JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When bulldozers knocked down the Jacksonville Landing, the nearby on-ramp to the Main Street bridge gave motorists, joggers, walkers and cyclists an up-close view of the demolition as they passed by it on daily commutes and workouts.
In the spring of 2021, that ramp will go the way of the Landing when crews take down the ramp in a $1.3 million demolition job, creating more space for as yet undetermined new private development on the property where the Landing used to stand.
The crescent-shaped Landing was designed to avoid any conflict with the on-ramp from Independent Drive to the Main Street bridge, but city leaders have been talking since 2014 about taking out the ramp in tandem with demolishing the Landing.
The current redevelopment concept envisions most of 6.8 acres site being green park space with two new buildings set back from the river.
"It's a beautiful site and the idea of adding some significant open space really sounds like a great idea to me," Downtown Investment Authority board Chairman Ron Moody said during a recent meeting of the City Council's Finance Committee.
"It is truly a site that we've got to take our time with, and let's not mess it up because it is the crown jewel of our city right now, and we can do something very special with this," Moody said.
Downtown Dwellers Association board member Howard Taylor, who regularly uses the ramp when walking and driving through downtown, wants the ramp to stay. He said he doesn't think demolishing it will make a difference in having a successful redevelopment.
"I don't think that's going to encourage people to invest in it," he said. "It's not a whole lot of space, and there are lots and lots of people who depend on it."
JTA Running board member Doug Tillett said the Main Street bridge ramp "will be missed" by runners when it's taken down. The running club designates a downtown route that goes by the Landing site and over the bridge as one of the best in the city.
"There's always somebody on it," he said. "It's used a lot and I hope they don't forget about us to get the project done."
City spokeswoman Nikki Kimbleton said that after the state tears down the on-ramp, the city will build a new connection for people on foot and bicycle at that spot for access to the Main Street bridge. The city has not yet designed how that pedestrian access ramp will look or estimated what it will cost.
Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer said the Landing site could be redeveloped with the ramp remaining in place, but the ramp "has long been perceived as a site impediment with little traffic value."
"This project has been on FDOT radar for some time," she said.
She noted that by taking out the ramp, the state can remove the traffic light on the bridge that halts southbound drivers so motorists coming in from the ramp can enter the bridge.
At the city's request, the state Department of Transportation put $1.3 million in its budget for demolishing the ramp. The state plans to start the project in February and complete it in September, according to the schedule on its website.
The city has poured its own money into getting the Landing site ready for redevelopment by paying $15 million to buy out the the Sleiman family's ground lease for the mall, which was built on city-owned land, plus $1.5 million to relocate tenants. The demolition of the mall cost $1 million.
Removing the Main Street bridge on-ramp will add some extra time for motorists who use it when leaving the Northbank side of downtown by heading south over the Main Street bridge.
When the ramp is gone, those drivers will continue on Independent Drive past the JAX Chamber headquarters where they will hang a left and take a road to Bay Street, where they will then continue to Main Street and head to the bridge. That route adds three blocks and less than a minute of drive time, accounting for red lights on the way.
State transportation officials said at a September 2014 public hearing about removing the ramp that rerouting those drivers would not have any significant impact on traffic flow through that area.
The state conducted that public hearing after Alvin Brown, who was mayor at the time, and the Sleiman family jointly decided it was time to tear down the mall and wanted to maximize the land area for redevelopment. FDOT said it was seeking to partner with the city to revitalize the Landing area.
Brown lost his re-election bid in 2015 and plans for the Landing site went on the back burner until Mayor Lenny Curry negotiated a buy-out of the Sleiman family's lease.
The state's public hearing in 2014 brought a lot of comments from people who use the on-ramp to get around downtown on foot and bicycle.
If anything, more people are using the ramp now than in 2014, said Gretchen Ehlinger, who works on the Southbank and spoke up at the public hearing.
"That's a really popular running route," she said.
She said it allows people to loop through downtown using the Main Street and Acosta bridges — giving some hill-type training — and the riverfront while minimizing having to cross busy roads. The state is adding another pedestrian path for the Fuller Warren Bridge that will further enhance the options for walking and running routes.
Taylor, the downtown resident, said that while he'd rather see the current on-ramp remain in place, the city definitely needs to fill the void left from demolition by building a pedestrian ramp. A self-described "river rat" who grew up in St. Louis and served in the U.S. Coast Guard, he said being able to soak up the view from the Main Street bridge is part of what attracted him to downtown living.
He said a pedestrian connection also will help whatever development comes to the Landing site, which he hopes will have some nighttime entertainment such as restaurants.
"If they want people to live downtown and stay downtown, they've got to have a walkway for cyclists and walkers," he said. "It just makes common sense to me if they want downtown to be viable."
While the state gears up for demolition of the ramp, the Downtown Investment Authority is moving to bring in design teams who will compete for the winning vision of how to reuse the Landing site.
The current concept calls for most of the site to be public park space with two new buildings set back from the St. Johns River. The maximum height of those building would be mid-rise structures, Boyer has said.
The two buildings would be at back corners of the Landing site, separated far enough apart that there would be a broad opening between them for a view corridor from Laura Street all the way down to the river. Boyer said in order to maximize the amount of public park space, the most likely buildings would be two office buildings or an office building an a hotel.
The DIA plans to contract with three design firms that would get city stipends paying them to flesh out their plans beyond the conceptual stage. Then DIA would select a winning design.
"Iconic is an overused term, but we want them to be meaningful and special buildings because it's a special location in the center of downtown," Boyer said.