Urban Jacksonville

I stand corrected!! I was not aware of the houses he renovated. I was told about them by a friend also. Perhaps I need to cut him a little slack. I believe I still hold a little grudge against him for ruining Henrietta's. It was one of my favorite spots!! He should, at least to stay in the good graces of the neighborhood, update us honestly on what the hold ups are with his projects. All the broken promises add up after a while.

he did renovate a good number of houses and turn them into nice rentals. I lived in one on laura while I was fixing up my house. My understanding was that he also had something to do with the renovation of the old office building/former apt building next the Church of Christ on Main St. I do think it would be nice however if he give the community an update on what's happening with 8th and Pearl. At least change the website to make it look like you are still trying. If I was a potential tenant and saw the parts on the website that said we expect full occupancy in 2006, I would think that he must have given up and moved on.

Considering all what renovations he's done in Springfield? The only one I'm aware of is 9th&Main. I could be wrong but that's the only thing that I'm aware of besides the running of, what, about 5 restaurants into the ground. About his reservoir of goodwill, like any reservoir, when there's a drought, that reservoir dries up.. What about the apartment building on W8th St.? When everyone was complaining about the noise and crime there, Craig said he was going to empty them and renovate. He even asked the neighborhood for ideas, what has he done with those? NOTHING!! The he-whores and drug dealers are using the lot for their office again. What has he done with any of his properties other than 9th&Main? He is not in Chris Hionedes status with the hood yet, but he can get there real quick with his broken promises and our false hopes!! Just my 2c sorry if I piss anyone off!!

so do we, vic!

The residents of Springfield have to realize that NO ONE, including Van Horn, can build something based on "build it and they will come'.

You have to have LEASES for the commercial space at 8th and Pearl. Perhaps van Horn was too opimistic or perhaps counted chickens before they hatched, but that doesn't make him a bad guy or disingenious. Perhaps he had verbal commitments, but the parties didn't sign.

I don't understand the seemingly unreasonable demands for Boomtown to lease the space. But it is his property, he is not required to lease it to anyone under any circumstances.

I have never met Van Horn, but I have heard positive comments about him. He probably should have stayed with development rather than branch into the restaurant business (which is one of the most difficult businesses to succeed in), but if he hadn't, that building might be in Hionides hands right now.

Considering all the renovation he had done in Springfield, one would think he would have a reservoir of goodwill in the neighborhood.

I hope he and Stephen can come to an agreement that benefits all involved.

btw..."scumsuckingslumlordfromthestinkingdepthsofhell" refers to the sack of maggoty pig flesh that owns much of Main St's decrepit properties,...

...not Craig Van Horn.

There is still good will towards Craig (in my household anyway). But I agree with Skimbro...there is a lack of traction in his projects. We can't tell him what to do, considering it is not our money that is being risked, but it would be nice to see progress.

And I really really miss the old Henrietta's under Justine and Dave and really really wish Craig would stick with development.

Craig gets a lot of well-deserved credit for opening Henrietta's. But I think people are getting impatient to see something done with his other properties. He owns a lot of W 8th, including the stalled 8th and Pearl project. When I moved here a year and a half ago, that project was going to start any day. And it was just a few months ago (long enough ago that it was clearly false encouragement) that Craig put out a message on the forum board about how he was getting all the final permits so the project could move ahead. Similarly, there were big plans announced to renovate the crappy apartments behind the Blue Front, which as far as I know hasn't happened, either. After a while, this "any minute now" act gets old, and people start to lose confidence. I don't have any animosity toward Craig, and I do still believe he is trying, but if he can't get the money together to do something, I'd rather see him sell to someone who can and will.

36 what? For what?
He should pay yall....

(paying attention...)

I always thought this Craig Van Horn character was generally well liked and respected in the 'Field, no?

I mean, obviously from the comments here, no, but when i first moved here a few years ago, it seemed like he was a good guy, what with opening Henrietta's and being somewhat of a commercial pioneer.

Stephen...if I could get it past She Who Cleans Better Than Me, I would put you guys up in my garage (1/2 workshop, 1/2 Lounge!) for free...I've got a urinal, deepsink, beer cooler, surround sound, and DowntownParks old smelly couch...

Please don't get under the control of the scumsuckingslumlordfromthestinkingdepthsofhell again...if you recall, that was a miserable experience.

Clayton, you're sick dude! I almost choked!!

There might be more to the story... Hold your horses.

is that dollars or dollhairs? I've heard he's got a little fetish for those!

Sounds like Craig doesn't really want to get out of the restaurant business after all. Who the hell does he think, in their right mind, would give up 36k to take over a building that has been failing for years now?! I'm willing to bet that his next offer is to overlook the 36k for a piece of the pie. He's such a piece of shit, let him go under!! Stephen and John, it would be great for our hood to get yous back in it but at what cost? Your livelihoods? I don't think so!!

Sounds like someone is looking to ca$h out. Jeez....

yeah, 36k, or enough to put a downpayment on our own building.

No one in their right mind would do it, maybe he will change his.

Jesus, 36K deposit?! That is some bullshit.

Well, I guess not. The building has such a good track record. Oh, wait...

Main Street was alot more active when Boomtown was there. It would be great to get Boomtown closer to the main district where Boomtown was before.

You can never have too many options to eat and drink. I think like Shantytown, Boomtown draws clientele into Springfield. This is exactly what we need.

Good luck in your decision!!

wow. does that include daily blowjobs?

well,

I dunno how realistic this idea is.

Craig wants a 36 thousand dollar deposit.

"Anyone provide any info on why that place can’t seem to keep a tenant? Is it just people opening restaurants who don’t know how to run a restaurant?"--Fawn

yes, and...

"The best thing that can happen here is Craig gets out of the restaurant business, and let an established restaurant rent the space." --- Downtownparks

Keeping it real as always.

Should this work out, would you change your name again like you did with Boomtown Subterranea? Maybe Boomtown Redux? Boomtown Phoenix? Or, since Boomtown was a reference to your desire for Springfield, do you just go back to "Boomtown"

DO IT. DO IT. DO IT.

Seriously, though, why is the 9th/Main sport always turning over so much? Henrietta's was great. Then the dude who started Crush's version of Henrietta's was great. Even when it went through that terrible overpriced tappas period, the fodd was at least outstanding if not way too expensive.

Anyone provide any info on why that place can't seem to keep a tenant? Is it just people opening restaurants who don't know how to run a restaurant?

No matter what, I wish Boomtown the best of luck!

We would probably keep a lot of the staff, I met the daytime manager yesterday and she seems pretty great.

We do things a bit differently with our service, so they would have to learn how to do it our way, but I can't imagine that being an obstacle.

Boomtown within a few blocks of me? Be still, my heart! Not that the previous Main St. location was a lot further but 9th/Main NEEDS Boomtown. It has a history of places that have tried and for a large part, have done an acceptable job but the only way to really ignite that area is to have a place that is the absolute best at what they do. Local support is essential but none of the previous occupiers have been an actual destination, Boomtown would most certainly change that.

Five Points is okay but it's an easy, obvious choice and Boomtown wouldn't really exist as it is now if it was all about taking the easiest path. I hope the talks go well and you can come back to Springfield but you can't really lose with any of your choices.

I like the current staff, but they are in a bad situation. The best thing that can happen here is Craig gets out of the restaurant business, and let an established restaurant rent the space.

From the standpoint of helping revitalize a neighborhood, Springfield is the clear choice. Boomtown will have a bigger impact there than any other location. Hopefully Craig will act reasonably and a deal can be made.

when I heard that you guys were getting booted from Hemming Plaza I thought that 9th and Main would be a great place for Boomtown. So far its been way underutilized and seeing what you did with your first space on Main and then the new one, I have no doubt that Boomtown taking over 9th and Main will turn it into a very cool place indeed.

So I hope that Craig can see this as an opportunity and hope that Boomtown is back in Springfield soon!

Hey! Let me sweeten the deal. If you move to Main Street, I'll throw in free use of my wi-fi access point (at the corner of 8th and Main...look for 'FreeWiFi'), and a bottle of ranch dressing (still 80% full).

Seriously...hope to see you in the Springfield area. We need someone to come in and move things in a positive direction. And I REALLY need some place that encourages me to get out of my apartment every now and then.

Here Here!

The same goes here. Five Points is already established, so Boomtown heading there would be just as significant as heading to St. Johns Town Center phase II.

I'm really excited to see what we can do with Main Street in a relatively short time span if we all put our heads together for a common cause. Five Points is great, but the core will be much stronger if we have a vibrant Main Street on the northside of downtown, to complement Five Points and San Marco Square.

i would be so excited about you guys coming back to springfield! while i like five points, i would be really sad about boomtown moving over to that side.

Hey Joey.

We are in fact pondering the move back to springfield.

We talked with Craig on Friday and yesterday and it seems to be going positively, but we don't know if its a done deal.

If Craig leases us the building then we are back. Its the only one in the neighborhood that fits our needs just yet.

Weve talked about another space on main, but it wouldnt be done for another 9 months minimum, and we need to do something in the meantime.

Right now, if we move from the building that we are in (and that is an "If", then its a tossup between Five Points and 9th and Main.

I have sentimental attachment to both neighborhoods, and as it happens, they both have buildings that would fit boomtown's use.

I would prefer Springfield, and if we do come back to Springfield, we've already had some preliminary discussion with the landowners who ARENT Chris Hionides about moving aggressively forward again.

If we take 9th and Main, then there is discussion about putting an artists and painting studio collective in the old boomtown space, and a new partnership to open up the old Eden Space as another sit down restaurant in 9 months.

We would be bringing Nokturnal Escape's spoken word group, the revamped Improv Jacksonville (Mad Cowford), a casting agency and a film production crew with us.

With the already existing businesses (Main Street Station, Shantee town, The Pearl) there would be activity and open businesses from 9th to 1st.

Under that scenario we should be able to have Main Street back up and running again within the year.

As I said, this outcome depends on Craig's decision today, and I am hoping to know one way or another by later this afternoon.

We have been in negotiation with the building owners for a few weeks now over whether or not we will release the building to them.

It looked for a while like it was going to go to serious litigation, but both sides have gotten more reasonable this week, and we think we have a deal. We should know more about this today as well.

If it doesn't work out with Craig, then we would most likely go to Five Points, although there are two more possible spaces that John and I are looking at downtown.