Reinvigorating the Jacksonville Landing
Earlier this year, marked the 10-year anniversary of Sleiman Enterprises' 2003 acquistion of the Jacksonville Landing. Still a hub of activity for downtown Jacksonville, the festival market place has never lived up to the hype it generated when the Rouse Company built it in 1987. Now Toney Sleiman and the Downtown Investment Authority's (DIA) new CEO Aundre Wallace are determined to change that and want your input.
Festival Marketplaces were viewed by American cities during the 1970s and 1980s as the leading one-trick pony concepts to turn around decaying downtowns.
If you've spent time in a couple of major cities across the country, you've probable been inside one. Underground Atlanta, Baltimore's Harbor Place, Boston's Faneuil Hall, Chicago's Navy Pier, New Orleans Riverwalk, Miami's Bayside, and NYC's South Street Seaport are all examples of festival marketplaces. Characteristics of a successful marketplace were said to include having a right mix of shops and entertainment, adjacent to water and a large number of people nearby.
On June 25, 1987, the Rouse Company brought the frenzy to North Florida with the opening of the Jacksonville Landing. The two-level, 126,000 square foot festival marketplace featured a food court with 18 restaurants, waterfront restaurants and several national specialty retailers. However, despite the fanfare, the center never lived up to its original expectations and failed to stimulate the revitalization of the Northbank.
on Monday, December 9th from 6-8pm, the Downtown Investment Authority will host a Community Planning Workshop aimed at identifying improvements to enhance the Jacksonville Landing with the goal of making this area the centerpiece of Jacksonville’s waterfront experience. This workshop will be held in partnership with the American Institute of Architects, Downtown Vision, Sleiman Enterprises and the Haskell Company. Tom Hurst, President of AIA Jacksonville will facilitate the session at the Main Public Library (303 North Laura Street).
Link to a 2009 Jacksonville Landing Re-imaging effort
Reinvigorating Festival Marketplaces
The Landing isn't the first festival marketplace to fail in achieving its original goal. Since the 1990s, several festival marketplaces in second tier downtowns across the country have had makeovers. As we ponder the future of the Jacksonville Landing, here is a brief look at the redevelopment strategies of similar centers in other communities.
Waterside - Norfolk, VA
The Rouse Company opened The Waterside, on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk on June 1, 1983. The $13 million center was intended to be a catalyst for the redevelopment of a declining downtown. Throughout the 1980s, Waterside was a success. However, the opening of nearby MacArthur Center, a 140 store mall anchored by Nordstrom and Dillard's, in 1999 resulted in Waterside's decline. That same year, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority purchased the property.
In the early 2000s, the festival marketplace was revamped as an entertainment, nightlife and dining center. Tenants include Joe's Crab Shack, Freemason Abby Restaurant, Jack Quinn's Irish Pub, Bier Garden Restaurant, Granby Street Pizza, Baxter's Sports Lounge, Big Easy Oyster Bar, Snappers and Hell's Kitchen.
The City wanted the project done, and we agreed to do it if they created a park, put the bulkhead along the waterfront, provided a garage and put up all the money for the marketplace. We then received a fee, and eventually when the project could pay debt service on the financing, we would then split the cash flow. So it was a no-investment, no-risk deal, and the opportunity to make money over time.
- James Rouse offering his opinion of coming to Norfolk
Portside Marketplace - Toledo, OH
When it opened in 1984, the Rouse Company's Portside Festival Marketplace was supposed to slow the rapid decline of Toledo's downtown. However, what worked for Rouse in Baltimore (Harborplace) and Boston (Fanueil Hall) had no impact on the fall of this rust belt city. During its first year, the $14.5 million, 100,000 square foot festival marketplace attracted 4.5 million visitors. Yet, two years later it was attracting half as many and in 1990, it closed for good.
After a few years of sitting vacant, the complex was converted into the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in 1997. For a while, the museum attracted an average of 250,000 visitors per year to downtown Toledo. Due to a lack of funding, COSI closed its doors to the public in 2007.
In 2008, Lucas County voters approved an operating levy for the science center enabling the facility to reopen in the Fall of 2009 as The Imagination Station.
Sixth Street Marketplace - Richmond, VA
Richmond's $25 million Sixth Street Marketplace opened in 1985. Similar to a failed proposal in Jacksonville to link May-Cohens and Ivey's with a downtown mall, Sixth Street tied longtime downtown Richmond department stores Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers. A flop from the start, Richmond's center lost $1.3 million its first year and by the early 1990s, both department stores it linked had either closed altogether or abandoned downtown for malls in the suburbs. With Richmond's experience as an example, Pittsburgh and San Antonio refusing to commit public funds to lure festival marketplaces to their communities.
Losing $600,000 to $800,000 each year on the failed Sixth Street Marketplace, the City of Richmond gave remaining tenants 90 days to vacate and tore the entire complex down in 2007.
'There are no shops where I would buy anything. My only reason for coming here is the food. They need to refurbish the entire mall. This area has no appeal. It's just run-down.'
Josh Fertel
Sixth Street Marketplace visitor in 1992 Free Lance-Star article
Shops at Harbor Island - Tampa, FL
Modeled after Baltimore's Harborplace, the Beneficial Corporation opened the Shops at Harbor Island in 1985. This 105,000 square foot festival marketplace featured retail, restaurants, 60 specialty food outlets and an adjacent 300 room hotel. In addition, a people mover similar to the JTA Skyway, was built to carry visitors between the complex and a downtown Tampa garage.
Despite a grand opening celebration that included speaches by former President Ford and Lt. Governor Wayne Mixon Beneficial's marketplace was a flop from the beginning and by 1986 it was 27% vacant. After limping along for a few more years, Beneficial pulled the plug by shutting it down in 1995 and converting it into an office complex called Knights Point.
Knights Point continues to survive today and is home to a popular waterfront restaurant called Jackson's Bistro.
The Festival Marketplace - Lexington, KY
Image courtesy of Seicer at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Triangle_Center.jpg
Opening its doors in 1986, downtown Lexington's Festival Marketplace was developed by the Webb Companies. The 114,000 square foot center featured several boutiques, shops, food kiosks and even a carousel on the third floor.
The market transformed downtown Lexington's landscape brining restaurants such as Jay’s Seafood, Charlie & Barney’s (now Sawyer’s), and Scores Sports & Stakes Restaurant & Bar to the area. Lasting less than 10 years, Lexington's marketplace would also close. Now known as the Triangle center, the former marketplace features several restaurants but is primarily an office complex.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com
If you've spent time in a couple of major cities across the country, you've probable been inside one. Underground Atlanta, Baltimore's Harbor Place, Boston's Faneuil Hall, Chicago's Navy Pier, New Orleans Riverwalk, Miami's Bayside, and NYC's South Street Seaport are all examples of festival marketplaces. Characteristics of a successful marketplace were said to include having a right mix of shops and entertainment, adjacent to water and a large number of people nearby.
On June 25, 1987, the Rouse Company brought the frenzy to North Florida with the opening of the Jacksonville Landing. The two-level, 126,000 square foot festival marketplace featured a food court with 18 restaurants, waterfront restaurants and several national specialty retailers. However, despite the fanfare, the center never lived up to its original expectations and failed to stimulate the revitalization of the Northbank.
on Monday, December 9th from 6-8pm, the Downtown Investment Authority will host a Community Planning Workshop aimed at identifying improvements to enhance the Jacksonville Landing with the goal of making this area the centerpiece of Jacksonville’s waterfront experience. This workshop will be held in partnership with the American Institute of Architects, Downtown Vision, Sleiman Enterprises and the Haskell Company. Tom Hurst, President of AIA Jacksonville will facilitate the session at the Main Public Library (303 North Laura Street).
Link to a 2009 Jacksonville Landing Re-imaging effort
Reinvigorating Festival Marketplaces
The Landing isn't the first festival marketplace to fail in achieving its original goal. Since the 1990s, several festival marketplaces in second tier downtowns across the country have had makeovers. As we ponder the future of the Jacksonville Landing, here is a brief look at the redevelopment strategies of similar centers in other communities.
Waterside - Norfolk, VA
The Rouse Company opened The Waterside, on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk on June 1, 1983. The $13 million center was intended to be a catalyst for the redevelopment of a declining downtown. Throughout the 1980s, Waterside was a success. However, the opening of nearby MacArthur Center, a 140 store mall anchored by Nordstrom and Dillard's, in 1999 resulted in Waterside's decline. That same year, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority purchased the property.
In the early 2000s, the festival marketplace was revamped as an entertainment, nightlife and dining center. Tenants include Joe's Crab Shack, Freemason Abby Restaurant, Jack Quinn's Irish Pub, Bier Garden Restaurant, Granby Street Pizza, Baxter's Sports Lounge, Big Easy Oyster Bar, Snappers and Hell's Kitchen.
The City wanted the project done, and we agreed to do it if they created a park, put the bulkhead along the waterfront, provided a garage and put up all the money for the marketplace. We then received a fee, and eventually when the project could pay debt service on the financing, we would then split the cash flow. So it was a no-investment, no-risk deal, and the opportunity to make money over time.
- James Rouse offering his opinion of coming to Norfolk
Portside Marketplace - Toledo, OH
When it opened in 1984, the Rouse Company's Portside Festival Marketplace was supposed to slow the rapid decline of Toledo's downtown. However, what worked for Rouse in Baltimore (Harborplace) and Boston (Fanueil Hall) had no impact on the fall of this rust belt city. During its first year, the $14.5 million, 100,000 square foot festival marketplace attracted 4.5 million visitors. Yet, two years later it was attracting half as many and in 1990, it closed for good.
After a few years of sitting vacant, the complex was converted into the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in 1997. For a while, the museum attracted an average of 250,000 visitors per year to downtown Toledo. Due to a lack of funding, COSI closed its doors to the public in 2007.
In 2008, Lucas County voters approved an operating levy for the science center enabling the facility to reopen in the Fall of 2009 as The Imagination Station.
Sixth Street Marketplace - Richmond, VA
Richmond's $25 million Sixth Street Marketplace opened in 1985. Similar to a failed proposal in Jacksonville to link May-Cohens and Ivey's with a downtown mall, Sixth Street tied longtime downtown Richmond department stores Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers. A flop from the start, Richmond's center lost $1.3 million its first year and by the early 1990s, both department stores it linked had either closed altogether or abandoned downtown for malls in the suburbs. With Richmond's experience as an example, Pittsburgh and San Antonio refusing to commit public funds to lure festival marketplaces to their communities.
Losing $600,000 to $800,000 each year on the failed Sixth Street Marketplace, the City of Richmond gave remaining tenants 90 days to vacate and tore the entire complex down in 2007.
'There are no shops where I would buy anything. My only reason for coming here is the food. They need to refurbish the entire mall. This area has no appeal. It's just run-down.'
Josh Fertel
Sixth Street Marketplace visitor in 1992 Free Lance-Star article
Shops at Harbor Island - Tampa, FL
Modeled after Baltimore's Harborplace, the Beneficial Corporation opened the Shops at Harbor Island in 1985. This 105,000 square foot festival marketplace featured retail, restaurants, 60 specialty food outlets and an adjacent 300 room hotel. In addition, a people mover similar to the JTA Skyway, was built to carry visitors between the complex and a downtown Tampa garage.
Despite a grand opening celebration that included speaches by former President Ford and Lt. Governor Wayne Mixon Beneficial's marketplace was a flop from the beginning and by 1986 it was 27% vacant. After limping along for a few more years, Beneficial pulled the plug by shutting it down in 1995 and converting it into an office complex called Knights Point.
Knights Point continues to survive today and is home to a popular waterfront restaurant called Jackson's Bistro.
The Festival Marketplace - Lexington, KY
Image courtesy of Seicer at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Triangle_Center.jpg
Opening its doors in 1986, downtown Lexington's Festival Marketplace was developed by the Webb Companies. The 114,000 square foot center featured several boutiques, shops, food kiosks and even a carousel on the third floor.
The market transformed downtown Lexington's landscape brining restaurants such as Jay’s Seafood, Charlie & Barney’s (now Sawyer’s), and Scores Sports & Stakes Restaurant & Bar to the area. Lasting less than 10 years, Lexington's marketplace would also close. Now known as the Triangle center, the former marketplace features several restaurants but is primarily an office complex.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com