas are pretty radical for a city that 

is pretty much defined by the automobile, Ford has some perspective 

for you: 

“I think at one point, it might have been defined by horse and 

buggy, and then the automobile showed up. The way I look at it, 

we’re living in that same type of transformative time frame, where 

we went from a horse and buggy to the horseless carriage. Did you 

know, at some point, automobiles had to have a flag person actually 

walking in front of them with a little sign that it was coming? There’s 

going to be a change similar to the transformation that occurred 

then, but the changes are happening much faster now. 

“We need to embrace these new modes. We need to embrace 

our customers’ demands. Our customers are looking for door-todoor. 

When we talk about the U2C and autonomous vehicles expanded 

to 10 miles, the sky’s the limit, because we can at some 

point start talking about door-to-door service, where we actually 

pick you up at your door and get you on the main line and take you 

where you need to go. We’re looking at 24-hour service. 

“If we’re now looking at operation that has less manpower requirements 

in terms of operators, you’re talking about a service that 

is much more cost-efficient, so I could provide many more vehicles 

at a lower cost. 

“And so we’re just trying to be visionary and try to embrace the 

technology we know is coming.” 

FRANK DENTON is retired and the former editor of 

The Florida Times-Union and J magazine. He lives in Riverside. 

28 


We know 

Jacksonville. 

Times-Union is a name you can trust. 

We have built our business on a commitment to truth and 

fair-dealing, and we take very seriously our role in the community 

as the arbiter of truth, and the protector of our democracy. 

The trust we have earned is a privilege and we work continuously 

to keep and nurture that trust. We’re committed to pushing 

the conversation of Jacksonville’s growth forward at every turn. 

1 Independent Dr Suite 200 

Jacksonville, FL 32202 

904.359.4318 

jacksonville.com

T 

Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center to be 

a beacon for Downtown’s LaVilla neighborhood 

JTA’s gleaming, 

new ‘diamond’ 

By MIKE CLARK // Photos by BOB SELF 

The Jacksonville 

Regional Transportation 

Center is so cool, so 

futuristic and so important 

to the renaissance of LaVilla 

that its name doesn’t do it 

justice. 

The people who came up with DUUUVAL need to 

come up with a nickname. 

To understand the importance of the Regional 

Transportation Center, you need to understand the history 

of its neighborhood, LaVilla. 

The LaVilla neighborhood and transportation are 

intertwined. 

LaVilla was once the boyhood home of James 

Weldon Johnson when Jacksonville welcomed African-Americans 

and other immigrants, like the Cubans 

and Chinese. 

With its location near the rail lines and Union Terminal, 

LaVilla has a strategic location along the East Coast. 

A. Philip Randolph, who graduated from the Cookman 

Institute, became the head of the porters union and later 

was one of the most influential people in the country. 

It was Randolph who pressed President Harry Truman 

to integrate the armed forces. It was Randolph who 

organized the 1963 March on Washington, which included 

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. 

But LaVilla and the South slid into decline in the 

1900s as Jim Crow discrimination took over the South. 

Sadly, much of LaVilla was torn down during the 

River City Renaissance of the 1990s. 

A kind of urban depression set in. Union Terminal 

no longer greeted rail passengers as AMTRAK moved to 

a hard-to-find location in Northwest Jacksonville. 

But the history of LaVilla couldn’t be suppressed. A 

few stalwarts persisted. 

The Clara White Mission set aside an upper floor 

with historic artifacts. The Durkeeville Historical Association 

persisted with almost no funding. The Ritz Theatre 

and Museum was sometimes more influential outside 

Jacksonville than at home. Urban planner Ennis Davis 

spread the history of this area. 

The Times-Union Editorial Page sought to do our 

part, partnering with the University of North Florida in 

an uncovering.jax website. 

But something dramatic was needed. 

Nat Ford, CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation 

Authority, has provided it. 

Ford found plans for a Regional Transportation Center 

that had been on the shelf for decades. 

The Times-Union Editorial Board had received 

presentations on the plans. But like so many other impressive 

plans in Jacksonville, they never turned into 

concrete. 

The traditional design was connected to the Prime 

Osborn Convention Center and its iconic Union Terminal. 

There was logic to it. 

But the problem was that the cost of the Regional 

30 


Workers put the finishing 

touches on the exterior 

of the front of JTA’s new 

Regional Transportation 

Center in Downtown’s 

LaVilla neighborhood. 


“Someone came up with the theme that LaVilla is a 

diamond in the rough waiting to be reborn again. 

We latched onto that, making it even more 

pronounced in the final design.” 

Andrew Rodgers director of Construction and Engineering 

Transportation Center ranged from $130 million to $150 million. No 

wonder it never got off the ground. 

Ford decided to make the Regional Transportation Center look 

forward, not backward. And he set a goal of reducing the cost. 

So he invited firms to compete for a modernistic design that would 

dramatically reduce the cost. The POND firm and Michael Baker International 

won the competition. 

The result: A $59 million bottom line, not $130 million. 

Cutting out a parking garage reduced the cost. Otherwise, the more 

modernistic design allowed for more efficiencies. 

Besides the lower cost, JTA wanted a design that makes a statement 

on innovation. The new building, with the Skyway running through it, 

is reminiscent of Walt Disney World. 

“We wanted something forward-thinking that would stand the test 

of time, that futuristic look,” said Andrew Rodgers, director of Construction 

and Engineering, Construction and Capital Programs. 

The shapes on the glass on the building have a dramatic effect, 

with blues turning color as the light changes. The shapes of the glass 

look like diamonds. 

“Someone came up with the theme that LaVilla is a diamond in 

the rough waiting to be reborn again,” Rodgers said. “We latched onto 

that, making it even more pronounced in the final design.” 

The design is focused on the customer, it emphasizes safety and 

convenience. While it is a new home for JTA employees, too, customers 

are the first priority. 

Compare it to the current Rosa Parks hub where someone going to 

a bus must cross multiple lanes of bus traffic. At the Regional Transportation 

Center, there will be one loading platform for all of the buses. 

“It’s a lot safer and more effective,” Rodgers said. 

The Regional Transportation Center also will have a pedestrian 

bridge over Forsyth Street that connects to the inner-city bus terminal 

(Greyhound). Pedestrians won’t have to cross Forsyth Street and cars 

zooming down the Interstate ramp. 

Of course, there is heightened security. JTA enlisted consultants as 

well as advice from the federal Transportation Security Administration. 

A $500,000 partnership with Cisco will result in cameras everywhere. 

That means a suspicious person or package can be identified 

and followed throughout the terminal. 

The customer focus will include a plaza where food trucks or other 

activities can be held. The LaVilla Room will be open for public events. 

There will be some retail space on the ground floor, possibly space 

for grab-and-go food items. 

And the board room on the top floor will have over twice the space 

than the current board room. Community events could be held there 

as well since, of course, it will be just about the most convenient location 

in the city for transportation. 

For drivers there will be a break room. The Rosa Parks station 

doesn’t have one. This will allow more contact between drivers and 

supervisors. 

Throughout the Regional Transportation Center, the story of transportation 

in Jacksonville and the history of LaVilla will be told and celebrated. 

Visitors will get an immediate sense of place at the Regional Transportation 

Center, one they don’t often see elsewhere in Jacksonville. 

There already is a large illustration of James Weldon Johnson on one 

of the columns of the building. 

Beyond the borders of the center is the LaVilla neighborhood that 

is filling up with new apartment buildings. Blocks of vacant land, 

mostly owned by the government, make development easier than 

normal. 

The Regional Transportation Center has already been considered 

as an anchor for the neighborhood. 

The LaVilla master plan for the Downtown Investment Authority 

includes requirements that history be recognized with, for instance, 

a heritage trail. Talk about a sense of place! LaVilla has one. It doesn’t 

need to be invented, it only needs to be reported. 

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park, the boyhood home of James Weldon 

Johnson and Rosamond Johnson, will be developed with a $100,000 

grant from Vestcor as part of is winning bid to develop townhomes in 

LaVilla. 

The first model mile of the Emerald Trail will pass nearby, going 

from Park Street to UF Health Jacksonville. 

Other historic locations nearby include Union Terminal with its 

nod to A. Philip Randolph, Brewster Hospital, the Clara White Mission, 

Old Stanton High School and Darnell-Cookman Middle-High 

School of the Medical Arts. 

The Regional Transportation Center is set to be completed on time 

in late March or early April. 

A temporary certificate of occupancy in late January would allow 

phased moves into the building. 

“Maintaining schedules is very important here,” Rodgers said of a 

construction project that has taken about 2 ½ years. 

There were a few construction hurdles. Some contaminated soil 

had to be removed, there were delays following hurricanes and a 

World War II-era bomb had to be removed. 

Almost immediately upon its opening, current Skyway vehicles 

will return. But soon the autonomous vehicles will be replacing them 

on the Ultimate Urban Circulator. Within three years, driverless vehicles 

will travel the Skyway and ease down to road level. This driverless 

system is being watched as an efficient way for midsized cities to provide 

mass transit without expensive fixed rail systems. 

That’s the future, being shaped and imagined at the futuristic Jacksonville 

Regional Transportation Center. 

Now we just need a catchy name. 

MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of The Florida Times-Union and 

Editor of J. He has been a reporter and editor for the Jacksonville 

newspapers since 1973. He lives in Nocatee. 

32 


Work continues on the 

framework of what will 

be the bus stop area 

behind JTA’s new Regional 

Transportation Center. 


T 

The Need 

34 


for Speed 

Virgin Trains USA is expanding high-speed 

rail service to central Florida, but will 

it ever reach Jacksonville? 

By Ennis Davis 

A rendering of a Brightline/Virgin 

Trains USA train that currently 

connects Miami, Fort Lauderdale 

and West Palm Beach. 


As Michael Cegelis speaks at a 

recent Central Florida Transportation 

Planning Group 

meeting, the crowd inside 

the Greater Orlando Aviation 

Authority boardroom quietly 

listens. 

Soaking in what they came 

to hear, the executive vice 

president of infrastructure 

of Miami-based Virgin Trains USA provides highlights 

of the rail operator’s most ambitious project to date, the 

construction of a $4 billion extension of the high-speed 

rail system that will connect South Florida with Orlando. 

Considered to be the most innovative intercity passenger 

rail system in the country, Virgin operates a 67-mile 

rail system with trains traveling up to 79 miles per hour 

on 60-minute headways between Miami and West Palm 

Beach. Operating since January 2018, a record 244,000 

passengers traveled on the train during the first quarter of 

2019. 

While the availability of a historic railroad corridor 

developed by Henry Flagler between Jacksonville and 

Miami may be the key asset to its establishment, serving 

Orlando may be the commodity that ultimately defines 

its success or failure. Following the debut of the Orlando 

link, the company expects revenue to stabilize by 2024 

36 


JEFF DAVIS (MAP); ASSOCIATED PRESS 

and for ridership to balloon to nearly 7 million 

annual riders by 2030. With the Orlando leg 

now well under construction, here is a look 

at where things are currently headed with the 

expansion of intercity passenger rail throughout 

Florida and why Jacksonville residents should care. 

South Florida 

Anchored by Virgin MiamiCentral, a massive station that includes 

office and residential towers, a modern food hall and two levels of 

retail space, Transit Oriented Development has successfully risen 

around all three original South Florida stations. Seeking to maximize 

ridership potential, Virgin now plans to open three additional South 

Florida stations by 2020. 

In Boca Raton, a $10 million station with retail space, apartments 

and a 455-space parking garage would be within walking distance of 

the city’s lifestyle center, Mizner Park. 

At Aventura, Miami-Dade County has approved spending $76 

million to construct a station to directly connect the rail line with 

Florida’s largest and the country’s third largest shopping mall by total 

square footage. 

At PortMiami, a $15.4 million, 20,500 square-foot station would 

be built, allowing “train-to-port” packages that bundle in checked 

bags and parking for all 22 cruise lines, including a new 100,000 

square foot cruise ship terminal that Virgin Voyages will open in November 

2021. 

Together, the three new South Florida stations could generate 

more than two million additional annual trips for the rail system. 

Other potential station sites being studied include Fort Lauderdale 

Hollywood International Airport and Downtown Hollywood. 

Orlando 

Construction on the 170-mile extension between West Palm 

Beach and Orlando International Airport began in May 2019. Serving 

24 million passengers annually, the airport is the state’s largest 

and the country’s 10th largest. 

In Orlando, Virgin will tie into an Intermodal Transportation 

Facility that serves as the multimodal centerpiece of the airport’s 

ambitious $2.15 billion South Terminal Complex. It is anticipated 

that rail operations would begin in 2022 and that 10,000 jobs will 

be created. Tickets from Miami to Orlando are expected to average 

$100 each way for trains traveling up to 125 miles per hour. 

Additional stops could be added in Cocoa and the Treasure 

Coast. In Cocoa, the location is positioned close to Port Canaveral’s 

cruise lines and aligned to allow for possible expansion to Jacksonville. 

According to Rusty Roberts, Virgin Trains vice president of 

government affairs, if the company adds a station in Martin County, 

it will likely be in Stuart. 

Tampa 

In late 2018, Virgin announced plans to construct a $1.7 billion 

extension to Tampa, primarily utilizing the right-of-way of Interstate 

4. Upon completion, Virgin would be accessible to 70 percent of the 

state’s 21 million residents. 

A deadline to finalize a right-of-way agreement with the Florida 

Department of Transportation and the Central Florida Expressway 

In April, billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Group got a rockstar welcome in 

Miami during a rebranding event at the Virgin MiamaCentral station with Patrick 

Goddard, president of Virgin Trains USA. 

HIGH-SPEED RAIL 

Formerly Brightline, Virgin Trains USA is 

an express intercity rail system in South 

Florida that is expanding to the central 

part of the state. It is the only 

Tampa 

privately owned and operated 

intercity passenger railroad in the U.S. 

In August, Virgin Trains USA reached 

its one millionth rider. 

EXPANDING SERVICE 

Phase One Opened in 2018 

Phase Two Open in 2022 

Phase Three TBD 

Jacksonville 

Disney 

Orlando 

125 MPH 

125 MPH 

Cocoa 

110 MPH 

West Palm Beach 

79 MPH 

TIME TRAVELING 

Fort Lauderdale 

ROUTE MILES EST. TIME 

79 MPH 

Orlando to West Palm Beach 165 2 hours 

Miami 

Orlando to Fort Lauderdale 200 2 hrs, 30 mins 

Orlando to Miami 235 3 hours 

SOURCE: Virgin Trains USA 

Authority was extended for the fourth time to Jan. 1, 2020. Initially 

anticipated to be completed in 2021, deadline extensions could delay 

the original project timeline. 

Desiring to take advantage of a $70 billion tourism market that attracted 

a record 75 million visitors last year, a Tampa extension could 

also double down as an airport connector for Orlando’s SunRail commuter 

rail line and include additional stops near area theme parks. A 

link with SunRail would be beneficial with both rail systems, by creating 

a direct airport rail connection for Central Florida residents. 

Lakeland 

In Central Florida, 18,924 passengers went through a station relocated 

in 1997 to Downtown Lakeland for the simple purpose of spurring 

business in the heart of the city and providing existing passenger 

rail riders with a more convenient location. Today, that decision is 

paying economic dividends. 

A 300-unit apartment complex is proposed directly to the north of 

the train station. To the east, a food hall featuring two Northeast Flor-

“As ridership, connectivity, economic development and 

population increases, this will give us the justification 

to ask for the means to add passenger rail to Downtown 

Jacksonville in the future.” 

DAVID CAWTON, Jacksonville Transportation Authority spokesman 

ida businesses, The Hyppo and May Day Ice Cream, were set to open 

in November. They’ll be joined by an eight-story Class A office building 

just to the west of the station that will create 500 high-wage jobs. 

Of interesting note, the deal to bring Amtrak to downtown Lakeland 

wasn’t led by the local transit agency. It was negotiated by 

Lakeland Downtown Development Authority executive director Jim 

Edwards. The name may sound familiar for those who follow local 

downtown development news. Edwards, who played key roles with 

the rebirth of downtowns in Lakeland, Hollywood and Charleston, 

W.V., was an original finalist who lost out to Aundra Wallace for the 

DIA CEO position in 2013. 

Richard Branson of Virgin Group greets passengers while riding a Brightline 

train from Miami to West Palm Beach. The state’s Brightline trains are being 

rebranded as Virgin Trains USA. 

Jacksonville 

For the time being, Virgin doesn’t plan to expand to Jacksonville. 

However, the city is on the rail company’s radar. In 2014, the rail carrier 

secured passenger rail easement rights on the Florida East Coast 

Railway for an extension into Jacksonville and access to tourist destinations 

like Daytona Beach and St. Augustine. 

In the meantime, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority continues 

to move forward with the construction of the Jacksonville Regional 

Transportation Center. When complete by the end of March 

2020, the $59 million transportation center will feature improved 

connectivity between intercity bus, local bus, JTA Flyer bus rapid 

transit and JTA Skyway services. A future phase will include Amtrak, 

commuter rail and additional intercity rail services such as Virgin. 

However, JTA is not actively engaged in talks with Virgin or Amtrak on 

the possibility of bringing intercity passenger rail back to downtown. 

According to JTA spokesman David Cawton, “As ridership, connectivity, 

economic development and population increases, this will 

give us the justification to ask for the means to add passenger rail to 

Downtown Jacksonville in the future. But we cannot set a timeline, 

and begin discussions with Amtrak (or anyone else), without setting 

the platform for ridership.” 

History suggests that setting a platform for ridership should not 

be an obstacle. Jacksonville is a city that loves to study but generally 

falls short on implementation. The discussion to bring rail back 

Downtown dates as far back as 1993 when former Mayor Ed Austin 

assembled a citizens committee to explore bringing Amtrak back to 

Downtown. That initiative 26 years ago is what has materialized as 

38 


VIRGIN TRAINS USA STATIONS /// 

/// MIAMI /// 

/// FORT LAUDERDALE /// 

/// WEST PALM BEACH /// 

/// ORLANDO /// 

LEFT: ASSOCIATED PRESS; ABOVE: VIRGIN TRAINS USA (4) 

the Regional Transportation Center. 

Amtrak currently operates two trains, the Silver Meteor and Silver 

Star through Jacksonville. In fiscal year 2018, the Jacksonville station 

off New Kings Road was used by 66,471 passengers. 

During a 2011 interview with the Florida Times-Union, Amtrak 

spokeswoman Christina Leeds went as far as to state that the passenger 

rail company wants to move Downtown, but that it needed assurances 

from JTA that the Prime Osborn could handle the trains and 

that JTA has the funding necessary to support a regional transportation 

facility. At the time, the passenger rail portion of the Regional 

Transportation Center had been placed on hold due to the project’s 

$146 million price tag, with as much as one-third of the costs being 

budgeted for the need to upgrade railroad infrastructure. 

In an August 2018 Jacksonville Business Journal interview, JTA 

CEO Nat Ford suggested that a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and 

Safety Improvement grant from the Federal Railroad Administration 

would open the door for passenger rail to come back to the Prime 

Osborn. 

According to Cawton, the project “works to alleviate a single point 

of congestion for freight movement, thus allowing for increased productivity 

and modern controls to improve safety. Without these improvements, 

any additional rail services like commuter/passenger 

rail will not be possible.” 

In June 2019, the Federal Railroad Administration announced 

that Jacksonville would receive up to $17.6 million through the Consolidated 

Rail program. A result of a successful collaboration between 

JTA, the city of Jacksonville, the FDOT, Florida East Coast Railway and 

CSX, the project will modernize rail switches, construct staging track 

and upgrade rail communications technology to reduce congestion 

of rail and automobile traffic through Downtown and San Marco. 

In a city starved for Downtown development, the clear economic 

and multimodal benefits of rail-based infrastructure investments 

that cities across Florida are enjoying should not be ignored locally. 

With the Regional Transportation Center nearing completion, 

Virgin’s continued expansion, Amtrak’s desire for relocation and financial 

obstacles possibly being alleviated, now is the time to get serious 

about restoring passenger rail service at the Prime Osborn, the 

former Union Terminal 

As mentioned by Neal Payton, an Urban Land Institute panel expert 

commissioned by JTA at a 2018 public forum, a Downtown train 

station is a “game changer.” 

The game has already changed in other Florida cities. It’s time for 

Jacksonville. 

ENNIS DAVIS is a graduate of Florida A&M University, a certified senior 

planner with Alfred Benesch and Company, a trustee for the Florida Trust 

for Historic Preservation, chair of the American Planning Association Florida 

Chapter’s First Coast Section and Groundwork Jacksonville board member. 


T 

Jacksonville attorney 

Chris Burns is an avid 

cyclist – logging more than 

100 miles a week – and 

specializes in cycling law. 

40 


While Jacksonville is one of the country’s most 

dangerous cities for bicyclists, the city is planning on 

making Downtown a safer neighborhood for cyclists 

A wheel 

commute 

If Downtown is the last place 

you’d think of taking a bike 

ride, in the next couple of 

years, you might reconsider. 

The city is implementing improvements 

as part of its context-sensitive 

streets and mobility 

plans that will create a 

network of bike paths to make cycling through 

Downtown streets both convenient and safe. 

Right now, riding a bike Downtown is neither. 

Jacksonville is one of the most dangerous cities 

for bicyclists, with six cyclists killed last year 

and four as of September. And that’s an issue 

the city is trying to address as it works to turn 

Downtown into a residential neighborhood. 

This year the city adopted a Pedestrian Bicycle 

Master Plan and the 2030 Mobility Plan 

is under review by the state and is expected to 

come before the City Council in the spring. The 

plans lay out the strategy for integrating bicycle 

friendly features like protected bike lanes and 

bike racks into the Downtown infrastructure. 

Attorney Chris Burns, an avid cyclist, welcomes 

the city’s interest in making Downtown 

bicycle-friendly. He is chairman of the city’s 

Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, 

which helped develop the Master Plan. 

Burns said the city needs to incorporate bicycle 

lanes and crosswalks into the traffic design 

of Downtown streets. 

“We need to design these things for people 

who are not super sophisticated about riding,” 

Burns said. “I’ve been riding 40 years, and I do 

in excess of 100 miles a week. I’m pretty comfortable 

in situations most people are uncomfortable 

with.” 

People who cycle Downtown need to be comfortable 

with delivery trucks, stop-and-go traffic 

and parked cars, Burns said. It’s not uncommon 

for cars to make right turns in front of cyclists, or 

to open car doors into the path of a bike. 

Motorists might be alert to cyclists in a residential 

neighborhood, but they don’t expect 

them on Downtown streets, Burns said. Cyclists 

contribute to the problem by darting in and out 

of traffic and ignoring traffic lights and signs. 

But the biggest problem facing cyclists who 

want to ride Downtown is getting there. 

By LILLA ROSS // Photos by BOB SELF 


“Downtown Jacksonville is isolated by bridges,” Burns said. 

Cycling is banned on the Mathews and Hart bridges, and currently 

is not allowed on the Fuller Warren Bridge, though work is underway 

on a multi-use path for cyclists and walkers, Burns said. 

That leaves the Acosta and Main Street bridges. 

The Main Street has metal grating that is hazardous to ride on, 

especially for inexperienced cyclists, and a narrow pedestrian path 

difficult for cyclists and walkers to share, Burns said. The Acosta has 

a steep grade that only the fittest riders can master, so many cyclists 

walk their bicyclists up the pedestrian path. 

Other options are taking JTA buses with bike racks or the Skyway. 

Roadways aren’t any more inviting. State and Union streets don’t 

have bike lanes and during weekdays have heavy, fast-moving traffic. 

Riverside Avenue doesn’t have a bike lane either, and though the traffic 

is slower, in places there is street parking, so cyclists must choose 

between riding in the traffic lane or on the sidewalk. 

The Southbank and Northbank Riverwalks are popular paths for 

cyclists. Healy Dwyer, who lives in Five Points, cycles the Riverwalk to 

her job at CSX about three times a week. Her biking commute takes 

about the same time as driving the same distance by car. 

In the evening, she said, “it’s a nice way to wind down from my 

work.” 

Dwyer started cycling to work out of necessity. She spent six months 

without a car and relied on her bike almost exclusively to get around. “I 

rode everywhere — Downtown and over the Main Street bridge to San 

Marco,” she said. “I’ve ridden to the stadium for Jags games.” 

Now she leads monthly group rides around the city through Bike 

Duval and also serves on the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee. 

Dwyer recently joined a ride sponsored by Groundwork Jacksonville 

and SPAR to learn about the Emerald Trail, a system of trails that 

will connect with the Riverwalks to encircle Downtown. 

As chairman of the city’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, attorney 

Chris Burns is working to make Downtown a bicycle-friendly neighborhood. 

She said riding Downtown in the evening and weekends “has a 

completely different vibe” than riding during the weekday. 

“I would definitely ride to an event Downtown at night. It’s quiet 

at night,” Dwyer said. “During a weekday, it’s a different experience. 

We definitely need a bike infrastructure. I think there are people who 

would ride Downtown if there were protected bike lanes added.” 

Troy Mayhew rides his bike to work occasionally from Lakewood 

to his office with the Army Corps of Engineers in the Prudential Building. 

It’s about a 6-mile trip via San Jose Boulevard. 

“I try to leave by 6:30 or 7. There’s still traffic, but it’s not heavy yet.” 

He tries to avoid the commercial district on San Jose because people 

often turn right in front of him. 

“I don’t know how they don’t see me, but I get a lot of close calls. I 

know to expect it,” Mayhew said. “In the mornings, people are going 

for donuts. Afternoons are even worse. Everyone is on their phone. 

You really have to be on your toes.” 

In 2009, he was hit by a woman on the Acosta Bridge who came 

up behind him. 

Mayhew said he does training rides over the Acosta, the closest 

thing cyclists can find to a hill in Jacksonville, making the circuit two 

or three times, depending on traffic. 

Mayhew enjoys exploring downtown on the weekends with his 

kids. “Downtown is great on the weekend. We go to Talleyrand, the 

stadium and come back down Main Street. Or, we’ll go over to Riverside, 

Avondale, Ortega and get breakfast.” 

Mayhew, who has been riding 11 years, said he has developed 

routes to get around safely. He makes the most of the Riverwalks, especially 

on the Northside, and avoids Laura Street, which is paved in 

cobblestone that is difficult to cycle on. 

42 


To ride in the core city, a cyclist “needs to be annoying and not a lot 

of people are willing to do it,” Mayhew said. “On the one-way streets 

you have to be brave enough to ride in the traffic lane, in the middle.” 

Though legal, cycling on a sidewalk is not advisable, Mayhew said. 

Not only are there pedestrians to avoid, sidewalks are often intersected 

by driveways in places drivers aren’t expecting cyclists. 

“People on the roads yell at you to get on the sidewalk, and people 

on the sidewalk tell you to get in the road,” Mayhew said. 

There needs to be accommodations made for cyclists – sharrows 

(roads shared by vehicles and bikes), bike lanes and preferably bike 

paths separated from traffic, he said. 

“It all boils down to political will and money,” Mayhew said. “You 

can find the money, but will the city do it?” 

The answer is yes. 

Redevelopment plans for Downtown include making the area 

friendlier to walkers and cyclists by converting several one-way streets 

to two-ways and adding dedicated bike lanes separated from vehicular 

traffic by medians, said Lori Boyer, CEO of the Downtown Investment 

Authority. 

The projects are in various stages of implementation. 

Hogan Street will be converted to a two-way street with a two-way 

bike lane, giving cyclists a corridor between a new riverfront park on 

the Northbank called Hogan Street Plaza, Hemming Plaza and north 

to Florida State College at Jacksonville. It is in the Capital Improvement 

Plan for 2021/22. 

Liberty Street also will have protected bike lanes. 

Dedicated bike lanes are also under consideration for the Bay 

Street Innovation Corridor, Laura Street, Church Street and Riverside 

Avenue. 

Park Street will undergo a road diet from Forest Street to Stonewall 

Street, reducing the number of traffic lanes from four to three to slow 

down traffic and adding a two-way bicycle track that will go to Interstate 

95. That project is funded and in the design phase. 

Lee Street will have a dedicated bike lane connecting Park Street 

to the Emerald Trail. The project is funded and in the design phase. 

“This will build out a network,” Boyer said. “It’s not every street, 

but a network every few blocks with clearly dedicated lanes, not just 

striped lanes. If you can cut 

across Liberty, Hogan and Lee, 

that gives you the ability to go all 

directions.” 

A dedicated bike lane is also 

part of the road diet work nearing 

completion on Riverplace 

Boulevard on the Southbank. 

And, Laura Santana, director 

of transportation planning, said 

the city is considering a road diet 

for Prudential Drive from Riverplace 

Boulevard to the District 

that would include bike lanes. 

By the end of 2020, cyclists 

and walkers will be able to cross 

the Fuller Warren Bridge on a 

multi-use bike path that will 

connect the Northbank and Southbank Riverwalks. The multi-use 

path will continue in front of Nemours Children’s Clinic and eventually 

stretch to the District via Nira Street. 

Other bicycle-friendly features are part of the city’s Transportation 

Mobility Plan, which is expected to go to the City Council in the 

spring. The plan includes funding for projects through a mobility fee 

paid by developers. 

“I get a lot of close calls. In 

the mornings, people are going 

for donuts. Afternoons are 

even worse. Everyone is on 

their phone. You really have to 

be on your toes.” 

TROY MAYHEW, Downtown cyclist 

Boyer said she is “aggressively pursuing” a plan to create more 

two-way streets in Downtown to slow down traffic and create an ambiance 

that is friendlier to residential and retail. 

But there will still be a network of one-way streets — Main and 

Ocean, Broad and Jefferson, and State and Union — to move traffic 

through Downtown. 

“But inside that box, we want to have a neighborhood like any 

other,” Boyer said. “Every street doesn’t need to be a highway. If we’re 

going to have residents out walking, we need to slow down traffic and 

provide shade and restaurants. This is not just about traffic, it’s about 

economic development.” 

Burns said he is looking forward to the day when Downtown has 

dedicated bike lanes. 

“The Master Plan has great ideas and over 200 projects. The problem 

is implementing the plan,” Burns said. “We can’t have a plan that 

sits on the shelf, and great projects that don’t get funded. If we just 

do one or two a year, it’ll take 100 years to enact the plan. We have to 

be committed to building these projects and not just pay lip service.” 

But Santana said it’s not enough to build bike friendly infrastructure, 

incorporating cycling Downtown will take a cultural shift. 

“We have to learn to respect different modes of transportation. We 

have to teach drivers to be respectful of vulnerable users like pedestrians 

and cyclists. And we have to teach pedestrians and cyclists to be 

careful around drivers,” Santana said. 

“When you walk around Charleston, if you walk into the street, the 

cars just stop, but here they beep at you,” Santana said. “That’s going 

to take a long time to change.” 

The city has implemented what it calls the 5 E’s: education, encouragement, 

enforcement, evaluation and engineering. 

The education component created an awareness campaign with 

promotional and social media ads to educate people how to safely 

walk and cycle. The program also includes free bicycle helmet fittings. 

The encouragement component focuses on the reasons like health 

for people to walk and bike in the city. 

The enforcement component involves Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office 

issuing warnings and tickets to reduce negative behavior. 

The evaluation component analyzes the statistics of accidents and 

fatalities and their causes. 

And, the engineering component 

is about building the 

infrastructure to make walking 

and cycling safer. 

“Jacksonville can definitely 

be a biking city,” Dwyer said. 

“The urban core is structured so 

it can be bikeable and walkable. 

All it would take is a change of 

direction in what we fund. We 

could be up in the top 10 of bike 

friendly cities or places where 

you can live without a car. 

“If the city signals to people 

that we are prioritizing bikers 

and walkers, they will come to 

expect it,” Dwyer said. “If we 

want Downtown to grow and be vibrant, we want to be able to share 

this space with people of all ages, races and modes of transportation. 

We need to make it a city where children can ride their bikes 

Downtown.” 

Lilla Ross, a former news editor at the Florida Times-Union, 

lives in San Marco. 


T 

44 


With the closing of The Jacksonville Landing 

and construction set to begin at Friendship Fountain, 

the fate of Downtown river taxis appears bleak 

Bon Voyage 

By RON LITTLEPAGE // Photo by BOB SELF 

An empty St. Johns River Taxi 

looks for passengers at stops 

along the Riverwalk. The closing 

of The Landing has diminished 

ridership in recent months. 


visit Jacksonville in its promotional 

material says, “It’s 

easier here.” That, however, is 

not the story of the St. Johns River 

taxis serving Downtown. 

Come back in time to 1987 and 

the opening of The Jacksonville Landing. 

That’s when the idea of river taxis 

ferrying passengers between the Northbank 

and Southbank took hold. Chaos soon 

followed, and the “water taxi wars” were on. 

The city allowed numerous operators as long as their 

vessels met U.S. Coast Guard requirements. The competition 

was stiff with operators fighting for docking 

space to pick up passengers. That was the case when 

there were special events at the Landing or on the riverwalks 

and there were enough passengers to make the 

trips profitable. But at other times, not so much, and 

operators often skipped the required stops, revealing a 

rather large crack in the idea of the river taxis becoming 

a part of a regular transportation system Downtown. 

In 2002, the Jacksonville Waterways Commission 

sought to turn the chaos into order. There would be one 

operator. There would be regularly scheduled stops on 

the Northbank and Southbank. A passenger wouldn’t 

have to worry about being stuck on the wrong side of 

the river. And there would be designated pickup points. 

Jim Bailey, former publisher of the Jacksonville Financial 

News and Daily Record and a current member 

of the Downtown Investment Authority, served on the 

Waterways Commission in 2002 and led the effort to 

make the river taxi system work. In a recent interview, 

Bailey recalled that the exclusive contractor could make 

money with special events like Jaguars games. 

But the regular stops when there were no passengers 

or only a few to pick up proved too costly. “There’s 

no money in going around in circles,” Bailey said. 

In 2014, the river taxi service ended. That’s when 

Heather and Frank Surface, owners of Lakeshore Marine 

Center, entered into a long-term contract with the 

city to operate the river taxi system. They have made the 

system easier to use. There’s better signage at docking 

Before being regulated by the Jacksonville Waterways Commission 

in 2002, a water taxi on the St. Johns River pulls into the dock in 

front of the Jacksonville Landing in 2001. 

BOB SELF 

46 


spaces that are designated for the river taxis only. Passengers can 

text a number and let the taxi operators know they are waiting. Allday 

passes are available for $10. Four vessels are in operation, three 

100-passenger boats and one 60-passenger boat. But the same bugaboo 

remains. Few people are using the taxis as daily transportation. 

Add in the Skyway crossing the river, and it’s free. 

“What we were finding is we were just running the bases and 

wasting fuel,” Surface said in an interview. Then there are the things 

that belie the marketing pitch that it’s easier here. 

The Landing, once an attraction for passengers, is now closed, 

and the docks there have been torn down. Construction will soon 

ONTACT US begin TODAY: at Friendship Fountain, another main pickup spot. “The regular 

water taxi service has gone way down,” Surface said. 

one: 1-904-271-2352 

Then there’s the dock that cost the city $1 million to build for 

x: 1-904-271-2352 the Riverside Arts Market. “The RAM dock is only available to us on 

Saturday so if someone wants to go to the Cummer on Tuesday, we 

can’t take you there,” Surface said. 

Surface said she will work with the city to change some of the 

requirements for regular stops. “For us to do regular service during 

the week, there just isn’t much demand for that,” she said. “We’re 

just not going to run the bases every 30 or 40 minutes.” 

But that doesn’t mean the river taxis aren’t a success. Special 

events like football games and concerts bring lots of passengers. 

Then there are the tours that are popular. 

See Downtown from the river at sunset. 

Listen to live music on a Friday or Saturday evening cruise. 

Enjoy a catered meal on the river. (Information is available at 

jaxrivertaxi.com.) 

On an October afternoon, Surface and I boarded one of the river 

taxis for a narrated history tour of Downtown and the river. Also onboard 

were about 35 senior citizens from Illinois who were taking a 

bus tour of Florida. The origin of the name Cowford was explained 

as was the 1901 fire, which brought interest, but what brought them 

to their feet, cellphone cameras in hand along with “oohs and aahs” 

were dolphins frolicking in the river. In the end, instead of transportation, 

that may be the greatest asset of the river taxis. 

“We truly believe that the river taxi is a valuable amenity,” said 

Jake Gordon, CEO of Downtown Vision. 

Michael Corrigan, CEO of Visit Jacksonville, shares that opinion. 

“It’s something that more and more we are promoting,” he said. “It 

really is the most efficient way to get the most people on the water.” 

After all, the St. Johns River is the heart of Downtown, and the 

river taxis are proving to be a way CONTACT to show off both. US TODAY: And it helps 

when the dolphins cooperate. 

Phone: 1-904-271-2352 

Now return even further in time, long before there were bridges 

over the river and highways running Fax: up 1-904-271-2352 

and down the state. The 

Timucuan Indians used the St. Johns for transportation. Later, ferries 

and sailing ships carried people up and down the river. 

There may yet be a bigger transportation role for river taxis in the 

future. Gordon of Downtown CONTACT Vision US points TODAY: to the “billion dollars of 

development” planned for Downtown and the people it will bring. 

Phone: 1-904-271-2352 

25 N Market Street 



“Sure, looking into the future and the plans,” Surface said, “there 


Fax: 1-904-271-2352 

will be a tremendous opportunity. We will serve an important role.” 

And that role might not be limited to Downtown. How about 

Mandarin, San Marco or Ortega? 

“Personally, I think that’s feasible,” Surface said, though different 

boats would be needed, something like a high-speed ferry. 

“But we have the natural environment to do something like that. 

It would be so cool.” 

Ron Littlepage wrote for The Florida Times-Union for 39 years, 

the last 28 as a columnist. He lives in Avondale. 


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T 

In an effort to make some Downtown streets 

safer for pedestrians, changes are in the works 

Road Diets 

By MIKE CLARK // Rendering by GAI CONSULTANTS 

A rendering of the ‘road diet’ 

enhancements to Riverplace 

Boulevard which will make the area 

more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. 

48 



If Downtown is going to be a 

real neighborhood, and not 

a pass-through to suburbia, 

then it needs major changes. 

It needs more people living 

there. 

It needs services for those 

people: stores, schools and family 

entertainment. 

And the roads must look like 

neighborhood roads, not mini-freeways. 

Too many Downtown roads are built for 

speed. Think of Forest Street off of Riverside 

Avenue. From the air it looks like an interstate. 

Speed limits for roads like Forest Street 

or the six-lane Riverside Avenue are mere 

suggestions. Drivers can’t help but speed 

up. 

Research proves that the faster you 

drive, the narrower your field of vision. It 

also proves that if a car strikes a pedestrian 

at slower speeds, there is a much greater 

chance the pedestrian will survive. 

So as city planners seek to make Downtown 

more friendly to people and less accommodating 

to cars, it’s important to put 

streets on a “road diet.” 

That means making the space for cars 

narrower or even install roundabouts to 

force drivers to slow down. 

It means making sidewalks wider. 

And it means making bicycle lanes more 

accommodating, separated from cars wherever 

possible. 

Riverplace Boulevard on the Southbank 

has just finished its road diet. For the thousands 

of people who live in the towers there, 

simply crossing the street now is more inviting. 

Coming next is a road diet for the Brooklyn 

area. However, it is in its infancy with 

contract negotiations underway, then design, 

then permitting and then construction. 

The first phase of a diet for Park Street at 

the viaduct is in design. Additional phases 

will extend to the interstate. 

To envision what a Brooklyn road diet 

will look like, examine Riverplace Boulevard 

now. 

The street is narrower. The sidewalk is 

wider with more space for bicyclists and 

walkers. 

Shade trees have been planted near the 

sidewalks so walkers will have protection 

from sun and rain. Those awful palm trees 

are placed back from the sidewalks where 

they won’t do any harm. 

A major bus stop with connections for 

express flyers is there. So you can hop a bus 

and jet to the beach in air conditioned comfort 

with free WiFi. 

We asked members of the Email Interactive 

Group for their analysis. 

Paul Poidomani: “I live in Riverside, and I 

think any of these pedestrian-friendly initiatives 

are great. We’re no Seattle or Nashville. 

The real push should be to get the District 

and Shipyards built, reinvent the skeleton of 

Berkman II, get some mixed residential in 

the Landing. Get people living Downtown 

and most of the other urban projects will fall 

in place! I like the idea of European streets. 

Jack Knee of Nocatee warns that Jacksonville 

remains a dangerous city for pedestrians. 

“I remember TV spots that said ‘Every 

fourth driver coming at you is drunk.’ so walk 

cautiously.” 

Jeff Cooper of the Southside says a 

healthy balance is key. “As long as we are 

slaves to the car, roads should be wide and 

there should be many short-cuts. When I 

was an appraiser, I drove all over the city and 

could see many opportunities for improved 

traffic flow by building short cuts. Or we 

could emphasize light, self-driving cars and 

mass transit. Or both.” 

Charles Winton of Arlington says for 

Downtown to be taken off life support, it 

must be more welcoming for walkers. “I al- 

WILL DICKEY 

50 


Work continues on Riverplace 

Boulevard while the Southbank 

road undergoes a “road diet” 

makeover. 


most got run down by a careless motorist 

after attending a concert one night. I think 

of other cities I’ve visited that have taken the 

lesson, both here and abroad: Oklahoma 

City, Durham N.C., Charlottesville Va., Copenhagen, 

and Glasgow are all nice examples, 

most of which had to create features 

already present in Jacksonville. 

“In particular, Jacksonville is blessed 

with a natural pathway from Hemming Park 

down to the Landing area, Laura Street. It 

already has a few attractive night spots, and 

even a people mover to bring people in 

from parking at the terminus between State 

and Union streets. So why not take the next 

step? Make Laura Street a pedestrian mall, 

use some of the tax incentives the city keeps 

throwing around to attract appropriate business 

for a walking street, add landscaping 

leading to a waterfront park with a bandstand, 

etc. It doesn’t take that much imagination 

to see it working. 

Linda Willson of the Southside imagines 

a more walkable Downtown. “I would very 

much like to walk around the Downtown 

area and find a bench under a wide spreading 

tree where I could rest for a while in the 

shade and buy something frosty at a food 

truck only a few steps away. I would then 

continue my stroll visiting art galleries, specialty 

bookstores, garden shops and a boutique 

selling Bohemian clothes. 

“Finding an upscale cafe, I would stop for 

lunch and order something I had never eaten 

before while sitting at a small table outdoors 

under a group of trees decorated with 

fairy lights that will turn on at dusk. 

“Having finished my delicious lunch, I 

find the nearby Emerald Trail and walk at 

least a mile on paths twisting through thick 

foliage and pots filled with blooming flowers. 

When at last I tire, I leave the Emerald 

Trail and flag the free trolley which drops me 

off at my waiting car. 

“A delicious day well spent.” 

POND consultants of Jacksonville 

brought several other consulting firms to develop 

the road diet plans for Brooklyn. It will 

dramatically change that booming area into 

something more like Riverside-Avondale. 

Renderings of the Riverplace Boulevard “road diet” 

show wider sidewalks for pedestrians making the 

area more suitable for boutiques and cafes. 

“Brooklyn is a dynamic neighborhood 

with several different incarnations through 

its history,” the consultants said. “Brooklyn 

has a chance to be a self-contained neighborhood 

where people can live, work and 

play without traveling long distances.” 

That means people will actually be able 

to walk from home to work and play in this 

Downtown neighborhood. 

“Currently, many of Brooklyn’s primary 

thoroughfares are designed for high-volume 

traffic that encourages traffic at high speeds 

through the neighborhood,” the consultants 

said. 

Park Street should be designed for cars 

traveling 25 mph, and speed limits for Forest 

and Riverside streets should be 35 mph. 

That’s a joke now as drivers prepare to enter 

the Acosta Bridge at high speeds. 

Reducing Riverside Avenue from six 

lanes to four lanes and Park Street from four 

GAI CONSULTANTS 

52 


lanes and two lanes won’t hurt traffic flow. 

Daily traffic counts show that for most 

of the day volumes are well below capacity. 

The roads exceed capacity for just 30 minutes 

in the morning and 45 minutes in the 

afternoon. 

Currently along Park Street, some of the 

sidewalks are so narrow it’s like being on a 

tightrope with pedestrians stuck between 

fast-moving traffic and blank walls. 

Anyone walking along Riverside Avenue 

in the summer is well aware of the lack of 

shade. Palm trees along the sidewalk are 

useless while shade trees mark the lawns 

away from the sidewalk. 

The planners held a two-day charrette 

at the Winston Family YMCA in 2017. Common 

themes included the need for more onstreet 

parking, better wayfinding signage, 

reduced travel speeds, more shade coverage 

on sidewalks and pedestrian areas, increased 

public transportation and economic 

growth. 

With fewer lanes, on-street parking could 

be added, sometimes on both sides of the 

street. 

Better signage will help businesses and 

visitors. 

Reduced traffic speeds will help safety 

and encourage pedestrians and bicyclists. 

Located between Downtown, Five Points 

1 

ROAD 

DIETING 

The project on Riverplace 

Boulevard on the Southbank 

focuses on the need for bike and 

pedestrian safety by adding (1) wide 

sidewalks, (2) buffered bike lanes, (3) safe 

crossings and (4) fewer vehicular lanes. 

and LaVilla, Brooklyn is well-situated for 

public transportation. 

As for the intersection of Riverside Avenue 

and Forest Street, it’s a sizable barrier for 

pedestrians and bicyclists. One alternative is 

a roundabout. 

The Riverside Avenue approach to the 

Acosta Bridge is a major hindrance for walkers 

and bicyclists. Some sort of pedestrian 

walkway is needed. 

Forest Street is little used, marked with 

3 

2 

4 

retention ponds. Imagine it as a green boulevard 

that invites people to the riverwalk. 

Bottom line, Brooklyn’s renaissance deserves 

a road system that treats it as a neighborhood, 

not a pass-through. Changes are 

coming. 

MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of 

The Florida Times-Union and Editor of J. He has 

been a reporter and editor for the Jacksonville 


JV-0003234628-01 


T 

54 


Decades ago, an experiment to 

add one-way streets nearly destroyed 

downtown Oklahoma City. 

So, they got rid of them. 

Street 

Smarts 

By Steve Lackmeyer 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jacksonville is just beginning a plan to convert some 

Downtown streets to two ways. Oklahoma City, nearly as large as Jacksonville, 

has finished converting its downtown streets from one-way streets to two ways. 

Oklahoma City, a sprawling 621-square-mile city, 

was in the midst of a multi-billion dollar reinvention 

at the start of the 21st century and yet it was 

still topping some very undesirable lists. 

The least fit city. Least walkable. It was enough 

for newly elected Mayor Mick Cornett in 2008 to reach 

out to an up-and-coming author and planner, Jeff Speck, to see what Oklahoma 

City was doing wrong and come up with a list of fixes. 

His report included a critique of downtown streets, so many of which 

were still one-way corridors that had long intimidated visitors and locals. 

And as part of covering response to the report, a photographer with The 

Oklahoman was dispatched to get a shot of the street deemed worst by 

Speck – Hudson Avenue. 

ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF DAVIS 


The street between City Hall and the Oklahoma County Courthouse 

wasn’t just six lanes wide. These were 12-foot-wide lanes, 

the sort of dimension reserved for highways. And it was a one-way 

street, though traffic volume, Speck noted, didn’t seem to support 

Hudson being a one-way street or other corridor remaining oneway. 

It was on this street that the photographer snapped a shot of 

several people, including a woman in a wheelchair and children 

darting through traffic trying to cross the six-lane, one-way Hudson 

Avenue. 

“The jaw dropper for me is the city’s traffic count map,” Speck 

said. “If you walk the city, and you look at the streets, you would 

think because of the size of the streets that traffic is two to three 

times what is actually experienced. There is a shocking disconnect 

between the size and speediness of all of your downtown streets 

with a few rare exceptions.” 

Oklahoma City was not initially designed to end up this way. 

Oklahoma City is unlike any other city in America. A gunshot on 

April 22, 1889, set up a famous land rush that hours later ended up 

with creation of a city of 10,000. 

City fathers then designed a street grid and pursued development 

based on trolley lines that were built not just throughout the 

young community but also to distant towns that decades later are 

Oklahoma City suburbs. 

The transformation of a city built on public transit to a sprawling 

621 miles where cars were prioritized without question over 

pedestrians can be traced back to a years-long effort to impose 

one-way streets on downtown. 

A Stanley Steamer bought by a local banker in 1903 was the 

first car to hit city streets and just a dozen years later Henry Ford 

was building a Model T assembly plant on the west side of downtown. 

Vehicles quickly took over in Oklahoma City, as they did elsewhere. 

By 1938, consultants and engineers were already pushing 

for conversion of some key downtown streets to one-way traffic. 

Business and property owners fought back and won. But the battle 

wasn’t over. 

The streetcars, succumbing to age and lack of investment, were 

yanked off the streets in 1947. The out-of-state operators, who took 

over the streetcars from the city fathers who started the operation, 

switched to a bus fleet and insisted one-way streets were key to 

making bus transit a successful replacement. 

Protesters again argued one-way streets would increase confusion 

and accidents and damage businesses. 

THE OKLAHOMAN 

56 


But this time, they faced a popular mayor, Allen Street, who 

teamed up with powerful newspaper publisher, E.K. Gaylord, to force 

through what was initially promoted as a “temporary” experiment. 

The city was represented by Illinois traffic planner George W. 

Barton, who called all the protesters’ claims untrue and responded; 

“No auditor’s statements have been presented to support the 

claims that merchants in Fort Worth, Dallas or Little Rock lost business.” 

Gaylord, publisher of The Daily Oklahoman, pointed to all the 

major steps of progress in Oklahoma City that had been achieved 

only after bitter fights. 

“Oklahoma City must go ahead,”’ Gaylord said. “We have 80,000 

cars here now and we will have another 5,000 cars in the next five 

years as soon as they become available. If we don’t relieve the traffic 

condition downtown businesses will move out.” 

The city council, following the lead by Mayor Street, approved 

what was to be a 90-day experiment. 

The hit along Hudson Avenue, one of the first converted streets, 

was immediate. A bakery owner warned her business was experiencing 

a devastating drop in business. C.C. Kuhn, zone manager 

for Safeway, said the chain’s store on Hudson experienced a 

“marked” drop in business. 

In 2000, pedestrians scamper across Oklahoma City’s six-lane Hudson Avenue. 

The bustling one-way street was eventually converted to a safer two-way street. 

“We don’t know how far it can go but we are watching the situation 

very carefully,” Kuhn said. “We depended a lot on the business 

received from workers going home at night which we don’t 

get anymore.” 

The experiment never ended, and the one-way streets, combined 

with the advent of suburban malls with free parking, killed 

off the retailers, restaurants, theaters and businesses that made 

downtown vibrant. 

Traffic counts on the one-way streets plunged in the 1970s as 

highways were cut through the south and east fringe of downtown. 

Yet, for the most part, the one-way streets were maintained. 

By the centennial of the city’s birth, the city council itself admitted 

they had made a series of mistakes — the abandonment of 

streetcars, the advent of one-way streets, the destruction of an aggressive 

urban renewal program — and that those choices had laid 

waste to downtown Oklahoma City. 

Wide one-way streets were lined with surface and structured 

parking, empty old storefronts and superblocks lined with office 

buildings. 


“Downtown is dead and we helped kill it,” Councilman I.G. 

Purser declared. “There is no major retail, no major attraction and 

no place to eat.” 

Thirty years after that admission, downtown Oklahoma City is 

thriving, home to major retail, restaurants, live music, hotels, attractions, 

parks and a population of several thousand living in new 

homes and apartments. 

A series of initiatives called Metropolitan Area Projects, a payas-you-go 

penny sales tax, led to creation of an NBA-ready arena, a 

riverwalk, minor league ballpark, library and a massive overhaul of 

downtown’s performing arts hall. 

But it took a bombing to get rid of the one-way streets. 

Long before Interstate 40 cut an eastwest 

path through the southern fringe 

of downtown, a pair of east-west streets, 

NW 5 and NW 6, were turned into oneway 

corridors. And when the interstate 

opened, NW 5 and NW 6 remained lightly 

traveled six-lane-wide one-way corridors. 

When Timothy McVeigh bombed the 

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 

19, 1995, he also left a huge crater in NW 5. 

Those wishing to build a memorial to the 168 killed and to those 

who survived proposed closing the street for good. City engineer 

Paul Brum, a powerful presence at City Hall, fought back, arguing 

maintaining the one-way corridor was a matter of public safety. He 

ended up being narrowly overruled by the city’s traffic commission. 

Brum’s next idea was to offset the loss of NW 5 as a one-way 

corridor by turning NW 4 into a one-way corridor. Brum correctly 

predicted downtown was about to go through a growth spurt, but he 

failed to understand such growth could occur without wide one-way 

corridors. 

“Anytime you have a two-way, you have people backed up making 

left turns,” Brum argued. “When you have a lot of traffic, then that 

creates problems.” 

The NW 4 conversion also went nowhere, and this second 

loss proved to be the beginning a long demise of one-way streets 

throughout downtown. The closed block of NW 5 was turned into a 

reflecting pool book-ended by the now iconic “Gates of Time” marking 

the time before and after the bombing. 

When NW 5 was turned into a two-way street, the city followed 

through with making NW 6 a two-way corridor as well. The predicted 

traffic jams did not follow. 

The Oklahoma City Council, no longer in lock step with the still 

powerful city engineer, requested city staff in 1999 to pursue conversion 

of more one-way streets to two-way traffic. That work did not 

proceed and wasn’t even started until a new public works director 

was hired in 2005. 

By this time, bond funding had been approved for the streetscaping 

of Walker Avenue, the same street targeted for a one-way conversion 

back in 1938. Designs, completed before Brum retired, called 

for the street to remain a one-way corridor. 

The street, Brum said, simply couldn’t function safely as a twoway 

street with one lane each way. Meanwhile, Cornett had begun 

looking at how to tackle one study after another that declared Oklahoma 

City was among the least fit in the country and most hostile 

for pedestrians. 

Cornett visited several times with Jeff Speck, a planner and author 

gaining acclaim for his book “Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl 

and the Decline of the American Dream.” Those visits led to Cornett 

bringing Speck to Oklahoma City, where he was hired to compile an 

honest analysis of what ailed the city and how to fix it. 

Cornett brought Speck to Oklahoma City and in 2008 he was 

commissioned to do an analysis of the city’s streets and sidewalks 

and how to improve public health and walkability. The next Metropolitan 

Area Projects initiative passed by voters included funding to 

build up to 36 miles of sidewalks while also aggressively expanding 

the city’s trail system. 

Speck’s recommendations for downtown laid part of the premise 

for his next book, 2012’s “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save 

America, One Step at a Time.” 

Not only were the one-way streets too wide, the lane widths were 

more appropriate for cars traveling at highway speeds. Hudson Avenue 

was especially bewildering, ranging from five to six lanes wide, a 

design dating back to when a shopping mall was planned (but never 

built) at the corner of Hudson and Sheridan Avenues. 

Speck showed the downtown street configurations to traffic engineers 

outside the state and their first response was to guess the street 

grid was set up for a downtown density and traffic volume comparable 

to Chicago or Manhattan. 

“They said this is a street network that will support three to four 

times the density it is handling,” Speck told the mayor and council. 

“Then you look at the traffic counts, and only a few carrying 10,000 

a day. And 10,000 cars a day is easily handled by a two-lane road.” 

Speck’s report coincided with announcement by Devon Energy 

that it was preparing to build a 50-story headquarters where city 

leaders had spent 20 years trying to turn into a suburban style “Galleria” 

mall. 

In an unusual move, the company’s co-founder, Larry Nichols, 

requested a $115 million tax increment finance (TIF) district — 

not for the headquarters but instead to make streets and sidewalks 

friendlier and safer for pedestrians. 

A lack of funding could no longer be used as a reason not to convert 

all one-way downtown streets and reduce lane widths. City engineers, 

however, still resisted and planned to retain short one-way 

stretches of Walker and Hudson Avenues claiming they were short of 

needed traffic lights even with the TIF funding. 

After some digging and questioning by The Oklahoman, city engineers 

acknowledged they had older traffic lights removed from 

streets improved as part of the Devon TIF project and could use 

those to finish the two-way conversions. 

Downtown Oklahoma City in 2019 is home to a network of streets 

that are all two-way corridors. The traffic nightmares never materialized. 

One of the most dramatic transformations is seen along NW 6, 

which was only converted to two-way traffic due to the loss of NW 

5 after the 1995 bombing, is returning to its roots as a neighborhood 

street. 

The street, however, is still five lanes wide and property owners 

are asking that it be put on a road diet. Similar development is taking 

place along NW 4, which is due to be narrowed this next year to 

make way for the city’s protected bike lane. Walker Avenue, which 

Brum said could not be converted due to risks of it becoming a traffic 

nightmare, is lined with shops, apartments. A streetcar has been 

added to the mix, along with scooters and bicycles. 

Contrary to predictions made along by some powerful voices 

over the history of Oklahoma City, the demise of one-way streets 

has only boosted the revival of a downtown that was once declared 

dead. 

Steve Lackmeyer, an award-winning reporter, columnist and 

author for the Daily Oklahoman newspaper, has covered Oklahoma’s 

conversion of downtown streets from one-way to two-ways. 

58 


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T 

Easy Rider 

In a popular neighborhood known for parking woes, 

electric carts are making it easier to get around 

By DAN MACDONALD // Photos by WILL DICKEY 

60 


One of Beach Buggy San Marco’s 

electric-powered carts drew 

a lot of attention when it was 

on display in San Marco Square 

earlier this year. 


Hunting for a 

parking spot 

in San Marco 

can put a damper on an evening. Circling San 

Marco Square hoping someone will leave a 

precious spot is dizzying and frustrating. 

The San Marco area now has its own version of 

the Monopoly board’s Free Parking space. And this 

one doesn’t take luck to land on. It takes an app. 

Beach Buggy San Marco began in July, 

almost five years after owners Dustin Kaloostian 

and Billy Chenoweth started Beach 

Buggy to serve the Beaches communities. 

What started with a single golf cart now 

consists of nine vehicles both at the Beach 

and San Marco that will carry 10 to 14 people 

in open-air, electric-powered carts. They are 

covered, have doors and seat belts. At night, 

lights flash on the roof and the undercarriage 

is lit to increase visibility. 

The Beach Buggy business plan makes it 

virtually free for the rider. The transportation 

service enlists local businesses to become 

sponsors and they provide the funding. Riders 

need only to tip the driver if so inclined. 

Here’s how it works. Beach Buggy San 

Marco operates in a very small, densely 

populated area of town. The carts travel from 

Kings Avenue on the east to River Oaks Road 

to the south. San Marco is bounded by the 

St. Johns River to the north and west. The 

service is only available to people in that 

area. 

By using the free Beach Buggy app, a 

passenger can hail a buggy from a home or 

sponsor business in that area. Once the fare 

is picked up, the buggy driver silently zips 

along the streets of San Marco at about 25 

mph to a sponsor destination. Sponsor is the 

key word in this equation, Kaloostian said. 

“You have to fill in at least one of the 

[destination] boxes with ‘sponsor.’ ” 

The Beach Buggy app lists sponsors as 

well as information about dinner specials or 

entertainment. Once at a sponsor location, 

passengers are free to wander, but to get a 

ride back home they need to be picked up at 

a sponsor location. 

Kaloostian refers to his business as micro-transportation. 

“We fill the niche when 

a destination is too short to drive but too far 

to walk.” 

There are six drivers in San Marco. Like 

all the employees, they must have a clean 

driving record and agree to a background 

check before being hired. 

With that in mind, the company keeps its 

buggies on the San Marco side of the Main 

Street bridge, based at the DoubleTree Hotel 

on Riverplace Boulevard. The vehicles’ size 

and speed restrictions make crossing the 

bridge into Downtown a hazard. Expansion 

could include Beach Buggies in Riverside, 

Downtown and Five Points, Kaloostian said. 

SPONSOR RESPONSE 

Beach Buggy San Marco was brought to 

the attention of the San Marco Merchants’ 

Association by past president Robert Harris. 

He rode one at the Beach, enjoyed the 

experience and saw something San Marco 

needed. A meeting was held a year ago at The 

Bearded Pig. Kaloostian said after that first 

meeting he nearly had the necessary $6,000 

per month commitment needed to begin the 

service. 

Chad Munsey, co-owner of The Bearded 

Pig, saw the potential advantages. 

“If you can get somebody to drop off customers 

right at your front door, that’s a home 

run,” he said. 

Depending on the size of the business, 

sponsors pay on average of between $200 to 

$500. Larger establishments like hotels pay 

more. 

Beer:30 can be hard to spot along the 

often congested San Marco Boulevard. It has 

parking in the back but first-time customers 

may not spot it. Owner Jeff Burns was quick 

to join as a sponsor, saying he has noticed a 

bump in business already. 

The buggy gets people to explore outside 

the confines of the business district, Burns 

said. 

“Some people never leave the square. 

This is an alternative that allows them not to 

have to drive.” 

“Hotels like to be able to say that they 

provide a free shuttle service in the area,” 

Kaloostian said. 

Buggy drivers know about the area and 

their sponsors and tell visitors not only about 

their destination but other sponsors in that 

area. The drivers are encouraged to be personable 

and talkative. They want to make the 

BEACH BUGGY 

SAN MARCO 

The next time you visit 

San Marco, you might want 

to consider grabbing a ride 

on a beach buggy. 

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 10 

p.m. Sunday through 

Thursday and 11 a.m. 

to midnight Friday and 

Saturday. 

COST: Drivers get paid 

but make the majority of 

their money from tips. 

SPONSORS: BB’s, The 

Bearded Pig, Beer:30, 

Berkshire Hathaway, 

Anita Vining, Bold Bean, 

Broadstone Riverhouse, 

Clara’s Tidbits, Definition 

Fitness, DoubleTree 

Riverfront Hotel, 

European Street, Grape 

& Grain Exchange, 

Hightide Burrito, 

Hilton Garden Inn, 

Homewood Suites, San 

Marco Bookstore, San 

Marco Movie Theatre, 

The Southern Grill, 

Taverna, Town Hall, 

V’s Pizza, Wick: A 

Candle Bar. Program 

Sponsors: Jacksonville 

Transportation Authority, 

iFly Jacksonville, North 

Florida Sales: “Enjoy 

Responsibly Campaign” 

62 


short ride as fun as possible. 

“Guests feel they are getting a free 

amenity from the hotel, restaurant or bar,” 

Kaloostian said. 

RIDER RESPONSE 

Fun is the one word that comes up when 

sharing a ride with passengers. Melanie has 

been with the company from the beginning 

and now works as a driver-trainer and a 

brand ambassador. She’s talkative and tries 

to always wear a flower in her hair. The 

flower adds to her personality and a way for 

customers to remember her. 

While working at the Beach, she recalled 

taking a couple out on their first date. A year 

later the couple recognized her and they 

reminisced about that first ride. It was a 

memorable because they since had become 

engaged. 

Preston and Kristen Hood are regular users. 

They first heard about the service when 

people were talking about it around the pool 

at The Alexandria condominiums. 

“The drivers are relaxed and it’s fun. With 

the limited parking, if you drive it can be 

difficult to find a place and arrive on time,” 

Preston Hood said. 

Tom Kimbrough and Margaret Barton 

were first-time riders who chose to ride as 

a novelty. But their quick trip to Grape and 

Grain made them believers. 

“For longer trips we would take an Uber 

but this is super fun,” Barton said of the 

breeze in her hair and the cart’s leisurely 

pace. 

Steve and Kara Mosley, with their daughter 

Scarlotte, rode from Matthew’s to Bistro 

Aix. But that wouldn’t be the last of using 

Beach Buggy for the evening. Scarlotte was 

meeting friends at the Beach with plans of 

going out later. Again she’d be using Beach 

Buggy. 

“I like to see things like this come to Jacksonville,” 

Steve Mosley said. “They have this 

sort of thing in bigger cities like Chicago. San 

Marco is such a beautiful place.” 

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority 

sees value in Beach Buggy San Marco. Last 

August, it approved giving Beach Buggy San 

Marco $36,000 to purchase another 10-seat 

vehicle and help with a community awareness 

campaign. 

David Cawton, JTA Media and Public Relations 

manager, said the partnership fits into 

the JTA goal of overseeing mobility solutions 

for the entire community. By helping to support 

Beach Buggy San Marco, it keeps the JTA 

from having to buy its own vehicles and hire 

manpower to operate a competing service. 

JTA had operated a neighborhood trolley 

but discontinued it. The authority found that 

the bus-sized trolley didn’t attract faithful 

ridership, Cawton said. The Beach Buggy San 

Marco plan fits the needs of today’s transportation 

customer who is looking for neighborhood 

service. 

“It is certainly reflective of the customers’ 

demands in 2019. They want to order a ride 

with an app, it comes to your door and off 

you go. There is no paper schedule,” Cawton 

said. 

Beach Buggy San Marco is a relatively 

new business. While sponsorship came easy, 

customer awareness is another thing. 

When Beach Buggy began five years ago, 

the company placed thousands of ads on 

front doors in Beaches neighborhoods. They 

have done some of that in San Marco. They 

already have place cards in sponsors’ stores. 

They want Beach Buggy San Marco flatscreen 

kiosks in the lobby of sponsor hotels. 

Visitors likely won’t already have the app or 

know about the service. They can use the 

kiosk to request a ride and learn how to get 

the app for the ride home. 

The latest app version, Beach Buggy 2.0, 

was scheduled to roll out in mid-November. 

The updates give more sponsor information, 

offer easier use and provide sponsors with 

ridership diagnostics measuring the number 

of riders that were brought to each sponsor’s 

business. 

There have been some growing pains. 

Last August, a charger mishap at the Beach 

location caused a fire that seriously damaged 

five carts, causing $100,000 in damage, 

according to news reports. No one was hurt. 

Growth has brought other changes to the 

business model. In the beginning, drivers 

worked just for tips. Now, most are paid at 

least $10 an hour, Kaloostian said. Besides 

being paid, drivers use services like Pay- 

Pal and Venmo to have tips wired to their 

phones. The new Beach Buggy app also provides 

for a tipping option. This keeps drivers 

from being endangered by carrying wads of 

cash during the end of their shift. 

Tipping is encouraged but not necessary. 

Tips are usually a couple of dollars but a 

group of four or five couples on one ride have 

Victoria Carlucci and her son, Joseph, look over a 

Beach Buggy electric-powered cart earlier this year 

while it was on display in San Marco Square. 

been known to tip $20, Kaloostian said. 

Between fares, Melanie calls out to people 

walking with children or with their dogs on 

San Marco’s side streets. She invites them 

for a free ride, but this evening she had no 

takers. Just as well, her cellphone was soon 

buzzing with another waiting fare. 

Ever the promoter, she said as her Friday 

night began to become busy, “We allow you 

to leave your car in the best parking spot in 

town — your driveway.” 

And, bam, the parking problem in San 

Marco has been solved. 

Something like this is desperately needed 

Downtown. 

DAN MACDONALD was a music and 

entertainment writer for the Florida Times-Union 

and Jacksonville Journal from 1984-1996 and was 

the Times-Union food editor from 1997-2007. He 

lives in Jacksonville Beach. 


The First Baptist Church’s 

Hobson Auditorium, built 

after the 1901 fire, will be 

the cornerstone for the 

congregation after most 

of the church’s multi-block 

Downtown campus is sold. 

64 


Earlier this fall, 

Downtown’s 

First Baptist 

Church 

announced 

it was putting 

10 blocks of 

its campus 

up for sale. 

While the news 

took many 

by surprise, 

other churches 

in the urban 

core have had 

to consider 

similar fates. 

E 

D 

R 

of an 

E 

A 

N 

BY LILLA ROSS 

PHOTO BY BOB SELF 


The news was a shocker. 

First Baptist Church, said 

Pastor Heath Lambert, 

“was in cardiac arrest.” 

So in September 

the largest landowner 

Downtown put most of 

its real estate on the market. 

Once one of the largest Southern Baptist 

churches in the state, First Baptist’s membership 

dropped by 20,000 in the last decade, 

with church attendance declining from 

10,000 to 3,200. The budget shrank while 

routine maintenance of $5 million took 

about one-third of its budget, and deferred 

maintenance more than half. 

The former mega church was “bleeding 

from its pores,” Lambert said. 

To solve the debt crisis, the congregation 

took the bold move of deciding to consolidate 

its operations into the original church 

building at 124 W. Ashley St., and offer the 

remaining 10 blocks for sale. 

First Baptist’s financial crisis is unusual 

only in its scope and scale. All of Downtown’s 

churches are experiencing declining 

membership and a drop in revenue. 

There are several factors. People are 

attending suburban churches rather than 

driving Downtown. And fewer people attend 

church, especially millennials, and when 

they do attend, they give less money than 

previous generations. 

Churches are having to ask themselves 

tough questions about who they are, what 

they do and where they do it. 

Two San Marco churches, Southside 

Assembly of God and South Jacksonville 

Presbyterian, recently have made major 

decisions about their property. 

Southside Assembly sold its property 

on Kings Avenue last year for $6 million to 

Chance Partners, which is building a 486- 

unit apartment complex called San Marco 

Crossing. The congregation bought property 

at Southpoint for a new building that will be 

known as Lineage Church. 

South Jacksonville Presbyterian is 

selling 2.1 acres of its 2.87 acres on Hendricks 

Avenue to Harbert Realty Services of 

Birmingham, Ala., which plans to build 143 

apartments called Park Place at San Marco. 

The church will retain the sanctuary and 

office space. 

In Downtown, the Providence Center, 

adjacent to the Basilica of the Immaculate 

Conception, is expected to go on the market 

next year. The former parish school was renovated 

in the 1980s into offices for Catholic 

Charities and other ministries of the Diocese 

of St. Augustine. Catholic Charities moved 

to the du Pont Center this summer and St. 

Francis Soup Kitchen is moving to a new 

location at the end of the year. 

And last year, Simpson Memorial United 

Methodist Church moved out of its deteriorating 

Springfield property, and now shares 

space with First United Methodist Church. 

It’s part of a trend seen across the country. 

Churches are repurposing their property, 

either through sales or long-term leases. 

Some do it out of economic necessity; others 

as an investment. 

In New York, Marble Collegiate Church, 

a historic church where Norman Vincent 

Peale was once pastor, is collaborating with 

HFZ Capital Group. The church, which is a 

partner in the venture, sold part of its property 

and air rights to HFZ, which plans to build 

600,000 square feet of office space. 

“There’s a trend throughout the country 

of urbanization,” Casey Kemper, executive 

South Jacksonville Presbyterian is selling 2.1 acres 

of its 2.87 acres on Hendricks Avenue. Developers 

plan to turn the space into apartments. 

TOP: TIMES-UNION ARCHIVE; JEFF DAVIS

Pastor Jerry Vines delivers a sermon in 1993 at the 

first service of First Baptist Church’s 8,800-seat 

auditorium in Downtown Jacksonville. Attendance 

at the church dropped to 3,200 in recent years. 

vice president at Collegiate, told the Wall 

Street Journal. “So those religious properties 

that are well-located in urban areas are 

attractive to developers.” 

In Manhattan, St. John the Divine Episcopal 

Church receives about $5.5 million 

a year from 99-year leases it holds on two 

apartment towers, which include market rate 

and affordable housing that were built on its 

11-acre campus. 

In Atlanta, two Episcopal churches, All 

Saints and St. Luke’s, which together own 

eight blocks in high-priced Midtown, are 

considering partnering with private developers 

to repurpose some of their property. 

Elsewhere in Midtown Atlanta, St. Mark 

United Methodist Church sold a portion 

of its property to StreetLights Residential, 

which plans to build a 26-story mixed use 

apartment tower. 

“If you’re sitting on several million dollars 

of equity that you could trade … and have 

millions to help people, then why shouldn’t 

you do it?” Atlanta’s Bull Realty founder Michael 

Bull told Bisnow, an Atlanta real estate 

publication. 

But one church is sitting on several billions 

of real estate – Trinity Wall Street. 

The Episcopal church founded in 1696 

in New York City was gifted in 1705 with 215 

acres from Queen Anne. Once farmland 

in Lower Manhattan, it is now some of the 

highest-priced real estate in the country. 

Most of the land was sold over the centuries, 

but the congregation is still one of the 

largest landowners in the city with 14 acres 

valued in 2015 at $3.5 billion. The holdings 

include 5.5 million square feet of commercial 

space in Hudson Square that in 2011 

brought the church $158 million in revenue 

and $38 million in net income. 

Though the value of the property has 

waxed and waned over the centuries, 

Trinity is credited with a recent revival of the 

Hudson Square area as a creative hub. That 

caught the eye of the Walt Disney Company, 

which has signed a 99-year lease with the 

church for its new headquarters. The deal is 

valued at $650 million. 

Trinity Wall Street is in a league of its 

own, but the Rev. Lang Lowrey thinks more 

churches should follow Trinity’s lead. 

“People say that churches are in decline. 

I look at it differently. Churches are consolidating 

and coming out stronger when they 

do,” Lowrey said. “And that leaves a lot of real 

estate that can be used for mission purposes 

or income purposes.” 

Lowrey is the canon of Christian enterprise 

for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta 

and helps churches figure out what to do 

with their real estate. 

“I tell churches, never ever, ever sell their 

property,” Lowrey said. “You probably won’t 

do that well. Churches get taken advantage 

of by developers. They want to buy low and 

sell high.” 

Some churches are in trouble financially 

and eager to get out from under their 

high-maintenance buildings, but Lowrey 

tells them to think long term. 

“Some of these properties are in transitional 

areas but in 10 years it could be a 

tony area. You don’t want to sell in the valley 

years. You want to control your property 

because you might want to have a church 

there again.” 

JEFF DAVIS 

While First Presbyterian’s membership peaked 

at about 2,000 in the 1950s, the church is hoping 

Downtown revitalization will inspire growth.

Q: 

CHECKING 

THE PULSE 

By Mike Clark 

What would you like to see 

done with the First Baptist 

property Downtown that 

is up for sale? 

More than 4,000 readers of 

The Florida Times-Union have 

volunteered to be part of the 

Email Interactive Group. They 

respond to occasional questions 

about public issues in our 

community. 

Ray Hays, 

Jacksonville 

Here is a great opportunity for 

new business and workforce 

housing to be developed right 

where it will do the most good 

for our core business district. 

The city should consider 

special economic incentives 

to attract commercial development. 

Rutledge R. Liles, 

Jacksonville 

Use the buildings for relocation 

of the JEA headquarters. 

Or the buildings could also be 

used to replace some of the 

schools that are in deplorable 

condition and unsafe, which 

our City Council ignores. 

Gil Mayers, 

Jacksonville 

Why not focus on entertainment 

and housing to provide 

a vibrant image and reality to 

our Downtown? I would also 

have a pedestrian area around 

the entertainment zone to allow 

people to mix comfortably 

in a family-friendly environment. 

Doug Coleman, 

Riverside 

Presuming these properties 

are currently tax exempt, if 

these parcels are acquired by 

for-profit businesses it will be a 

nice boost to our city property 

tax revenue. 

Amelia Gaillard, 

West Beaches 

It would be nice to see some 

mixed uses: apartments, 

restaurants, art galleries, shops, 

a movie theater, a theatre-dinner 

club. Jacksonville has the 

potential to beat the socks off 

of Charleston 

Noble Lee Lester, 

Jacksonville 

Create a fine arts conglomerate 

of jazz music concert halls, 

black boxes for small theatrical 

productions, jazz-joints that 

stir the bones of the greats or 

simply a place for TED talks 

and the spoken word. 

Camilla Crawshaw, 

Jacksonville 

We need to beg retail to return 

Downtown. Walkability is good 

for mental and physical health. 

Keep working on major businesses 

to relocate downtown 

to put bodies in the city center. 

Terri Brown, 

Jacksonville 

I’d like to see some great living 

spaces. I’d like to see shopping 

that normal people will go 

to, big box stores. How about 

some transitional living, work 

and training space for the 

disadvantaged? 

Dean Lohse, 

Southside 

It’s a great location for a school, 

maybe as a Christian charter 

school. Or how about “The 

Shakers and Movers Rocking 

Rock of Faith” nightclub? 

Jack Knee, 

Nocatee 

Perhaps some clean industry. 

The last thing the church needs 

is city input. Let the free market 

find its best use. 

Debra Clark, 

Jacksonville 

It would be a major boon to 

the city center If a grocery store 

were to open. It would be a 

great addition to the area and 

much needed. 

Bonnie Sinatro, 

St. Nicholas 

I would love to see a public 

space that included gardens 

and greenery and walking 

paths and a playground. 

J. Joseph O’Donnell, 

St. Johns 

Businesses follow people. 

No people, no business. I’d 

encourage “nice” residential 

development in keeping with 

the character of the neighborhood 

that will attract higher 

per capita income residents. 

The amenities will follow. 

Colleen Krause Straw, 

Jacksonville 

Having a family fun park would 

be a great addition to Downtown. 

A smaller permanent 

amusement park similar to 

what was in Myrtle Beach, S.C. 

Maybe the city can encourage a private college 

to create a Jacksonville Downtown footprint. 

Northwestern has created a satellite in Miami - 

Jacksonville could try/hope to mirror it. 

Steve Plauché, San Jose 

68 


“I would love for the city to recognize there are vital 

churches here in the heart of city. We have something 

wonderful to offer the citizens of Jacksonville.” 

Michael “Scott” Luckey, pastor of First Presbyterian Church 

He recommends a long-term lease, 

usually 99 years, that will give the church 

revenue while retaining ownership of the 

property. The paperwork has to be drawn up 

so the church’s nonprofit status is protected 

and to allow the lease to be transferred if a 

developer decides to sell. The church pays 

taxes on the income. 

For some churches, it means that the 

congregation will move to a new location 

while retaining ownership of the property 

that is redeveloped. 

“It takes a lot of courage by a congregation 

to relocate,” Lowrey said. “Faith isn’t 

just about God. It’s also faith in a place. The 

building becomes part of the faith. What 

happens is they give and give and give more 

money to the walls? Why would you worship 

walls? Why not find a cheaper place to worship 

and use the property for income?” 

In Downtown Jacksonville, Michael 

“Scott” Luckey, pastor of First Presbyterian 

Church, agrees that church is partly about 

faith in a place. First Presbyterian brands 

itself as “the church with the red doors.” 

The church celebrates its 180th anniversary 

next year and prides itself on being the 

“mother church” for other local Presbyterian 

churches like Riverside and South Jacksonville. 

Membership peaked at about 2,000 in the 

1940s and 1950s, and is now between 400 

and 500, Luckey said. 

Some families have been members for 

five or six generations, Luckey said. Members 

come from all over the city, including 

a few who live Downtown. But Luckey said 

he is hoping membership will rise as people 

move into the new Downtown residences. 

“I’m convinced Downtown has an 

exciting future, and we want to be part of it,” 

Luckey said. “From our vantage point, we’re 

here for the long term. 

“I would love for the city to recognize 

there are vital churches here in the heart of 

city. We have something wonderful to offer 

the citizens of Jacksonville. We want to be 

part of the greater story.” 

Luckey said churches are one of the few 

places where people of all social strata mix. 

“We have everyone from penthouse dwellers 

to the homeless. It’s an unusual mixture. 

We welcome and embrace and want to be a 

resource for all people.” 

Several times a year, First Presbyterian 

hosts a musical series, Music on Monroe, 

which has included concerts by a French pianist, 

a renowned harpist and a Renaissance 

music festival. And the church will be part 

of the inaugural Christmas in the Cathedral 

District on Dec. 4. 

The buildings have an assessed tax value 

of $2.5 million, but the congregation hasn’t 

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Last year, Simpson Memorial United Methodist 

Church moved out of its deteriorating property 

at Kings Road and Cleveland Street. 

considered offering the property for redevelopment, 

Luckey said. But several nonprofits 

meet at the church, including the Downtown 

Ecumenical Services Council, which provides 

food, clothing and financial assistance 

for the needy. 

The church is involved with Cathedral 

District-Jax, a nonprofit started by St. John’s 

Episcopal Cathedral to foster the redevelopment 

around the Cathedral. 

The Cathedral has been involved in 

Downtown redevelopment since the 1960s, 

under the leadership of Dean Robert Parks, 

who left in 1971 to become rector of Trinity 

Wall Street. Parks built three high-rises for 

about 650 seniors and a rehabilitation center 

Downtown. 

More recently, Dean Kate Moorehead 

established Cathedral District-Jax, which is 

spearheading the redevelopment of the old 

Community Connections (YWCA) property 

next door to the Cathedral. The Vestcor 

Company is buying the property and plans 

to build the Lofts at the Cathedral with mar- 

rate and affordable housing. Lket 

ori Boyer, chief executive 

officer of the Downtown 

Investment Authority, 

said the churches are 

an important player 

Downtown because they 

bring people Downtown. 

But since churches are tax exempt, they 

haven’t contributed to the economic base of 

Downtown. 

“The possibility that some church property 

could be available for development has 

the potential for activation on more than 

Sunday and Wednesday, but five or seven 

days a week,” Boyer said. “And it would put 

those properties on the tax rolls and help 

contribute to the overall tax base.” 

The unique thing about churches is their 

architecture. Sanctuaries are not the most 

adaptable structures but offices and classroom 

space are. 

That has been the challenge facing the 

old Snyder Memorial United Methodist 

Church property on Hemming Park. The 

historic church, founded in 1870, is on the 

National Register of Historic Places. The 

Gothic Revival building of granite and limestone 

was constructed in 1903 to replace the 

sanctuary destroyed in the Great Fire of 1901. 

The church closed in 1992 and the 

property was bought in 2000 by the River 

City Band, which performed in the sanctuary. 

The city took over the mortgage and has 

owned the building since the early 2000s 

after the band moved out. 

Several ideas have been floated to convert 

the church into a museum, a visitors center 

or a club but nothing has materialized. 

Boyer said Snyder is a high priority for 

redevelopment. 

“It’s a wonderfully iconic building in the 

center of Downtown,” Boyer said. “We have 

quite a bit of interest. I’m really hopeful we 

will have some genuine offers within the 

next 12 months.” 

At least three groups have expressed 

interest lately, including one from out of 

town. Boyer said all of the proposals are 

revenue-producing. 

Also generating a lot of interest is the First 

Baptist property, 12 acres in the Cathedral 

District that has seen little redevelopment. 

“I think they’re trying to be deliberate 

about what they do with the property so they 

get what they want and not just sell it off to 

the highest bidder,” Boyer said. 

“I would love to have a master plan for 

that property. From a city perspective, there 

are few places in the urban core that have 

that quantity of land that is available. There’s 

an opportunity to do something much 

bigger, a medical campus or a university 

presence. It would take time to pull it together, 

but I’d like to see the possibilities before 

we lose the opportunity.” 

First Baptist has not disclosed its plans, 

but in September, when asking for the congregation 

to support the sale of the property, 

Lambert said, “I want to stop the decline of 

the Downtown church and want to be a better 

neighbor to Downtown. I think this plan 

allows us to simultaneously do both.” 

Downtown, once dominated by the 

massive presence of First Baptist Church, will 

have a new look. 

Lilla Ross, a former Florida Times-Union editor, 


JEFF DAVIS (2) 

Located across from Hemming Park, Snyder 

Memorial United Methodist Church closed in 

1992. The building remains vacant. 

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What happens 

when you 

explore the 

city at night? 

You find out 

just how gloomy 

Downtown is. 

BY MIKE CLARK 

PHOTOS BY BOB SELF 

72 


A streetlight illuminates 

the sidewalk area at the 

corner of Adams Street 

near North Laura Street 

during a Wednesday night 

art walk. 

DARK 


Downtown at night is 

simply too dark. 

Take a good look: 

You go from light to 

dark instantly and for 

no apparent reason. 

The historic Adams Street 

building that houses the offices of 

Farah & Farah at the intersection 

with Main Street during art walk. 

74 


The lack of light and the absence of people 

make Downtown a scary, foreboding, isolated 

place. 

Here’s how I know: I drove, bicycled and 

walked in the Central Business District, then 

along both riverwalks to survey the lighting 

situation Downtown. 

Contradictions are all around. 

Why don’t vacant lots have street lights? Or 

are street lights intended only for businesses 

and not for pedestrians? 

Isn’t it strange that parking garages are well 

lit but the areas around them are not? 

And it’s ironic that the areas Downtown with 

lots of trees also are some of the darkest because 

the trees block street lights. Yes, Downtown 

needs shade and more trees but lights need to 

be placed so they are not blocked by the limbs. 

It’s a waste of energy, too. 

Hemming Park is a perfect example. It’s 

cool and shaded during the day. Plenty of trees 

protect people from sun and rain. But at night, 

it’s dark. Some street lights are literally up in the 

leaves. 

Decorative street lights in the trees along 

Forsyth Street near Main Street are nice but 

don’t shed much light. But they could if more 

powerful lights were used. 

The pedestrian walk along the Main Street 

bridge is too dark for such a narrow width. Both 

pedestrians and bicyclists use it. 

The riverwalks are another prime example. 

In late September, I bicycled the length of the 

Southbank and Northbank Riverwalks and 

counted the street lights that were not working. 

The Southbank had an unusual electrical 

problem that resulted in almost all of the lights 

being out. In response, the city set up some 

temporary lights powered by generators. Nevertheless, 

there were 53 lights that were out. The 

area near the Main Street bridge and the School 

Board building were especially dark. 

The Northbank Riverwalk had 23 lights that 

were out. It was noticeable that many lights 

didn’t produce enough illumination. Short, 

stubby lights near the Haskell building were 

more decorative than useful. 

In some cases there is just one street light for 

an entire block, which creates dark spots. 

This is more than a matter of convenience, 

it’s a matter of safety. While driving along a 

darkened Beaver Street near the First Baptist 

campus, I spotted a bicycle rider headed toward 

me, riding against traffic. Luckily, I was paying 

attention. 

Also, it’s annoying to be forced to stop at red 

light after red light when there is absolutely no 

traffic Downtown. Jacksonville seems to be a 

century behind with its traffic light system, 


A few bright spots: 

• Forsyth Street in front of the 11 E. Forsyth 

St. is well lit. 

• Some areas of Bay Street are well lit, but 

not the block near Jefferson Street. 

• The sidewalk in front of Farah & Farah 

on Forsyth Street has lights attached to the 

side of the building, which avoids the tree 

canopy problem. In addition, decorative 

lights in the trees creates a lived-in effect. 

Readers sound off 

I asked members of the Times-Union’s 

Email Group for their evaluations of lighting 

Downtown. 

Businessman Robert Frary wrote that he 

often runs Downtown before sunrise, watching 

the city transition from dark to dawn to 

daylight. 

Before daylight he sticks to the riverwalks, 

then Water, Bay, Forsyth, Broad and 

Liberty streets. He avoids the Hemming Park 

area. With poor lighting, it didn’t seem “a 

happy place,” he wrote. 

By the way, he almost never sees a police 

cruiser on his sunrise runs. 

He said the new grassy area along the 

riverfront on Bay Street, where the old city 

hall and courthouse used to be, is dimly lit. 

If this is going to be an Innovation Corridor, 

the city can start by turning on the lights. 

Fern Malowitz wrote that if Downtown 

is a real neighborhood, then lighting is vital. 

“If we have adequate street lighting we 

might feel more confident to stroll around 

our neighborhood. I am often up quite 

early in the mornings. I’d rather walk in my 

neighborhood than drive to the gym, but if I 

cannot see the road why take the risk?” 

Bonnie Hayflick wrote that there can’t be 

too much lighting Downtown. The sidewalk 

along Bay Street near Maxwell House is 

uncomfortably dark, she wrote. 

Solutions 

The city and JEA have been replacing old 

lights with new LED versions and adding 

new lights. A JEA spokeswoman said the 

new lights will last longer and are brighter, 

but you will be hard-pressed to see the 

difference. 

In early 2016, JEA began converting all 

existing streetlights Downtown to LEDs. At 

last count in September, 8,584 streetlights 

had been converted, and there are 2,009 left. 

This project should be completed by April, 

2020. 

Also, 176 new streetlights have been installed 

(169 decorative acorn lights and seven 

cobra head lights). There are 22 locations 

remaining. This project should be complete 

by the end of this calendar year. 

Downtown Vision has a major lighting 

project along Laura Street for the holidays 

that will continue year-round. Trees are lit 

with lights that both illuminate and decorate, 

said Jake Gordon, CEO of Downtown 

Vision. That project will cost more than 

$90,000 annually. 

Retail nodes Downtown — Laura-Hogan 

and the Elbow — need to be well lit all the 

way to major parking areas. 

Lighting design needs to be improved. 

Teardrop lights that focus downward do a 

better job for walkers and bicyclists. 

Where there are trees, lights need to be 

placed low enough that the limbs don’t 

block them. 

Lights placed along the sides of buildings 

or even near the pavement are ideal. 

It’s really just common sense. You don’t 

need to be a lighting engineer to tell if it’s 

dark or not. 

Until Downtown has good lighting, it will 

continue to feel unsafe. 

MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of 

The Florida Times-Union and Editor of J. He has 



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Saving 

Casket 

the 

Factory 

The former home of the 

Florida Casket Company is getting 

new life as a place for the Jacksonville 

Historical Society to process archives 

BY MIKE CLARK 

PHOTOS BY WILL DICKEY 

very old building isn’t historic. 

Some buildings are simply 

old. 

But some buildings have 

stories to tell and deserve to be 

preserved with a new role. 

That’s the case with the former 

St. Luke’s Hospital and its 

next-door neighbor, the former 

Casket Factory at 314 Palmetto 

St., between the Maxwell House plant and the VyStar 

Veterans Memorial Arena. 

EBuilt in 1924, the former Florida Casket Factory building at 314 Palmetto 

St., was purchased by the Jacksonville Historical Society in 2012. 

78 



CASKET 

A storage room in the former Florida Casket Factory next door to the Jacksonville Historical Society’s headquarters in the former St. Luke’s Hospital building. 

Yes, the former Casket Factory is located next to the hospital, an 

eerie situation, but the original buildings were not in operation at 

the same time. 

St. Luke’s Hospital, constructed in 1878, was especially needed 

during yellow fever and typhoid epidemics and after the Great 

Fire of 1901. St. Luke’s also established the first modern nursing 

school in Florida. In 1914, the hospital moved to a larger complex in 

Springfield. 

The Florida Casket Company Building was constructed in 1924. 

Both buildings were purchased by the Jacksonville Historical 

Society in 2012 from the Florida Arthritis Foundation. 

At that time the new Duval County Courthouse was opening and 

a number of old record books were about to be thrown in the trash, 

JSO 

so the Jacksonville Historical Society stepped up, said Alan Bliss, 

executive director of the society. 

In the 1990s many archivists said there was no need to save hard 

copies, there even was no need for books. That is no longer the case. 

It’s common for citizens to ask to view some of the city’s old record 

books because the digital records are lost or illegible, Bliss said. 

Old books containing items like deed records are now stored in 

the Casket Factory. There are also hundreds of old photo negatives 

from The Florida Times-Union. When the newspaper staff moved 

N 

to its new location in the Wells Fargo Center, there was no longer 

80 J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2019 

NEW LIFE FOR OLD BUILDINGS 

DUVAL ST. 

Jail 

The former St. 

Luke’s Hospital 

MARSH ST. 

St. Johns River 

The former Florida 

Casket Factory 

Maxwell 

House 

Coffee Co. 

MONROE ST. 

Hogans Creek 

BAY ST. 

PALMETTO ST. 

HART BRIDGE EXPY 

VyStar 

Veterans 

Memorial 

Arena 

ADAMS ST. 

LAFAYETTE ST. 

A. PHILLIP RANDOLPH ST. 

JEFF DAVIS (MAP)

Alan Bliss, executive director of the Jacksonville 

Historical Society, is looking forward to renovating 

the Casket Factory and the added space it brings. 

space to store files of newspaper stories 

and photos. The clip files are at the Main 

Library Downtown where they are available 

to the general public. 

“I was determined that the Times- 

Union collection would be preserved, and 

be preserved in Jacksonville,” Bliss said. 

The society and the library staff worked 

diligently to arrange the safe storage of 

newspaper items. 

Newspaper photos at the old Casket 

Factory still need to be catalogued and 

organized. That’s a job for volunteers led by 

Chief Archivist Mitch Hemann. 

The old St. Luke’s Hospital 

building is crammed with 

material, but it is carefully 

organized and the items 

are recorded in a database. 

But the old building is not 

state-of-the-art because it still has too 

much ultraviolet light, there is inadequate 

climate control and the building is 

vulnerable to severe storms. 

“We are excruciatingly short on processing 

space,” Bliss said. “We need space 

and resources that can function in a 

secure, organized, safe professional way.” 

Enter the Casket Factory. The old 

building needs major renovations to give 

archivists the room to do their work. Only 

one floor of the three-story Casket Factory 

is air conditioned. 

That is why the Historical Society is 

raising $300,000 to renovate the building. 

Thanks goes to Delores Barr Weaver for an 

initial $50,000 grant that is designed to be 

matched. The grant honors Emily Lisska, 

who retired after 21 years as executive 

director of the Historical Society. 

The archivists do a lot of sorting and 

sometimes discover real finds. 

Recent discoveries include the second 

edition of Zephaniah Kingsley’s treatise on 

slavery from 1829. 

There are a few yellow fever immunity 

cards that residents used to move around 

freely, including one from the governor’s 

son, Francis Fleming Jr., with a physician’s 

name on it. 

There is a letter from W.E.B. DuBois 

on Crisis Magazine letterhead looking for 

information on African-American judges. 

Included in the archives is 16 mm film 

from the JAX Chamber promoting Jacksonville 

as well as political campaign film from 

the 1950s and 1960s. 

A collection from the Jacksonville 

Women’s Club dates to the late 1800s. A 

part-time archivist is working on it. 

Too often the artifacts are like orphans. 

“We are very accustomed to getting rich 

collections of old photographs with no 

information,” Bliss said. 

In fact, many of the old Times-Union 

photographs have no identifying information 

on the back. 

Much of the Times-Union material can 

be recovered digitally, Bliss said. Some material 

is badly deteriorated. But nothing will 

be thrown out until everybody signs off. 

The Casket Factory will provide the 

space to organize the work with limited 

ultraviolet light, secure from storms. In fact, 

the location is relatively high even though 

it is near Hogans Creek. Windows on part 

of the second floor have been bricked over, 

so most of the sensitive material will be 

stored there. 

Jacksonville has a rich and fascinating 

history. Thanks goes to the Jacksonville 

Historical Society for continuing to preserve 

it in a professional manner. 

MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of The 

Florida Times-Union and Editor of J. He has 



Mitch Hemann, archivist for the Jacksonville 

Historical Society, will have plenty of work 

researching and cataloging artifacts once the 

Casket Factory in renovated.

T 

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S 

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O 

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H 

U 

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P 

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82 


A group of Bolles School students 

look at an underground bank vault 

during a tour that included a tunnel 

under Downtown streets that 

datesback more than 100 years. 


Gary Sass, owner of Ad Lib 

Luxury Tours, has been giving 

unique tours of Downtown 

Jacksonville for 15 years. 

84 


BOB SELF 

As thousands 

of Downtown 

workers head 

to their offices 

for the day, 

Gary Sass is 

imparting 

subterranean 

history lessons 

in Jacksonville’s 

urban core 

“I’M A MAN OF PROPS,” 

said Gary Sass, and that much is readily 

apparent. At his feet sits a black-and-white 

canvas tote bag stuffed with the visual aids 

he employed while leading a tour of Downtown 

churches earlier that day. 

“When people ask me a question, I can 

physically show them a prop on the tour. It’s 

a style that I have.” 

It was a Monday in mid-September, 

when we met, plowing through bagels and 

juice before settling down for a bull session 

that lasted nearly two hours. As the owner 

of Ad Lib Luxury Tours, Sass has become 

something of a local icon, a fixture in the 

urban core who knows this city as well as 

almost anyone alive today. 

Sass was born in Kingston, N.Y. in late 

February of 1963, cultivating a love for history 

from an early age. 

“It was the first capital of New York 

State,” he said, “and then the British 

burned it in 1777, and the capital moved 

to Albany.” 

He attended SUNY-Potsdam in the early 

‘80s, majoring in computer science. That 

work took him all over the U.S. and Europe, 

paying the bills while helping him build his 

archive of historical data. 

“I was a little bit of a confirmed bachelor, 

and then I met my wife while I was working 

in London for a year.” Ironically or not, they 

met on a walking tour. 

After the birth of his second child 15 

years ago, Sass and his wife decided to scale 

back on the constant moving that went with 

his IT career. 

“So we went on a six-month study of the 

perfect place to live in the United States. 

My wife went to a website; she answered 

250 questions and up popped Jacksonville, 

Florida as her perfect place to live. So we 

started researching Jacksonville, and other 

areas, and Jacksonville came up No. 1, 

based on all the criteria that was important 

to us, from cost of living to proximity to 

the beach, weather, all different types of 

factors.” 

Sass and his wife were just two of the 

thousands of people who’ve moved to Jacksonville 

over the past decade, but among 

them all, it’s likely that no one else put more 

thought into the decision. 

Once they’d picked their city, they 

narrowed their focus to specific neighborhoods. 

“We ended up on the border of St. 

Johns and Duval County,” said Sass, “in 

a community called Walden Chase. That 

community became Nocatee.” 

He continued in the IT biz for a while, 

but was often rejected for being overqualified, 

and that quickly pushed him to finally 

pursue his passion full-time. 

“I went two months without a job,” he 

said, “and then I said to my wife, ‘Well, let’s 

take this as a sign that we’re supposed to 

start our own company.’” 

He had a couple ideas, but the tours that 

resonated. 

“Nobody is doing personalized tours, 

and nobody is doing Jacksonville. In 

St. Augustine, it was just the trains and 

trolleys,” he said. They had run such tours 

successfully in a number of cities previously, 

around the world, so they decided to 

reboot the gimmick here, basically starting 

from scratch. 

“We decided that we would become the 

local experts.” 

FROM THE MOMENT OF 

finalizing their decision, it was about 

three weeks before their first tours. Sass 

had started researching the area from the 

moment he arrived, leaning heavily on the 

local library and the Jacksonville Historical 

Society. 

“I’m a pretty quick study,” he said. “I 

became friends with the people who ran 

the archives,” folks like Wayne Wood and 

Emily Lisska. “They became some of my first 

friends here,” he said. 

He spends as much time researching 

his subject matter as he does on the actual 

tours, if not more. This has made Sass, a relative 

newcomer, an expert on local history. 

He counts local legends like Wayne Wood 

and Tim Gilmore as friends. 

Now 15 years into the venture, business 

is booming with Sass becoming something 

of a local icon. 

“We are definitely slower in the summertime,” 

he said. “The reason being is that 

locals don’t necessarily want to do tours in 

the heat, and the visitors want to go to the 

beach. The times when we’re busiest are 

the spring and the fall, when the weather is 

better for people to do activities. Christmas 

time, I’m not that busy, unless it’s a theme 

tour.” 

Much of the tour activity is conducted on 

foot, but he also has access to a small fleet to 

ferry customers. 

“I’m a transportation company,” he said. 

“I have one vehicle, an eight-person luxury 

van; it’s built out like a limousine on the inside. 

I realized that for a small group, it’s too 

expensive to rent out a vehicle and driver 

and a tour guide, so I just do it myself. This 

works really well for the higher-end tours.” 

Sass works closely with the hotels in 

Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Amelia Island 

and Ponte Vedra. “I’m used as kind of a 

resource by salespeople when they’re selling 

the area.” He’ll even [Continued on page 96] 


Some of the “smart city” 

features along the Bay 

Street Innovation Corridor 

include powering signals 

and lights with electricity 

generated in the sidewalk 

using solar panels. 

The future is 

T 

almost here 

The Bay Street Innovation Corridor is moving 

Downtown closer to becoming a ‘smart city’ 

here is an incredible near-future vision for 

transportation on Bay Street. 

Self-driving public shuttles will roam 

up and down the corridor. Street lights 

will brighten for passersby and then dim 

to save energy. Stoplights will dynamically 

adjust to traffic conditions. If a sensor on 

a light pole detects shots fired, a camera 

tethered to police dispatch will switch on 

By CAROLE HAWKINS // Illustration by THE BAY JAX 

to capture the event. 

It all seemed Jetsons until last year, when the Bay 

Street Innovation Corridor got its first capital infusion — 

half of a $25 million federal grant paired with state and 

local matches. That money sent the Jacksonville Transportation 

Authority shopping for a fleet of autonomous 

vehicles for Bay Street. 

The Innovation Corridor is not just a collection of tech 

gadgets, though. It’s a more fundamental shift to a city 

86 


that runs smarter and leaner by plugging 

its assets into the Internet of Things. In that 

broader tale, The Innovation Corridor is 

neither the first act nor that final scene. 

The Internet of Things has been quietly 

developing in Jacksonville for over a decade. 

Its future is much larger than a 3-mile stretch 

of Downtown roadway. 

North Florida gets smart 

The Internet’s worldwide network of 

computers and devices has for decades 

provided information to people. Now the Internet 

is being used for things to provide information 

to other things. Any object armed 

with a sensor and a microchip can collect 

data about its environment and broadcast it 

to the Internet. 

The more objects get connected to one 

another this way, the more they can react 

to things around them without human 

intervention. When the Internet of Things is 

used to perform municipal services, that city 

is called a Smart City. Parking spaces can tell 

you when they are empty. Trashcans can tell 

you when they are full. 

The Internet of Things seems incredible, 

but it’s also believable. That’s because it’s 

already happening in Jacksonville. 

For years the North Florida Transportation 

Planning Organization has been using 

swaths of remote sensors to collect bits of 

traffic data. It all started 15 years ago, long 

before the Internet of Things was…well, a 

thing. 

“We needed transit to become more 

efficient,” said Jeff Sheffield, executive 

director of the TPO. “We are not going to be 

able to build enough roads to fulfill all of our 

transportation needs.” 

So, transportation engineers deployed 

hundreds of infrared sensors and Bluetooth 

receivers along highways. The pings 

of data the TPO now collects from moving 

vehicles feed a traffic app that tells commuters 

which route to work is quickest. The 

data also inform those smart highway signs 

that warn travelers of a disabled vehicle 

ahead. 

Mission control for all of this traffic data 

is a little known facility on Jefferson Street 

— a 6,500-square-foot Regional Transportation 

Management Center. Sheffield 

stands in the middle of it, arms outstretched 

as he presents the achievement. 

The floor is divided into workplace 

“pods,” each with its own array of computer 

terminals. The walls of the room are lined 

at both ends with monitors. 

Some display live feeds from Interstate 

Highway traffic cameras. Others light up 

highway routes in green, yellow and red, 

according to congestion. One tracks the 

GPS position of Road Rangers — a fleet 

of repair trucks that respond when a car 

breaks down on the highway. Another 

monitor lists wind speeds on bridges. 

“If conditions go out of the norm, an 

alarm is sent to the relevant agency,” Sheffield 

said. “They don’t have to watch every 

minute.” 

All of this input helps the TPO with its 

operations, certainly. From this building, 

transportation managers can reprogram 

stoplights remotely, aligning them with 

measured shifts in traffic demand. 

The real power of the Internet of Things 

happens when data is shared, though, 

Sheffield said. He makes a case that’s already 

begun, though in an analog kind of a way. 

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Florida 

Highway Patrol, Fish and Wildlife and state 

Department of Transportation all maintain 

teams at the transportation center. 

“It helps them to react a little bit sooner,” 

Sheffield said. “We found with first responders, 

all of us are asking a lot of the same 

questions.” 

When an accident occurs, police can 

dispatch officers to the scene. During a hurricane, 

winds can be measured, evacuations 

can be managed and incidents monitored. 

The data from the Regional Transportation 

Management Center connect to a larger 

statewide network, too. When Hurricane 

Dorian threatened South Florida last summer, 

the Florida Department of Transportation 

evacuated its transportation management 

center in Miami and relocated the staff 

to Jacksonville. From that safe distance they 

could “listen” to pings of data from South 

Florida sensors. 

Petri dish for a Smart Region 

Today’s accomplishments are just one 

small step toward the Internet of Things. The 

giant leap is still to come. 

The North Florida TPO has teamed with 

the cities of Jacksonville and St. Augustine, 

the JTA and more than 100 public and 

private partners to form a Smart Region 

Coalition. Its aim is to transform Northeast 

Florida into a place [Continued on page 97] 

BOB SELF 

Jeff Sheffield, Executive Director of the North 

Florida TPO, stands at a bank of monitors showing 

real time traffic camera feeds and other traffic data 

at the operations center on North Jefferson Street.

Parking 

Squeeze 

With the Brooklyn area bustling, finding 

a place to park is becoming a challenge 

By CAROLE HAWKINS 

Katherine Naugle works out of her 

law office in Riverside, so Brooklyn is a 

convenient place for her to shop over the 

lunch hour. But there are days when it can 

take her 10 minutes to track down a place 

to park at The Fresh Market. 

“It’s getting to be like Five Points,” she 

said. “I have to circle and watch to find a 

spot.” 

Damien LaMar Robinson, who works at 

the Garden Club, visits The Fresh Market a 

couple of times a week. 

“Whenever I come here, I say ‘There 

is going to be a spot for me to park.’ And I 

will it to be there,” he said laughing. “There 

have been times when I’ve had to park all 

the way down at the end of the [next center’s 

lot], though, and walk over here.” 

It doesn’t faze him. On Wednesdays 

there’s a sushi special he likes — $5 for a 

whole roll. Naugle keeps coming back, too. 

“I’m willing to put up with the difficult 

parking, because I enjoy The Fresh Market 

and the restaurants. I love having all of this 

here,” she said. 

If someone six years ago had forecast 

a parking squeeze for Brooklyn, everyone 

would have laughed. That was before two 

large apartment complexes came online, 

and before Brooklyn Station opened and 

brought next-generation shopping and 

dining. And before the YMCA replaced its 

aging, worn building with a destination 

community and fitness center. 

The surging popularity of Brooklyn has made 

it increasingly difficult to find a parking place – 

especially in The Fresh Market lot. 

“I honestly am impressed by the 

growth. This area is booming,” said Tim 

Burrows, executive director of Brooklyn’s 

Winston Family YMCA. 

When the Y’s new building opened in 

2016, its leaders predicted membership 

would rise from 5,000 to 15,000 in six years. 

Instead, it happened in three. 

Brooklyn’s progress as a walkable urban 

district has been exciting. But with success 

comes growing pains. Brooklyn’s parking 

is nearly maxed out. A parking study 

delivered by a city consultant last summer 

shows there are parts of the workweek 

when Brooklyn has only eight extra public 

spaces. 

“Eight really isn’t a large supply,” said 

Lori Boyer, CEO of the Downtown Investment 

Authority. “Not if you’re talking about 

some new construction coming in. There 

are some places [Downtown] that have 150 

extra spaces. But Brooklyn is quite tight.” 

And more construction is coming to 

Brooklyn. 

The retail center is expanding. Panera 

Bread and Chipotle will soon move in. 

A seven-story Residence Inn by Marriott 

is planned just west of Unity Plaza. 

A third apartment complex that’s under 

construction — Vista [Continued on page 95] 

WILL DICKEY 

88 


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wecanhelp@jacksonville.com

The morning shadow from 

the Duval County Courthouse 

cuts across the boarded up 

facade of the building at 324 

North Broad St. 

CORE 

EYESORE 

RAMSHACKLE BUILDING 

ADDING TO CORE BLIGHT 

324 N. BROAD ST. 

Two years ago, the city received an 

offer to purchase a vacant property at 

324 N. Broad St. near the Duval County 

Courthouse. 

The investors wanted to spend almost 

$700,000 on the property to turn it into 

a ground floor restaurant with second 

floor office space. 

Sadly, outrageously, a committee of the 

90 


Downtown Investment Authority turned 

down the offer. 

An appraisal said the property was 

worth $180,000. That was an incredible 

number given the fact that the city bought 

it in 1994 for $34,300 and that three 

bidders offered just $3,000, $9,000 and 

$10,000. 

How the building could be worth 

$180,000 was a mystery given that the 

roof had collapsed and the interior was a 

mess. 

So faced with that disparity between 

an appraisal and three legitimate offers, 

the committee backed down. There was 

a concern that the city was being lowballed. 

But when an appraisal differs from 

real bid prices, which number should get 

higher priority? That’s obvious, cash in 

hand gets priority. 

What if the city sold the property for 

one dollar? So what? Instead, a $700,000 

investment was turned down. 

Developer Rafael Caldera told the Financial 

News and Daily Record, “That’s it 

for me. This is going [Continued on page 95] 


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 

By Lilla Ross 

Building a 

Downtown 

community 

Creating a vibrant neighborhood is 

a calling for Cathedral District-Jax 

n the 1960s, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral 

I decided to invest in Downtown Jacksonville. The 

initial efforts occurred under the leadership of 

Dean Robert Parks, who built three high-rises for seniors 

and a rehabilitation center. 

GINNY 

MYRICK 

WORK: President & CEO 

of Cathedral District-Jax 

FROM: Syracuse, N.Y. 

LIVES IN: St. Nicholas 

They have continued under 

Dean Kate Moorehead with the 

establishment of Cathedral District-Jax, 

a nonprofit under the 

leadership of Ginny Myrick. 

The mission of Cathedral District-Jax 

is to help develop a residential 

neighborhood around the Cathedral. Its first project was the acquisition 

of the old Community Connections property at 325 E. Duval St. The 

property was entangled with loans in default and state restrictions that 

limited how it could be developed. Myrick was able to untangle it all, 

and Vestcor has now taken on the project to develop workforce and 

affordable housing. Vestcor has bought 75 percent of the property 

and is working toward closing on the remaining 25 percent. 

I sat down with Dean Kate and Ginny to talk about their 

vision for the Cathedral District and Downtown. 

Dean Kate: It’s a fascinating time Downtown. We have people 

who are leaving and people who are expanding and developing. We 

are standing strong, especially with First Baptist selling 10 blocks. The 

Cathedral has really been about feeling called by God to be Downtown. 

We believe God is calling us to create a community and a neighborhood. 

In the ’60s and ’70s, the Cathedral stayed when all that urban 

flight was going on. We built all these nonprofits around us in an effort 

to do Jesus’ work, but what we didn’t realize was we were creating 

urban blight because there was no tax base. So, all of our properties 

92 


are nonprofits. We have 635 apartments for the elderly, we have a nursing 

home, a school, a medical clinic. The Sulzbacher Center was built 

by one of our members. So all of these are wonderful things, but none 

of them pay any taxes. 

So, when I came a decade ago, Ginny and I started having breakfast 

and then we started praying with a group of people and the first 

thing we realized was, we think God is calling people to move back in 

with the poor. You know we’ve been ministering to the people who 

were left Downtown basically, but we need people living with them 

and among them. That’s what’s going to make a real change and 

transformation. 

Ginny: The dean came to me and said, I’d like to figure out what to 

do about the neighborhood all around the Cathedral. One of her best 

lines was, “I know we have to do something but I’m not sure exactly 

what it is. They don’t teach you this in priest school.” 

So what she did was find people who knew how to do this. It’s a 

triad between the government, a local investor and a nonprofit and 

others, in order to put that capital stock together. We brought in the 

Urban Land Institute, which gave us the roadmap and we have been 

following that roadmap since the beginning. 

Dean Kate: One of the nonprofits we birthed is Aging True, which 

owns the high-rises, and they’re planning on building another building 

with more residential, Ashley Square. It’s important to note that we are 

committed to affordable housing, but we’re also doing market rate, 

because I really do want to create a diversity of income strata in the 

neighborhood. 

I know you there was talk earlier about bringing a school to the 

Cathedral District. How’s that coming? 

Ginny: Well, we’re back to square one. The charter school company 

that we were working with has elected not to move forward 

with another campus. They had 

applied to the School Board to 

open two new schools, one of 

them was ours. But it was rejected. 

So, I’m back looking for another 

charter school, and I’ve had 

two interviews so far with people 

who have heard we’re looking. 

We’ve identified three sites. Our 

goal is to do a K-8 school. There’s a lot of potential there. 

DEAN KATE 

MOOREHEAD 

WORK: Dean of St. John’s 

Episcopal Cathedral 

FROM: New Haven, Conn. 

LIVES IN: Avondale 

Dean Kate: We did a study with UNF that determined that there 

are many people who would want to send their children to school near 

their workplace here in the urban core. There’s a lot of demand. 

BOB SELF 

Who do you see as being interested in living in the Cathedral District? 

Ginny: This particular neighborhood, the Cathedral District 

neighborhood, has historically and will in the future be the affordable 

neighborhood. We are never going to be the high price point on the 

river, such as what you have on the Southbank, or in the Northbank 

with the Berkman and hopefully others. But what is about to burst 

open is what Shad Khan is going to do along the waterfront, which will 

require literally thousands of employees who are not capable of living 

in a high-end apartment or a high-end condo. They will be walking 

distance, within three blocks of the Cathedral District. So they are the 

target market. Right now, there are about 800 people in the Cathedral 

District, including the senior high-rises, and I think that number could 

be a couple of thousand. 


One of the unique aspects of Downtown is 

you’ve got people living in penthouses and you 

have people living on the streets and everything 

in between. You want to create a neighborhood 

and a culture around that. How do you do that? 

Dean Kate: Well, you create an attractive, 

beautiful space. You fill in the parking lots, half 

of our land is surface parking lot, which makes 

people feel insecure. I did a funeral three weeks 

ago and a woman in her 50s came to me and said 

she hadn’t been Downtown in 25 years because 

she was frightened to come Downtown. And most 

of that is myth. It’s not dangerous Downtown. 

The crime rate is not high, but there’s this sense of 

emptiness. So the first thing we need to do is fill in 

the gaps and build. And then, from a theological 

perspective in the Christian tradition, we believe 

that God is Trinity which is Father, Son and Holy 

Spirit, which is community. So, we’re called to 

build community, that’s what God wants for us. 

God doesn’t want people living in isolation. 

True community involves diversity. We learn 

from people who are different from us, who have 

different socio-economic experiences and races 

and cultures. So, our vision is to fill in the empty 

gaps with parks, trees, buildings. Build residential 

first and then retail and create some kind of 

economic and socio-economic diversity so that 

people can come to know each other. Get them 

out walking, get them out onto the streets. Right 

now the traffic is so fast on some of those thoroughfares 

that our elderly people push the button 

to walk across the street and they can’t get to the 

other side. It’s literally dangerous. 

And it’s also kind of an environmental issue 

as well. We want people back outside. We want 

some green space. Ginny has figured out a way to 

plant 100 trees. I particularly feel passionate about 

these elderly people. They can’t walk because it’s 

too dangerous, not in terms of crime but in terms 

of the speed of the traffic. Where do they go? 

Where is there grass or a garden? There’s nothing 

for them so then they get isolated, then they get 

depressed. And that’s not what we want. 

Ginny: Our master development plan has 

residential on Duval and Church. Right now those 

streets are one-way going the opposite direction. 

So if you can two-way those streets, you immediately 

slow down the traffic tremendously and 

create a neighborhood where you’ve got sidewalks 

capable of handling people on both sides. The city 

has done a pretty good job recently of putting in 

what I would refer to as temporary crossing places 

with a flashing light. There’s one right in front of 

FIS on Riverside Avenue. It says pedestrians are 

going across here, and everybody slows down for 

them. We’ve been talking about two-way streets 

Downtown for many, many years, and I’m hoping, 

[DIA CEO] Lori Boyer is on a fast track to do it. 

Another part of our mission is to develop a 

sense of a neighborhood, a sense of place. So to 

“What is 

about to burst 

open is what 

Shad Khan 

is going to 

do along the 

waterfront, 

which will 

require 

literally 

thousands of 

employees 

who are not 

capable of 

living in a 

high-end 

apartment or 

a high-end 

condo.” 

DEAN KATE 

MOOREHEAD 

that end, we have engaged Linda Crofton who’s 

come on our staff. Her first big event in December 

is called Christmas in the Cathedral District. All 

five churches are participating. It’s an evening 

event with different kinds of music, a street fair 

and food trucks. 

And then there’s a biking group that’s coming 

in the spring to Jacksonville for a big conference, 

and they asked if they could use a route in the 

Cathedral District. And we said, absolutely. So 

that’s going to be the second event where we bring 

the neighbors out. 

Dean Kate: We also want to utilize what we 

already have. St. John’s Cathedral is an architectural 

jewel that a lot of people have not been in. So 

we’re now doing regular art exhibits. We’ve got a 

lot more partnerships. We have a new bookstore 

in a home across the street from the Cathedral. 

We’re trying to utilize our space more. We’re 

doing more music events. So, we hope to just use 

this beautiful building for lots of different kinds of 

things, not just worship. We’re hosting Olivia’s Tea 

Party. It’s a nonprofit where they take homeless 

girls and throw a huge beautiful tea party for them 

and get them beautiful dresses and teach them 

etiquette. Just all these gorgeous things you can 

do in a Cathedral. 

Cathedrals are the traditional centers of a 

village with all kinds of diversity within it. That’s 

where universities were born. There were schools. 

There were hospitals. There was art and music. So, 

we’re really harkening back to something that’s 

very ancient, and worked for a long time. 

You all talked about some of the impediments to 

getting things done. What would you like to see 

to break through some of those impediments? 

Dean Kate: We should say that we’re thankful 

for the Jessie Ball du Pont Fund because without 

their help, I don’t know if we could have done 

all this. But we also think that city government 

should not be an obstacle to this kind of development. 

They should find a way to make it easier 

on us. Ginny has had to work really, really hard, 

and to jump through too many hoops. And if it 

wasn’t for the fact that we feel called by God to 

do this, we would never have been able to do it 

if we weren’t funded by du Pont, had a strong 

congregation and a real strong vision. We would 

have given up a long time ago. It shouldn’t be 

that hard. We should be all on the same team. I 

believe everyone wants this Downtown to thrive. 

We want the city to be a healthy city, to have a vibrant 

urban core. So how could we possibly make 

it easier on all the nonprofits, all the groups that 

are trying hard to make this city more beautiful 

and more vibrant? We could do a better job in 

process. 

LILA ROSS, a former news editor at the Times-Union, 


94 


Parking 

Continued from page 88 

Brooklyn — will bring 300 more units. 

Businesses are feeling pressured now, 

even without these new developments. 

The Fresh Market has explored valet 

parking. 

“We retained a broker and looked for 

land we could lease, but we weren’t successful,” 

said company spokeswoman Meghan 

Flynn. The land that surrounds the shopping 

center was once residential, and most of it is 

still privately owned. 

Regency Centers is The Fresh Market’s 

landlord and Brooklyn Station’s owner. They 

are looking for answers to the center’s parking 

challenges, spokesman Jan Hanak said. 

It’s not a situation that is putting store 

owners at risk, though. Instead, it’s the kind 

of problem that’s nice to have. 

“When a retail center is really successful, 

it usually means there’s congestion,” Hanak 

said. “And right now that’s a very, very successful 

area to be in.” 

Across the street, the YMCA is troubleshooting 

parking issues, too. Its 300-space lot 

sees high demand in the early months of the 

year and during the summer. 

Leadership is thinking of adding gates to 

the entrances. The purpose, said Burrows 

would be to give priority to members, not 

to keep everyone else out. Non-members 

would pay a fee to park. 

“I think we’re one of the last public lots in 

the area that doesn’t have gated parking,” he 

said. “This is a way we could honestly recoup 

a return on whatever parking solution we 

decide to put in.” 

Brooklyn’s business owners are working 

to craft solutions for their own patrons. 

They are less clear about how to create more 

capacity for the district as a whole. 

A road diet along Riverside could help. 

The purpose of a road diet is to slow traffic, 

but it also would close lanes that could be 

repurposed as parking spaces. 

Or perhaps, extend the Skyway to 

Brooklyn. The Jacksonville Transportation 

Authority has long planned to do so. 

DIA’s Boyer said neither of these are 

near-term solutions. Riverside has too much 

traffic to shut down lanes. And the Skyway 

expansion will take 10 years. 

Ultimately, it’s up to new building owners 

to plan for their parking needs, she said. 

A public parking garage is too expensive a 

solution for the city to spearhead. The city 

couldn’t recoup the costs of building one as 

easily as a business, which is supported by 

shoppers, hotel guests or renters. 

Boyer does see a role for the city to play, 

though. 

“I don’t see it as the city’s responsibility to 

provide all the parking. I do see it as our responsibility 

to coordinate, assist and manage 

a parking strategy,” she said. 

Even if a road diet may not be in the cards 

for Riverside Avenue, the city is planning to 

make improvements to Forest Street that will 

add parking spaces. 

When developers were designing the 

footprint for the new Panera-anchored 

building, the city negotiated a land swap. 

The deal earned Jacksonville a new 39-space 

public parking lot on the developer’s dime. 

As new apartments, hotels and stores are 

designed, the city during the review process 

will encourage them to overbuild on parking, 

Boyer said, and to designate the extra spaces 

for the public. 

Another strategy Boyer likes is asking 

companies to make their private parking 

spaces public during off-peak hours. When 

different types of businesses collaborate on 

parking, synergies are possible. 

Apartment parking lots are full at night, 

but have open spaces during the day. Offices 

have parking lots that are full during the 

workweek, but empty during the evenings 

and on weekends. 

It was that kind of thinking that was behind 

a deal the city struck with Florida Blue. 

The company plans to build an 869-space 

parking lot for its employees just two blocks 

away from The Fresh Market. 

The city granted Florida Blue the land 

to build upon and $3.5 million toward 

construction. In exchange, the garage will be 

used as public parking on weekday evenings 

and on weekends. 

Boyer said she’s looking for more 

opportunities like that in Brooklyn. It’s not 

something she’s losing sleep over, though. 

“I’m not getting calls from people complaining 

about parking in Brooklyn,” she 

said. “The numbers in the study say we’re 

tight. We know we’re tight. So we’re trying to 

be responsive.” 

Fresh Market fans like Naugle and Robinson 

may be circling for parking these days. 

But so far, it hasn’t kept them from shopping 

there. 

Hopefully, it will continue that way, because 

with the new developments coming in 

Brooklyn, parking will get even tighter. 

The city needs to keep ahead of a good 

problem. 

CAROLE HAWKINS was a reporter for the 

Times-Union’s Georgia bureau in 2007-10. She is a 

freelance writer who lives in Murray Hill 

Core Eyesore 


to sit here for another few years, empty, in 

my opinion.” 

He was right. Two years have passed and 

that property remains vacant. 

We’re not accusing the committee 

members of any malfeasance, simply poor 

judgment. The sad fact is that this space 

remains vacant. 

If that property had been redeveloped, 

there is a good chance that it would have 

spurred other redevelopment nearby. 

Instead, that entire block remains another 

sad example of Downtown’s depression. 

Despite the fact that there is much activity 

in Downtown Jacksonville, there still are far 

too many vacant buildings, many of them 

owned by government near the Central 

Business District. 

A study commissioned by the Jessie Ball 

DuPont Fund revealed that 1 in 7 buildings 

Downtown are vacant. 

Yet we have become so used to seeing 

them that we pass them every day. 

Rather than being shocked and spurred 

to action, the city has looked the other way. 

Even if 324 N. Broad St. had been redeveloped, 

it would take decades to fill all of the 

vacant buildings at this one-off basis. 

What Jacksonville needs is something 

dramatic, a massive sale of its vacant properties. 

Here again, J magazine published a 

proposal by developer Mike Balanky in our 

Q&A feature. 

Balanky suggested that a real estate 

company like CBRE come up with the 

best use of all of the vacant properties. The 

company would do that in return for having 

the listings. 

Then the city would make a huge marketing 

campaign. Come on down, America, to 

one of the hottest Downtowns in the nation. 

We’re having a big sale! Buy this property 

before it’s gone! 

“This needs to be a marketing business 

on steroids,” Balanky said. Right now, it’s on 

life support. 

Lori Boyer, the new CEO of the Downtown 

Investment Authority, started her job 

running so there is hope here. 

But the job of J magazine is to push for 

progress. And we can’t wait another two 

years or a generation for Downtown’s empty 

buildings to be developed. 

It’s worth repeating. One in seven Downtown 

buildings are empty. 

We need bold, dramatic progress. 

MIKE CLARK 


Tunnel 


dress up in period garb from time to time. 

Ad Lib runs a number of tours in and 

around the city, but is probably best-known 

for tours of the Downtown tunnel system, 

which dates back over a century. 

“There is a whole underground system, 

much of which is connected,” he said. 

Most of the tunnel system was devised 

to facilitate cash transfers among the banks 

that flourished Downtown in the early 1900s. 

By his estimate, less than 5 percent of that 

system is currently accessible to the public. 

They’re now used mainly for storage and 

closed off, but a lot of the beautiful vault 

doors remain intact. 

When you step inside, you are immediately 

transported back in time, to a bygone 

era of horse carts and fine masonic craftsmanship. 

With artificial light reflecting of 

those brass doors, the nose is drawn in by 

the moist, musty smell of concrete, paper 

and steel, materials that predate the memories 

of anyone still living. It is the smell of old 

money, literally, and it’s easy to imagine the 

kind of business that used to get done down 

here. 

Largely unknown to the general public, 

these beautiful tunnels have lingered in 

obscurity and disrepair for generations, but 

long ago attained a sort of legendary status. 

For decades, their existence could only be 

confirmed by the whispers of old-timers, but 

Gary Sass has single-handedly brought them 

back to prominence. 

Linking this network, and exposing its 

hidden beauty to the public is, for Sass, the 

ultimate goal. 

“I could do a complete underground tour 

in Jacksonville,” he said, “and it would be the 

best tour in the whole Southeast if I had cooperation 

from the community and the city.” 

Obtaining that level of cooperation 

among so many competing interests is, as always, 

a Herculean task, but where others see 

empty space, Sass sees lost opportunities. 

“When we had our 450th anniversary, 

in 2014, there was a little celebration at City 

Hall, and most people didn’t even know 

about it,” he said. “There were maybe a 

couple hundred people, and that was pretty 

much it. St Augustine celebrated for a whole 

year, maybe a year and a half.” 

The company may be called Ad Lib, but 

there nothing ad hoc about these productions. 

In fact, the amount of time put 

into planning and logistics borders on the 

obsessive, and he wouldn’t have it any other 

way. Some tour guides are just showing off, 

he said. 

“It’s not about how much I know. It’s 

about what I know that is going to make a 

difference in those people.” 

FOR SASS, THIS IS MORE THAN 

just a job; it’s an adventure. All the thousands 

of hours running tours Downtown 

have done nothing to diminish his own fascination 

with the city and its complex, often 

confusing history, and that passion helps 

keep his tours fresh and compelling. 

“I can do 10 different walking tours 

from the Downtown hotels,” said Sass, who 

also writes about local history for various 

publications. 

There is virtually no limit to the subjects 

he can cover, but he also allows clients to 

customize their tours, narrowing the focus 

to a particular era or theme. He does a tour 

of the Main Library Downtown, for example, 

that runs more than an hour. 

Sass views his own business as symbiotic 

with the city’s overall agenda for increased 

growth and development Downtown. For 

civic leaders, these tours are some of the 

most effective promotions that money 

can buy, especially given that it costs them 

nothing. 

And there is so much more that Sass 

would like to do, but his vision is limited by 

the stubborn intransigence of his wouldbe 

partners in the business community, 

some of whom have thrown up obstacles 

to his plans. In theory, any property owner 

would welcome a steady stream of potential 

customers in and around their buildings, but 

that has proven untrue to a surprising extent. 

Some folks view him as an interloper, 

others as an outright pest, but in reality 

Sass is one of the most enthusiastic cheerleaders 

this city has ever had, and he seems 

to care about Downtown and its future 

more than many people who were actually 

born here. 

For example, he is probably not the only 

resident who has a dog named “Bowden”, 

but the namesake in actually not the football 

coach, but one of our most obscure former 

mayors, J.E.T. Bowden, whose brief term 

coincided with the Great Fire. 

Sass’ advocacy for using the city’s past 

to help drive economic growth, by basically 

providing free advertising for its existing and 

future ventures, reflects an emerging bipartisan 

consensus typified by prominent citizens 

like Steve Williams, Matt Carlucci and 

A group from the Bolles School looks at old safety 

deposit boxes during a tour of Downtown tunnels. 

Stephen Dare, each of whom has pushed 

aggressively (in their way) for monetizing 

local history in recent months. 

Gilmore has written a series of books 

(and the indispensable Jax Psycho Geo blog) 

chronicling specific and lesser-recognized 

aspects of local history, and Mike Tolbert’s 

new book about Jake Godbold vividly 

chronicles the city during perhaps its most 

aspirational era. 

They say that everything old is new 

again, and Gary Sass is proving that aphorism 

to be true on an almost daily basis. 

SHELTON HULL has written for Folio Weekly 

for 22 years. He also appears regularly on WJCT. 

He lives in Riverside. 

WILL DICKEY 

96 


Innovation 


where the Internet of Things helps people 

and traffic move safely and seamlessly. 

A 33-project Smart Region Master Plan 

authored by the TPO shows just how much 

little bits of data stand to change life in 

Northeast Florida. 

There’s an app to find parking spaces 

in St. Augustine and another app to locate 

vehicles belonging to government fleets in 

Clay County. 

Smart traffic signals give priority to trucks 

on Hecksher Drive and to city buses along 

main arteries. 

Alerts are sent to ambulances, warning 

them when rail crossing gates block the 

usual routes to Baptist Medical Center, and 

alternate routes are broadcast. 

Within the context of this larger plan, 

the Bay Street Innovation Corridor is not 

a keystone project. It’s the Petri dish. It’s a 

place where the Internet of Things technology 

can be tested, and then deployed to scale 

in other places. 

Autonomous vehicles for Bay Street? 

The same technology is proposed as a way 

to shuttle passengers around the St. Johns 

Town Center, The University of North Florida 

and Naval Air Station Jacksonville. 

Flood sensors to measure waters rising 

on streets? San Marco, the banks of McCoys 

Creek and St. Augustine are flood-prone 

areas where the same sensors could be used. 

Pedestrian sensors could tell traffic lights 

and drivers on State and Union streets when 

people are crossing. Duval County’s A1A 

corridor is another traffic-laden place where 

pedestrian sensors could be used. 

Internet of Things NERVE CENTER 

When it comes to creating the Internet of 

Things across a four-county region, there are 

a lot of disparate parts. Those parts all connect 

at the Regional Transportation Management 

Center. Just like the data blips sent 

by today’s traffic sensors, the Smart Region 

Master Plan sensors route all the new bits of 

data back to the center. That infrastructure 

creates another possibility. 

The center is in a good position to 

become a nerve center for the region’s 

Internet of Things data. Having data stored 

in one centralized location means it could be 

analyzed as a whole. It could also be shared 

with the public. That would allow third-party 

app developers to create their own traffic 

Banks of monitors are mounted on the walls of 

the Transit Operations Center showing live traffic 

camera feeds and data from around North Florida. 

solutions for a transit hungry public. 

The same data that’s used to promote 

safe, convenient transportation could also 

potentially be connected to data from other 

organizations — for example, in the healthcare 

or human services space — to solve 

community problems as yet unimagined. 

To that end, the Innovation Corridor 

has one other role. It’s a Petri dish, yes. But 

it’s also a small and focused view of what a 

brave new data-connected world might look 

like. 

Imagine it. 

CAROLE HAWKINS was a reporter for the 

Times-Union’s Georgia bureau in 2007-10. She is a 

freelance writer who lives in Murray Hill. 

BOB SELF 

When will the Innovation Corridor get ‘smart?’ 

Things got exciting last year when the 

U.S. Department of Transportation awarded 

the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and 

the city a $25 million BUILD grant. The city 

will use its half of the money to lower the 

Hart Bridge ramp to street level. JTA will use 

the other half for the Innovation Corridor. 

JTA is currently in the design phase of its 

plans to purchase autonomous vehicles, said 

Bernard Schmidt, JTA vice president of Automation. 

JTA says in its grant that the entire 

project will be done by the end of 2021. 

The autonomous vehicles will be 

dedicated to one lane on Bay Street, and 

that lane will be shared by other vehicles, 

according to Schmidt. The shuttles will 

be type 3AVs, which is a no-hands, nofoot-on-the-pedal 

level of automation. An 

attendant will monitor operation and take 

control of the vehicle, if needed. 

The vehicles will use radar, sonar and 

LIDAR to detect and avoid obstacles. Smart 

connectivity will let vehicles “talk” to traffic 

lights to find out whether they are red, 

yellow or green. 

“They will have an enormous amount of 

flexibility. They’ll have the ability to see the 

road and react,” said Schmidt. “We’ll also be 

able to make route changes, and we’ll have 

the ability to increase or decrease levels of 

service. For customers, it will be very different 

experience.” 

That’s incredible. 

What about the corridor’s other smart 

technology, smart traffic lights or pedestrian 

sensors? There, the news is quiet. The TPO’s 

Sheffield believes JTA, as the grant administrator, 

will be doing that part. 

JTA’s Schmidt believes the city will be 

doing it. Or the TPO. 

The grant narrative submitted by JTA lists 

“dynamic connected signals, smart lighting, 

pedestrian sensors, and flood warning 

sensors” as part of its Innovation Corridor 

project. And the TPO, city, and JEA are listed 

as partner agencies, each with roles. 

But finding the agency that will pick up 

the rest of Bay Street’s smart features, and 

the dollars that will pay for them, seems a bit 

of a shell game. That’s too bad. 

A smart corridor was the vision pitched 

to the public, and also the commitment 

made in the grant narrative. AVs are an exciting 

step forward. 

Jacksonville needs to follow through with 

the rest. 

CAROLE HAWKINS 


THE FINAL WORD 

Collaboration 

key to success 

Downtown 

ERIC 

MANN 

PHONE 

(904) 265-1775 

owntown Jacksonville and its surrounding 

neighborhoods are clearly 

D 

on the verge of a great resurgence. 

New companies and restaurants are moving 

in, developers are breathing new life into 

historic properties and our elected officials 

and community leaders are focused on driving 

investment in the urban core. 

While there has been no magic pill to single-handedly 

reinvigorate Downtown Jacksonville, community 

collaboration among public, private and civic organizations 

has been key to transforming Downtown into 

a hub of business, culture and entertainment. No one 

organization can do everything, but when organizations 

come together and do what they do best, we can move 

our city forward. 

For more than 110 years, the First Coast YMCA has 

played a vital role in helping people live their healthiest 

lives. Our mission started in Downtown Jacksonville in 

1908 with just 12 members on the corner of Laura and 

Duval streets. 

Now we have 13 membership facilities, one resident 

camp, one charter elementary school, 40 school-based 

child care sites, two facilities for people with development 

disabilities and two youth development campuses 

on the First Coast. 

But while the Y’s footprint has expanded geographically, 

our commitment to Downtown Jacksonville and 

its surrounding neighborhoods remains steadfast. 

We firmly believe a strong and successful urban core 

must have direct access to community programs and 

resources that promote a healthy lifestyle. This is why our 

flagship branch, the Winston Family YMCA — formerly 

the Yates YMCA — is located not even a mile from Downtown 

and was designed as a total wellness destination. 

This advanced the Y’s mission and brought critical 

youth development and healthy living programs into 

downtown and its neighboring communities of Riverside, 

Springfield and Brooklyn. 

The Winston Family Y is a prime example of how 

the First Coast Y collaborated with like-minded health 

care organizations to advance our mission. Through key 

partnerships with Brooks Rehabilitation, Baptist Health 

and Florida Blue, the Winston Y’s Luther and Blanche 

Coggin Family Healthy Living Center was the first onestop 

place in the area to meet a spectrum of health and 

wellness needs, such as chronic illness and diabetes in 

the community. 

Its success has opened the door to new opportunities 

across the region, including partnerships with Baptist 

Health with new YMCA’s in North Jacksonville and 

Nocatee; Flagler Health+ with a new Y near World Golf 

Village; and with UF Health at the new Y at Wildlight in 

Nassau County. 

Just as Downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods 

are expanding, so must the Winston Y in order 

to meet the needs of our growing community and 

continue providing quality, impactful programs and 

services for all. 

Since opening its doors in 2016, the Winston Y’s 

membership base has exceeded growth expectations 

by five years. Last year, we announced a new capital 

campaign to expand Winston’s facility by adding an 

8,000 square-foot third floor rooftop wellness area — 

the first of its kind on the First Coast — in addition to 

expanding our current KidZone and adding a new, 

multi-generational space for teens and active older 

adults. 

As a nonprofit, the Y relies on gifts of time, talent 

and treasure to deliver on our promise to strengthen 

the community. Our long-term success depends 

on the enthusiastic support of our volunteer board 

leaders, the passionate servant leadership of our 

staff and the generosity of those who give to our 

cause. 

With 2020 on the horizon, the First Coast Y is excited 

about moving forward with our campaign to expand the 

Winston Y. We can’t do it alone. 

Donations to this project will ensure we can better 

serve our neighbors in Downtown Jacksonville and 

across Northeast Florida for generations to come. 

To learn more about how you can become involved, 

call (904) 265-1775 or visit this website, FCYMCA.org/ 

give. 

ERIC MANN is president and CEO, of YMCA of Florida’s First 

Coast. He lives on the Southside. 

98 


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Your family’s health is your top priority – that’s why you choose top-ranked care. 

Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one 

of the top five hospitals in Florida. We’re honored to know our commitment to 

excellent medical care is making news. 

It is a privilege to serve you. We thank you for putting your trust in us and we look 

forward to continuing to serve your medical needs.

Find your place in Jacksonville’s next 

great neighborhood. 

Visit livedowntownjax.com 

“There are so many hidden gems 

downtown. Get out and explore.” 

– Carolina Cavalcanti and Eric Flecha, 

Residents of The Carling

J Magazine Winter 2019

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