MONDAY June 28, 2021
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LANDING A VISION Daily Record Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
The city wants to redevelop the former marketplace site on the riverfront.
BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
Three national design firms pitched their visions June 24 for a city park at the former Jacksonville Landing site on the St. Johns River Downtown. Agency Landscape + Planning LLC, Olin Partnership Ltd. and Perkins & Will Inc. presented plans at the Main Public Library Downtown to a panel of city officials and Jacksonville business and nonprofit leaders. “Our desire is to become a city of vision and reality instead of a city of renderings,” said Haskell landscape architect Chris Flagg during public comment.
The city Professional Services Evaluation Committee selected the teams as finalists in March for a Downtown Investment Authority request for proposals to submit preliminary designs. They were asked to design a minimum 4.5-acre park for the former Landing site at 2 Independent Drive W., now called Riverfront Plaza. Each is paid $125,000 to complete 50% of the design for the site. Those designs were presented June 24. One will be selected to complete its design. Plans submitted to the city had to include a river view corridor from Laura Street and integrate public art pieces. The teams were required to have a
landscape architect, an urban designer and/or architect and an artist. DIA officials said in March the designs should be completed and under construc- Boyer tion before private development occurs on the northeast and northwest corners of the site, but DIA Executive Director Lori Boyer said the RFP allows some input. Boyer will score the designs with city Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Daryl Joseph. City Procurement Division Chief Greg
Pease said the Professional Services Evaluation Committee will use Boyer’s and Joseph’s scores to award the job to the top-ranked firm at a July 22 meeting. Boyer hopes to conclude negotiations with the selected team in August. DIA officials want that team to complete designs by Oct. 1. The city will bid construction and break ground in early 2022. “Everybody knows it’s an important site,” Boyer said. For more renderings and information, visit jaxdailyrecord.com.
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AGENCY LANDSCAPE + PLANNING LLC: A LOVE STORY
OLIN PARTNERSHIP LTD.: JAX PARK
PERKINS & WILL INC.: ONE PARK JAX
Agency Landscape + Planning called its park presentation “A Love Story.” “We hope you see at the end of this presentation a place where the community can become connected to the river and its ecosystem,” said Gina Ford, Agency landscape architect. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm anchored its design on three metal mesh “water canopies” that team artist Bryony Roberts said are sunshades and public art. Agency’s design includes “Sunset Hill,” which is raised open lawn space with views of the park that provide a pedestrian and bicyclist connection to
The Philadelphia-based Olin Partnership proposed a $27.4 million design called “JAX Park” that emphasizes Northeast Florida plant life and ecology and incorporates San Fransisco-based environmental artist and sculptor Ned Khan. It features an urban plaza with a riverfront fountain on the north end of the park; “Bartram’s Garden” and maritime hammocks featuring native trees and plants resilient to saltwater; a play area with a manatee calf and cow; and a “Birdhouse Skatepark.” The plan shows an outdoor art gallery under the Main Street Bridge and proposed floating marshes
Perkins & Will Inc.’s team was formed by Nick Mousa of GAI Consultants’ Jacksonville office. The centerpiece of Perkins & Will’s “One Park Jax” design is a 151-foot-tall sculpture that spells “Jax” in polished stainless steel by international artist JEFRE based in Orlando. JEFRE said June 24 that the $11 million to $18 million art piece could generate a return on investment by attracting visitors and business branding opportunities to the park, similar to the Bean in Chicago’s Millennium Park. “Are the icons you’ve seen early today strong enough that people actually want to go there,
SEE AGENCY, PAGE 2
SEE OLIN, PAGE 2
SEE PERKINS, PAGE 2
Proposed cost: $15 million
Proposed cost: $27.4 million
Proposed cost: $22 million to $29 million
Permit issued for Rethreaded campus The city issued a permit June 22 for River City Contractors Inc. to renovate 9,890 square feet of space at a cost of $460,000 for Rethreaded Inc. at its newly purchased Springfield campus at 515 E. Ninth St. The nonprofit paid $1.1 million Jan. 29 for the 2.2-acre, three-building, 36,000-square-foot property that it intends to convert into a larger campus to support survivors of human trafficking. It is raising more than $2 million in a capital campaign for the project.
VOLUME 108, NO. 157 • ONE SECTION