Noise from construction equipment at Riverfront Plaza mixed with the voices of city leaders during a media event at the site of the city park project Feb. 10.
The speakers didn’t complain.
The rumble of engines and beeping of back-up signals from machines running in reverse gear provided a soundtrack for the event’s theme – that city projects at the plaza and elsewhere in Downtown Jacksonville are coming out of the ground.
“After years of really sort of feeling like we’re stuck when it comes to this kind of progress, cranes in the air is what we like to see,” Mayor Donna Deegan said. “And we’ve got cranes going up all over the place.”
Deegan used the event to announce a new digital feature, I Dig Jax, which provides information and updates on public projects Downtown. The feature can be accessed at jacksonville.gov/idigjax, and the city is installing signs at project sites containing a QR code that can be used to access the page.
The media event took place in front of a park pavilion building under construction at Riverfront Plaza, the former site of the Jacksonville Landing.
The pavilion, part of the first phase of construction on the park, will include a cafe, restrooms, mechanical rooms, storage space to support the park, and a rooftop playground.
Other Phase I elements include a multipurpose lawn, a pedestrian plaza that connects the park to the Performance Arts Center and a series of curving walkways.
The bulkhead and riverwalk along the entire length of the plaza are being rebuilt, and a portion of Independent Drive has been removed to clear space for park amenities.
Deegan said the first phase was expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
The second phase, which includes such features as a beer garden and a bike and pedestrian connection to the Main Street Bridge, has been designed and is scheduled to commence once the first phase is completed.
Lori Boyer, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority, said preliminary work on the second phase is underway, including relocation of a sewer line and electric duct bank.
The city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan includes $68.2 million for the full Riverfront Plaza project.
It and other Downtown parks are designed to help revitalize Downtown by helping attract new residents, visitors and business customers.
Deegan said designs for the Shipyards West Park and Metropolitan Park are expected to be completed this year. Friendship Fountain reopened last year after a nearly $8 million renovation and upgrade, and Deegan said the adjacent St. Johns River Park was on track to open this year.
Work continues on the Emerald Trail, the 30-mile network of trails in and around Downtown that will connect several neighborhoods and the Downtown parks.
The I Dig Jax site also includes information on such projects as the McCoys Creek outfall along Riverside Avenue on the former Florida Times-Union property, the Music Heritage Garden on the Northbank, the Park Street Road Diet and the Hogan Street Cycle Track, a portion of the Emerald Trail that runs through Downtown.
Jacksonville City Council member Jimmy Peluso, whose District 7 includes Downtown, predicted there would be dozens of cranes popping up in the core of Jacksonville in the next year.
Peluso said Riverfront Plaza, with its central location and connection to the Emerald Trail, would be “the home plate, if you will, for our city.”
Deegan said investment in riverfront projects was critical for the success of Downtown, which in turn would lift the entire city. She likened the park improvements to projects that helped revive Tampa’s waterfront.
“People are constantly saying, ‘Look at Tampa, look at Tampa,’” she said. “It all happened because they invested in their downtown riverfront. And the same thing’s going to happen for us.”
