Sunil Joshi and his son, Sohan, stood in front of the brightly colored picture of Downtown, pointing to different parts along the waterfront.
They were interested in the Jacksonville Landing, although it wasn’t the Landing people have come to know the past 30 years. This was a different vision, an altered concept.
“I like this part,” said Sohan, 7, pointing to a riverfront building on the rendering that could house a restaurant.
Standing in the Landing’s Blue Room on Wednesday evening, Sunil Joshi said he remembers what the Landing used to be like — energetic, bustling. It’s still an iconic local landmark, he said, but people just don’t think of it the same way. It needs new life, like Riverside and Brooklyn have had in recent years.
It’s one of the reasons venue and Downtown officials for months have reviewed and planned for a new Landing. One that’s more open, a different model with more public access and new concepts.
On Wednesday, the Joshis and others caught a glimpse of those preliminary visions during a public charrette.
They saw sketches of a Landing with Laura Street opened up. A public greenspace similar to Hemming Park incorporated. A boutique hotel, a “cultural venue” and an eight-story main building that could house up to 300 residential units, retail and parking.
Rows of public walkways adorned with large shaded trees on either side. A new pedestrian ramp leading to the Main Street bridge, a tear-down of the vehicular one at the venue’s doorstep.
The charrette was the public portion of a whirlwind three days for the designers and developers for the new Landing. All day Tuesday and up until Wednesday afternoon, they met with several private focus groups for a similar workshop.
The sketches and models seen Wednesday basically were the result of the past two days, said Jeremy Hull of Wakefield Beasley, the firm that’s partnered with Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates on the design.
Wednesday evening, Hull sat at a table with people around him excitedly chatting about possibilities. He was sketching — working on his latest rendering of the Landing, for now focusing on a western end that had the public park space, boutique hotel and cultural venue around Hogan Street.
Last month, the public weighed in on what it liked and didn’t like about the Downtown venue. That feedback was incorporated into the renderings and the latest input will be used in the coming weeks leading to a mid-September final reveal.
“I think we’re probably getting closer to that final vision,” said Aundra Wallace, Downtown Investment Authority CEO.
Dick Jackson, a Downtown enthusiast, was among those at the public meeting Wednesday and at a focus group comprising Urban Land Institute members. He said he favors any plan that incorporates residences and shade. Overall, he said, the consensus he’d seen is that “there seems to be a lot of good ideas here.”
Former City Council member Bill Bishop, an architect by profession, said he sees the components for a viable urban facility. But it looked similar to an idea largely rejected last year that spurred the current discussion.
Small changes could help, he said, like shifting the public park aspect to the end of Laura Street — opening it up even more.
Doris Goldstein, the DIA member liaison to the project, said she’s heard others have Bishop’s concerns about the look being too much like the old proposal. She’s frustrated by that, given constraints to the site after key aspects like opening Laura Street and an influx of public space is incorporated. “This is an inviting, safe place,” she said.
It’s also one she thinks is economically viable, although she and others say it’s too early to talk costs for such a project.
Tom Senkbeil, the developer for the project, agrees it’s still too early. That won’t be known until after it’s determined what will be built, but the concept offers options, he said.
The eight-story main building will include residential, retail and possibly office space should the market allow. Another example is the cultural venue that could end up being a museum might not work and be shifted into part of the boutique hotel that’s a possibility next door.
One concept sure to change is the dominance of retail at the site. Currently, it’s about 100,000 square feet. Senkbeil said the new concept will be closer to 40,000 to 45,000 square feet.
But, as one young fan wants, don’t cut the riverfront dining.
“The restaurants,” said Sohan Joshi, pointing back to the drawing. “My favorite part is the restaurants here.”
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