JACKSONVILLE | Urban and Metro Development News

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I am creating a Jacksonville P&C thread because it is surprising that for an MSA of 1.35 million with a 1.8% annual growth rate there isn’t one already.
As with many other cities Jacksonville had a mini boom of high rise and project completions this past decade. With the economy taking its toll,
things have slowed down tremendously, but may be picking back up within a couple of years.

Below is a map just of downtown projects, and just a shortlist.


Below is a map of Urban Jacksonville.


The List


Name | Use | Structural Height | Floors | Year

Recently Completed High Rises

1.
The Peninsula Res. 437 ft. 36 2006
2.
The Strand Res. 328 ft. 28 2005
3.
John Milton Bryan Federal Courthouse Gov. 285 ft. 14 2002
4.
Berkman Plaza 1 Res. ~230 ft. 22 2002
5.
San Marco Place Res. ~220 ft. 21 2006
6.
Everbank Plaza Office ~180 ft. 12 2008
7.
VillaRiva Condominiums Res. ~140 ft. 13 2005
8.
Marina San Pablo Tower 1 Res. ~130 ft. 12 2006
9.
Fidelity National Financial Expansion Office ~120 ft. 8 2005


Under Construction High Rises


1.
Wolfson's Children's Hospital Expansion Hosp. ~180 ft. 12 2012


Proposed and On-Hold High Rises


1.
The St. John Res. 582 ft. 51 Indefinitely Postponed
2.
The Vue Res. ~500 ft. 40 Indefinitely Postponed
3.
Berkman Plaza 2 Res. ~240 ft. 23 Indefinitely Delayed due to Construction Accident
4.
323 Duval Office ~168 ft. 12 Indefinitely Postponed


Adaptive Reuse Projects


Name | Year Built | Former Use | New Use | Floors | Year

1.
The Bank Hotel 1926 Office Hotel/Condo 18 Proposed
2.
11 East Forsyth 1926 Office Res. 17 2004
3.
City Place Lofts 1940s Senior Living Res. 16 2007
4.
The Carling 1926 Hotel Res. 13 2004
5.
Laura Trio (Florida Life Building) 1911 Office Res. 11 Proposed
6.
Laura Trio (Bisbee Building) 1908 Office Res. 10 Proposed
7.
Metropolitan Lofts Unknown Office Res. 10 2004
8.
Jake M. Godbold City Hall Annex 1908 Y.M.C.A. Gov. 7 2009
9.
Museum of Contemporary Art 1930 Office Museum 5 2004
10.
5 Points Theater Rehab 1920s Theater Theater/Offices 5 2007
11.
Churchwell Lofts 1905 Warehouse Res. 5 2008
12.
John Gorrie Middle School Conversion 1923 School Res. 4 UC
13.
Knight Lofts 1920s Office Res. 4 2002
14.
The Lofts San Marco 1916 School Res. 3 2002
15.
Ambassador Hotel 1910s Hotel Res. 5 Proposed


Urban Infill Projects - Completed, UC, Proposed


Name | Use | Neighborhood | Year

1.
1661 Riverside Mixed Use Riverside 2007
2.
Chelsea Lofts Res. Riverside 2008
3.
Villas of St. Johns Res. Riverside 2001
4.
1534 Oak Street Mixed Use Riverside Proposed
5.
Lofts at 3rd and Main Mixed Use Springfield 2008
6.
East San Marco Mixed Use San Marco On Hold
7.
Jackson Square Mixed Use San Marco Proposed TOD
8.
Brooklyn Park Mixed Use Brooklyn On Hold
9.
200 Riverside Mixed Use Brooklyn Site Preparation
10.
Alfred I. Dupont Trust Headquarters Office Brooklyn 2008
11.
245 Riverside Office Brooklyn 2004


Completed/UC Non-High Rise Projects


1.
Everbank Field Expansion and Renovation for the Superbowl; added Bud Zone, fixed up Touchdown Club and Endzone/Club seats, added more practice fields, added entertainment zone, added larger jumbotrons; cost $120 million; completed 2004
2.
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena; construction of new 15,000 seat $130 million arena; designed by HOK Sport; completed 2003
3.
Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville; construction of new 11,000 seat $34 million minor league baseball stadium for Jacksonville Suns, a feeder team to the Florida Marlins; designed by HOK Sport; completed 2003
4.
Main Library; construction of new 305,000 square foot central library; cost $95 million; architect Robert A.M. Stern; completed 2004
5.
Jacksonville Equestrian Center; construction of new facilities outside of Jacksonville with 4,000 seat arena and 80,000 square foot concourse, 2 outdoor arenas, and 477 stalls; completed 2003
6.
Duval County Courthouse; construction of new $350 million county courthouse with 800,000 square feet and 7 floors; under construction to be completed by 2011
7.
Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens Expansions; new Botanical Gardens and Range of the Jaguar as well as new permament exhibits showcasing Florida animals and habitats and Asian animals and Habitats; 7 new exhibits in all worth over $50 million
8.
Friendship Park Reconstruction; rehabilitate fountain to function and once more be among world's largest, break up concrete and add more greenspace and landscaping; cost $5 million; UC
9.
Jacksonville Farmers Market Reconstruction; reconstruct 2 new warehouses for stalls, a new restaurant; completed 2006
10.
Riverside Arts Market; completed a permanent art and farmers market under I-95 bridge and will connect with Riverside Park, will add a dock for the River Taxi and boats to bring more people, extended the Riverwalk to the market; completed projects in 2008 with the rest proposed
11.
Northbank Riverwalk Extension and Improvements; extended the Riverwalk to RAM/95 South in the south and past Berkman Plaza in the north, added landscaping and monuments to the Great Fire of 1901 and Congresswoman Tillie Fowler; completed 2004
12.
St. Johns Town Center; a new mall with 1.5 million square feet and tons of stores and restaurants new to the area; first two phases completed 2005 and 2008
13.
Baptist Hospital South; new 150-200 bed facility; 9 floors; first two phases completed in 2004 and 2008
14.
Mayo Clinic Hospital and Cannaday Plaza; new 6 floor 214 bed hospital addition to Mayo Clinic Florida with a proposed expansion of 10 more floors; completed 2006
15.
Ongoing UNF expansion; new student center and colleges and new dorms; 3-7 floors; ongoing
16.
Tapestry Park; new urbanist community with multiple phases, includes retail, condos, an Aloft Hotel, and a Hotel Indigo; complete 2011


Infrastructure Improvements


1.
Completion of I-295 around city; 4-8 lanes of interstate highway around city; completed 2006
2.
Completion of 95/295S Interchange; new $104 stack interchange connecting 3 roads; completed 2004
3.
Widening of J. Turner Butler Blvd; widening of highway from 95 to beaches from 4 lanes to 6-10 lanes; completed 2009
4.
Widening of 95; widened 95 north of the city from 4 lanes to 6 -8 lanes, construction of new bridge across Trout River; completed 2008
5.
New I-95 Fuller Warren Bridge; construction of new 8 lane bridge across St. Johns River to eliminate drawbridge traffic backup and capacity; completed 2002
6.
The Big I I-95/I-10 Interchange; construction of new $168 million interchange connecting the 12 lane I-10 beginning to the 8 lane 95; completed 2010
7.
I-10 widening; widened I-10 outside of the city from 4 lanes to 6 lanes; UC
8.
Jacksonville International Airport Expansion; 2 new concourses, an expanded ticketing/baggage terminal, centralized security, 2 new parking decks, reconfigured roads, reconstructed terminal hub; cost over $400 million total
9.
JTB/295 interchange; new $100 million stack interchange on the city's Southside; completed 2009
10.
Ongoing port projects; new $300 million terminal for Mitsui Lines, new $200 million terminal for Hanjin, $500 million dredging to add 3 ft. depth to channel to accomodate post-panamax ships, widening of Heckscher to 4 lanes and a median, new freight rail terminal, new cranes; ongoing continuously and billions of dollars a decade



-Renderings/Pictures (some pictures are mine, some pictures are taken from MetroJacksonville where the pictures were taken by either Lakelander or Ennis Davis)


Recently Completed


The Peninsula
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville


Views from the top




The Strand
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville





Both Peninsula and Strand together (my photo)



Bryan Simpson US Courthouse Wiki

The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



Berkman Plaza 1




San Marco Place
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



City Place Lofts
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



11 East Forsyth





Everbank Plaza

The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



Hyatt Regency Riverfront
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville

Photo taken from Hyatt’s website

Photo taken from Hotel Planner

Photo taken from Global Giants



VillaRiva

The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



The Carling




Marina San Pablo Tower 1



Fidelity National Financial Expansion

The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



Metropolitan Lofts



Kings Avenue Station
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Museum of Contemporary Art



245 Riverside
Photo taken from BKE Jax



Jake M. Godbold City Hall Annex



5 Points Theater Renovation
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville
Before:

After:



Alfred I. Dupont Trust Headquarters
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Churchwell Lofts
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




1661 Riverside
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Knight Lofts
Photo taken from Urban Core at The Urban Core Blog



Lofts on Main
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville





Chelsea Lofts
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Villas of St. Johns




Lofts at San Marco
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



Parks at the Cathedral

The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



Downtown Winn Dixie Renovation



Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville

My photos


The following photo from Marriott

The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville


The following photo taken from Barco Display Solutions



Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville
The following photos taken by Graham Knight at Baseball Pilgrimages


The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Jacksonville Main Library











Jacksonville Equestrian Center

Photo taken from Shaffereg



Northbank Riverwalk Additions




The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville





St. Johns Town Center Mall



















Baptist Health South



Mayo Clinic Hospital



UNF Additions
Library addition

New classroom building

New dorms

New student center



New health center



Tapestry Park
The following 5 photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville













New Southside Sheraton




95/10 Interchange: The Big I




95/295S Interchange



JTB/295 Interchange



New I-95 Fuller Warren Bridge



Weekly Riverside Arts Market
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville








New Fuller Warren I-95 Bridge with Riverside Arts Market beneath:



New Concourses at JIA
The following photo from Airtraffic-Alliance

The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Springfield Renovation to CPA Firm
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville
Before:

After:





Random Re-use and Renovation on Downtown Southbank
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Under Construction



Duval County Courthouse
The following 3 photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville




Garage:



Wolfson's Hospital Expansion





200 Riverside
Old Rendering:


New Rendering:





Friendship Fountain Park
Current:


Rendering:



John Gorrie School Conversion
The following 4 photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville







Berkman Plaza II - On Hold Because of Tragic Construction Accident
The following photo taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville



Greenland Energy Center Natural Gas Plant






Proposed Projects


The St. John, a Hines Project




The Vu



The Bank Hotel
Current:



Renderings:




Laura Trio
Current:


Renderings:







323 Duval Office Building



New Amtrak Station and Multi Modal Transit Center
Current:




Renderings:







Ambassador Hotel Renovation








Bay Street Station



20 West




Brooklyn Park





Jackson Square TOD Development Along Proposed Commuter Rail



East San Marco Mixed Use








1534 Oak Street Mixed Use project
The following photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville






122 Ocean Haydon Burns Library Mixed Use Project



241 Ashley



Ortega Yacht Club Condominiums Tower 2




Jacksonville Beach Communities Projects


-The beaches around Jacksonville from Amelia Island down to Palm Coast saw explosive growth. Palm Coast was the fastest growing community in America for a good chunk of the past decade (literally 100% retirees from New York). No projects or photos from Amelia Island or Palm Coast and very little outside of Jacksonville Beach, but here is a shortlist.

-Also, because this is a shortlist, there were a ton more projects completed and many more proposed. However, a jerk lady from Huntsville, AL who had just moved here spearheaded an effort to put a 35 ft. height moratorium on all beach communities, and this essentially killed all development.


Renderings/Pictures of Shortlist


Acquilus I



Acquilus II



Acquilus III



Avenue 4 North and South




Beach Terraces



Costa Verano




Le Meridien



Marbella




The Metropolitan




Northshore




Ocean 9 Villas



Ocean Park




Oceanside 932



Pier Point




Serena Point




Surfside



Watermark



Water's Edge




Jacksonville Beach Pavilion (also new city hall and hotel)



Jacksonville Beach Pier



Urbana Mixed Use
Original Plan:

New Plan after Huntsville woman killed the beaches with 35 ft. height limit:





Renovation of Sea Turtle Inn to One Ocean 4 Star Resort (Atlantic Beach)

The following photos directly from One Ocean Resort’s website






Flagler Hospital



Historic St. Augustine Hilton Hotel (New Hotel made to look colonial)



Reconstruction of Historic Saint Augustine Bridge of Lions
You should have seen it when it was actually under construction - a temporary bridge had to be constructed.




Shoppes of Veranda (Ponte Vedra)
The following 2 photos taken by Lakelander at MetroJacksonville





Sebastian Inlet Harbor - Dead




The Plan for the Westin:

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Jacksonville Dead Projects


During the boom there were many huge proposals that never got built and are likely not to be built in their originally planned form once the economy recovers. Here is a general list with pictures. The beaches had a ton of dead projects, I won't even cover those.


8th and Pearl (Springfield)




323 Duval Original Design




1463 San Marco



1534 Oak Original Plan



Duval County Courthouse Design Bids

Canon Design (my Favorite and it originally won)




KBJ Design (my 2nd Favorite, Local Firm)


Rink Reynolds Diamond Fisher Wilson design (my least favorite)


Spillis Candela Design with Porphyrios Associates (my 3rd Favorite)



HM Towers



Jacksonville Landing Redevelopment



Note the 25 story office tower to left below...that was included


JEA Tower Redevelopment
Original Tower:





Laura Trio Garage...This site has almost been redeveloped a million times...see P&C thread for current proposal



Liberty Lofts




Main Library Design Competition

Michael Graves Design


Pfeiffer Design


Vitetta Design


Note: Robert Stern's design won and was constructed...it is the best library in the south easily!


[SIZE="4"]Lofts at Union[/SIZE



Random Mixed Use Tower and Old Courthouse Redevelopment Site



Ocean Square



Original Design for San Marco Place...for which I have the blueprints for and for which I preferred to current construction



Original Design for Strand and Peninsular



Original Design for Kings Avenue Station



Original Design for Prado Place

What got built instead:



Redell Dancy Terrace...partially completed





Residences at Bishopgate



Riverwatch at City Centre
-200 condos
-200 hotel rooms
-large garage to service Landing as well






San Marco Riverfront District
-2,000 condos
-215,000 SF office
-350,000 SF retail
-There was a design competition for this as well...I got to see all full proposals when I was younger, but now I don't have them.






San Marco Village
-48,48,48,42,59, 9 story hotel
-2,000 units
-650 ft. tallest structure





San Pablo Place
-suburban infill
-150,000 SF office
-220 room 4 star hotel in 12 floors
-12,500 SF retail




The Shipyards Redevelopment Brownfield Site
-47 acres
-former shipyards for Merrill Stevens, now their only remaining shipyard is in Miami
-Phase 1 was 328 units
-38 floors designed by Arquitectonica
-Santiago Calatrava designed public pier








St. James Hotel and Residences
-Mixed use 68 floor tower
-5 star 169 room hotel
-469 condos
-Top of line recording studio, spa, and retail
-Designed by Suarez Design Partnership out of Miami




St. Johns Pointe
-36, 33, 30, 15 floors
-840 units
-115,000 SF office
-107,000 SF retail



St. Johns Village (this was near me...wished it went up)




14 floor Mandarin condos defeated by NIMBYs



West 7th Street (Springfield)



Westin Hotel and Condos



Old San Jose on the River (currently dead, but partly built)
-It was to include a large amount of mid-rise condos and townhomes in old Florida/colonial style in keeping with the neighborhood








Some random dead condos in the Baymeadows area

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I am bumping the first page as much as possible to move it to second page as quickly as possible so that there aren't too many pictures on the first page.

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October Construction Update - Urban Core

All photos are taken this past weekend by Ennis Davis, otherwise known as TheLakelander on MetroJacksonville and on this site.

Please give him credit for taking the time out to snap all sorts of pics at least once a month and hopefully he'll comment on here sometime, too. He manages the website [URL="www.metrojacksonville.com"]MetroJacksonville[/URLL] and does not have as much time to update and post frequently on other sites.

Here are some of his pictures of the largest ongoing contruction projects:

Downtown

200 Riverside (a mixed use complex with office, hotel, parking, retail, restaurant, and park).


The new Duval County Courthouse





Farah and Farah Renovations


Farah's Uptown Deli



Friendship Park/Fountain Renovations




Laura Street steetscape project




Olio Restaurant


Poppy Loves Smoke Addition


San Marco Blvd streetscape


Treaty Oak Park renovations




Williams Cancer Center


Wolfson's Hospital Adult Tower (12 floors...tower crane being put into place right now as we speak)



Riverside/Avondale

John Gorrie Middle School Conversion to Lofts






Intution Ale Works (Another Brewery/Bar on King in Avondale)


Nah Boutique


Avondale Streetscape

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One more bump for the day.

[tommaso]

Thank you so much for creating this thread! Thank you I love everything I'm seeing out of Jacksonville!

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An October photo from the City of Jacksonville's Facebook page showing an update on Friendship Fountain park. Someone had their megayacht pulled up across the river.



It will be another 2 weeks before I get the November construction updates.

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By Kevin Turner
When Debbie Ward joined the Jacksonville Veterans Administration clinic in 2003 as administrative officer, the facility had one location in Springfield.

Since then, it’s expanded to three additional branches — one on Eighth Street opposite Shands Jacksonville and two near Interstate 95 and Butler Boulevard.

And today, the clinic has outgrown all four, she said. But with the coming construction of a $35 million, two-story, 135,500-square-foot facility, the clinic will get both expanded capacity and expanded services when it opens in 2012.

Designs for the new facility have been unveiled, and with the new building, the VA will offer expanded medical services for women, primary care, radiology and new equipment to house all of its services. With its opening, only the facility at 6900 Southpoint Drive N. will remain open as a satellite clinic, Ward said.

http://jacksonville.com/business/201...ville-unveiled

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bump to get this first page to the second so that pictures arent overloaded

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Here is what I posted in a City Discussions thread.

Here are the top 5 projects that I think will make a huge difference for the city of Jacksonville. In no particular order:

1. Port Expansion.
Deepening the river channel to 50 ft. to accomodate Post-Panamax ships and dredging the river's intersection with the ICW so that ships can enter 24/7. Also constructing the $300M Hanjin terminal and expanding/enhancing direct rail connections and spurs to the port terminals. The port is Jacksonville's #1 economic drivers and one of the largest ports in the country.

2. Mayport Cruise Terminal
Our temporary one needs to be replaced by a terminal on the proposed Mayport site. Here are conceptual renderings.





3. Jacksonville Transportation Hub
Some funding has been sourced and the city has applied for federal grants to no avail so far. Amtrak is now being reconnected on FEC lines to Miami, Atlanta is talking about HSR to Jacksonville, and eventually if the Florida HSR is built then Jacksonville will be connected. Also, the city is already building new BRT routes and trying to start commuter rail and streetcars. This facility will join together the existing skyway, the new Amtrak, HSR in future, Greyhound, and bus service with new BRT, commuter rail, etc.

Renderings of what will be built in the next couple of years.








4. JTB/95/Phillips Hwy Interchange

95 is obviously very congested. JTB in Jacksonville is even more congested, but was recently widened to between 8-10 lanes for much of it. Phillips will be our BRT and/or commuter rail corridor.



5. New Convention Center

Has been talked about very very much and the next mayor will probably oversee the design and construction of it on the site of the old Duval County courthouse on the river. There is already a 1,000 room Hyatt hotel next to the site and the Riverwalk, as well as tons of bars/clubs across the street.

A conceptual design by someone back in 2007.





6. A Proposed Downtown Rehab/Infill Project for good measure

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Bump to get it more quickly to second page Update coming in next post.

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Here is the November Urban Core Construction Update. I have permission from Lakelander aka Ennis Davis to post his photos because he runs the awesome website MetroJacksonville and does not have the time to update the rest of the world. All of these photos are his, and he collected them over the past week or so.

New Duval County Courthouse





200 Riverside (a mixed use development with a 4 floor office component above 2 parking levels connected to a 5 floor hotel, retail, a restaurant, and a park…future space for condos)





Wolfson’s Adult Hospital Tower (12 floors)





Laura Street Streetscape









San Marco Blvd Streetscape





St. Johns Avenue Streetscape





Treaty Oak Park Renovation



Friendship Fountain/Park Renovation







Farah’s Uptown Deli





Farah and Farah office renovations



Poppy Loves Smoke addition (wine and cigar bar in downtown)



Lerner Shops renovations possibly resuming (Downtown)



Fresenius Medical Center (San Marco)





Hurricane Grill (San Marco)



Radiance Yoga Studio San Marco (A bikram yoga studio)



Schulte Design (San Marco)



Pulp Juice (Avondale)



Mojo BBQ (Avondale)



5th and Liberty (Springfield...it will be a house, I met the owners once)



John Gorrie Middle School Loft Conversion (Riverside)







Labcorp (Avondale/Riverside across from St. Vincent’s…I use Labcorp here in Atlanta and they’re good)

[photoLith]

Holy crap theres a lot going on in Jacksonville, I had no idea.

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JetBlue Announces New Nonstop Service to San Juan, PR

This is great news for Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Port Authority handles almost all trade between PR and the US. Jacksonville is also home to a large and rapidly growing Puerto Rican population. Jetblue is really expanding in the FL markets, Jax being no exception. Jetblue currently only flies to Boston and NYC-JFK from JIA.

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Southwest Announces New Daily Service to Denver

Great news for Tebow fans! No but in all seriousness this is a great business connection and great for connecting Jax residents to one of the best winter sports destinations. It will also be a boon for bringing Denver residents to Jax for vacations and golf outings. Currently Southwest flies to 10 destinations from JIA and has almost 30 daily flights.

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New Roads Could Give Jacksonville's Northside a Boost

Florida Times Union Image from Sunday's paper

By David Baurlein

The Northside redevelopment district that helped spur growth of Jacksonville International Tradeport and construction of River City Marketplace could get a new mission in coming years — expand the road network in a 22.5-square-mile area in the vicinity of the airport.

The goal would be to accommodate rising traffic while improving the climate for commercial development and job growth in the area.

That’s the vision put forward by the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission in regard to the Jacksonville International Airport Community Redevelopment Area.

The JEDC has approved a guiding document called the North Jacksonville Action Plan that identifies six road projects costing an estimated $181 million. One recommendation is to build a flyover ramp from northbound Interstate 95 to Airport Road, giving motorists a quicker route to their flights than the existing off-ramp with its traffic light.

Read the rest of the article in quote above.

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This Just In Within the Hour: Delta to Add 4 New Daily Nonstops to Miami

Delta Boosts International Flights in 2011

Effective March 26, Delta will add five new daily round-trip flights between Miami and Orlando; four new daily round-trip flights between Miami and Jacksonville; and five new daily round-trip flights between Miami and Tampa/St. Petersburg. The flights will be timed to facilitate new connections to trans-Atlantic flights from Miami. In addition to the new service to London-Heathrow, Delta's joint venture partners Air France-KLM and Alitalia offer nonstop flights from Miami to their hubs in Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam, Milan and Rome.

So for JIA that means announced within the past month new service to San Juan, PR, Denver, and Miami. JIA has also been expanding and building like crazy the past 5 years (2 new concourses, new baggage claim, new parking garages, new Aloft Hotel, new Hyatt Place, UC new terminal connection).

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Bank of America just made the announcement, but it won't give out too many details. BofA Merrill Lynch already has about 6,000 employees in Jacksonville in two very large suburban office campuses and in the BofA Tower downtown. Deutsche Bank has 850 employees in the area and is expected to hire 150 more in the next few quarters. All good news for Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Business Journal: 1000 More Jobs for Jacksonville

A snippet:

Mayor John Peyton said the expansion will include hiring both locally and outside of the city in the coming months. The “high wage” jobs will be for the same sort of back office operational positions that have been filled at the campus on Southside Boulevard in the past, the mayor said.

The bank is conducting renovations to the campus now to reconfigure office space for the additional employees, but the mayor did not know exactly how many square feet the renovations included.

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Fix for Port's Mile Point Could Come Next Year

Currently a bend in the river near the mouth and the Intracoastal Waterway produces unpredictable currents that limit large container ships from entering or leaving the port except during an 8 hour window each day. With the port expanding it is crucial to get this detail fixed, because 2 Asian shipping lines have already and are about to invest close to a half billion dollars each in new container terminals here, and they need faster shipping service. The Army Corps is proposing a temporary $3 million fix from its own operating budget that will be unaffected by the Federal Budget cuts until it can secure the $60 million from Congress for a permanent solution.

Army Corps Studies Cheaper Solution to Mile Point Problem

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Bump to get this to next page to not overload this page. Updates coming in just a few minutes.