Riverfront Parks Now chair: Jacksonville must 'do it right' on former Landing site

As members of the Riverfront Parks Now steering committee, we share Mayor Donna Deegan’s determination to complete the construction of Riverfront Plaza park as soon as possible and to “do it right.” As she has said publicly, we all want the same thing — for our downtown to be successful and our riverfront to be welcoming.

We have reached out to the mayor to offer a roadmap to “do it right, do it now and do it all.” Our practical, specific recommendations are grounded in data showing that great public spaces can have much higher returns on investment than traditional development.

The former Jacksonville Landing site, currently called Riverfront Plaza, is the jewel of our downtown and we must treat it as such. Dozens of cities that we have studied (including Greenville, S.C., and Memphis, Tenn., and Tampa) have demonstrated that with a community-driven process, it is possible to create vibrant downtowns through the combination of major riverfront parks, connected trails and well-designed riverwalks.

These public spaces, when done well, lead to exciting adjacent development while also improving quality of life. None of the cities that we studied regretted prioritizing public space and many continue to add to their networks of greenspace, which have become a source of great civic pride and economic growth.

Unfortunately, plans for our key riverfront site have been overcomplicated due to wishful thinking that favors large private developments and city-owned, developed restaurants. For reference, the site of Riverfront Plaza is only slightly larger than Memorial Park in Riverside. Just imagine if Memorial Park included three separate restaurant buildings and a high-rise tower.

The desire to jam too many structures into this relatively small space has led to a piecemeal final design that is no longer iconic. But, we can still right this ship. We believe that it is time to move on from the outdated, development-only focused thinking and instead create a world-class riverfront park to provide an immediate needed boost to nearby existing commercial development.

Rather than seeking a different tower to replace the failed 44-story project, we believe the design of this park should be tweaked to allow for its completion within the next two years and return it to an iconic design that we can all be proud of and enjoy.

The Downtown Investment Authority is considering whether to commence a new tower development process for the northeastern corner. This will take many years to explore, design, review, approve, fund and construct (assuming it does not also stall due to current unfavorable interest rates) and would further increase the timeline.

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There is simply no need to endure continued delay hoping for the construction of a mid- to high-rise commercial development on this site when the economic forecast is not good. Especially when there are countless nearby lots and existing properties available for office, residential and hotel use.

If we wait on the next big thing that may never materialize, half of the park will be a dirt construction zone for an indefinite period. Is this what we want for the jewel of our downtown?

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Our primary recommendation is to refrain from trying to build any tower in what could and should be Jacksonville’s Central Park. Although this would require some level of redesign, we suggest a holistic approach — simplify the eastern half of the park, since it is much easier to change drawings than concrete.

Riverfront Parks Now believes that there are alternatives that will make better use of the space and delight visitors. We are hopeful that the mayor will consider our better, quicker, cheaper recommendations for an iconic park and we look forward to discussing them with her.

Let’s do it right, do it now and do it all.

Natalie Rosenberg, chairwoman, and members of the Riverfront Parks Now Steering Committee: Susan Caven, Bill Hoff, Barbara Ketchum, Michael Kirwan, Jimmy Orth, Ted Pappas and Nancy Powell.

This guest column is the opinion of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: No need to delay or build towers on Jacksonville Riverfront Plaza site