Welcome to Brooklyn, Forest Street and Myrtle Avenue
Downtown this week has a huge cover story on what’s happening in Brooklyn, a little neighborhood just north of 5-points.
Some are positioning the stretch of Riverside Avenue that runs though Brooklyn as Jacksonville’s version of Brickell Avenue. For those who don’t know (I didn’t) Brickell is the international banking and business center of Greater Miami, south of the Miami River. This is interesting:
Harden said every piece of property from Riverside Avenue to Park Street between Forest Street and Downtown has either already been sold or has been optioned by developers.
This is great for Brooklyn in terms of Riverside Avenue. Hopefully the prosperity will flow west to Park Street and into the neighborhood. It’s possible there will be some resident displacement from the apartments and shacks in the surrounding area. This would suck, but I just don’t see any developers coming in and building affordable housing in Brooklyn.
Other encouraging things from the article are a focus on historic preservation and public transportation options that might include the use fo trolleys along Riverside Avenue. How awesome would it be to one day be able to ride a trolley from Springfield to Downtown to Brooklyn to 5-Points
From The Daily Record:
Pioneers-4-Jax is holding its bimonthly meeting Aug. 10 at 6:32 p.m. in the Community Center of the 11 E. Terry Lorince, executive director of Downtown Vision Inc., will be the guest speaker. “We have two important announcements that introduce action intended to move the livability and viability of our downtown forward,” said Susann Marino, founder of Pioneers-4-Jax.
and
Downtown Vision, Inc. estimates there are now 55,000 working Downtown.
Dave Siebert: Interview with the RiverKeeper (Metro Jacksonville)
Tony posted some Art Walk photos (Tony Allegretti)
tags: jacksonville, brooklyn
so…i guess the plan for “affordable housing” is out…
Don’t get to excited about the trolley news. The trolley JTA talks about is the bus on wheels that serves downtown now.
I thought affordable housing was the cornerstone of the Brooklyn plan? It says so in my copy. Also, I know someone who is getting the big ED and he has low income housing. I’m not sure that he knows what is actually happeing.
I wish I had time to research but until them here is a quote from McCormack Barron:
“MBS is a leader in the development of mixed-income communities across the country. Over the past fifteen years the vast majority of our developments have included housing for every income bracket.”
http://www.mccormackbaron.com
Lake,
Unfortunately I know all too well that the trolley they are referring to is the glorified bus.
Tony,
What is McCormack Barron? Are they the ones in charge of the Brooklyn planning?
Ben, I wasn’t saying affordable house is out of the picture, I just assumed it would fall by the wayside. I could be wrong. Besides, these days affordable housing. Here is a statement from a COJ press release, MAYOR ANNOUNCES MAJOR REDEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES TO REVITILIZE BROOKLYN:
Check out http://www.milesdevelopmentpartners.com
I have such high hopes for Brooklyn. I would love it if the affordable housing dream comes true. And I am not talking about 600 square feet for $200k. The location (for me personally) is just ideal. I would love to be able to hop on the riverwalk and walk to the Landing or 5 points. Thanks for posting about it.
I think its safe to say that the affordable housing component in Brooklyn isn’t out, just on hold, like every other affordable housing project due to the City’s, shall we say, “desire to not rush into anything until they have determined the most effective plan.” The Affordable and Low-Income Housing Task Force (which they’re saying is focusing on workforce housing - kinda different, but whatever) being led by Elaine Brown has mentioned more than once the attractiveness of both LaVilla and Brooklyn as sites for workforce housing developments, partly because the City owns a good deal of land in the areas that could potentially be used if they go with establishing a Community Land Trust. Of course the T.F. is currently hearing presentations from experts who have approached public investment in housing from a lot of different directions, so who knows what will happen in the end. Of course, there’s a good chance that the T.F. will publish their findings, make recommendations, and then have them sit on a shelf for another 10 years.
Does anyone know if the City really does own chunks of land in Brooklyn? I’m going to the P.A. website to see if I can find out.
Brooklyn needs Affordable Housing? I disagree…
What Brooklyn needs is more >$600K luxury condominiums with a Ruth’s Chris Take-Out and 25-hour butler service.
Us Call Center millionaires are finding it really hard to find housing in areas of town near the beautiful banks of the [flesh-eating bacteria-laced] St. Johns River, you know?
There just aren’t enough luxury buildings here. And Jacksonville may be running out of land too…
Call center millionaires… Thats AWESOME!
BTW, this is a great picture with this article. The cloud formation with the interstate in the background - I really like it. It’s just really a great pic. Very “urban” looking.
When I first saw it, I saw a face peeking out of the tree. I wasn’t going to say anything until you commented on the pic.
That’s awesome! I didn’t even notice the face until you pointed it out.