Imitation is the best form of Flattery...I guess (Jacksonville: fit in, sales)

[fsu813]

St. Johns County housing development readies its comeback


"RiverTown, a large residential and commercial development on the east bank of the St. Johns River 10 miles south of Mandarin, had barely launched into what had been a red-hot St. Johns County market in 2008 when the bottom abruptly fell out of the real estate boom and sales skidded to a halt.

Master developer and landowner The St. Joe Co. had created a special taxing district, floated a $13.9 million improvement bond and started to build the roads, sidewalks, drains, ponds, streetlights and signage that helped personify its turn-of-the-20th-century themed vision for the project. But it has been populated with only a few homes and much of it has sat dormant for months.

....

There are other streets, scattered with 12 homes. Some 11 Victorian-flavored homes that could fit in Jacksonville’s historic Springfield area have been sold and are occupied, one is a spec home and two spec homes are under construction, Kuhn said. "

from: St. Johns County housing development readies its comeback | jacksonville.com


Imitation is the best form of flattery.


Speaking of which, if you check out the inside letter page of Folio Weekly (Oct 19th-25th) you'll find a letter written to Folio that basically says the following (paraphrasing):

Riverside & Avondale were just named a Top 10 neighborhood in America large due to thier excellent planning and development management. But instead of trying to replicate that, developers just building mindless, generic, artificial, sparwling suburbs. (a) If you're going to build new suburbs, take a look at what works (b) developers should re-develop other urban neighborhoods with exisiting infrastructure, instead of building another suburbs 20 miles from anything.

The closest thing to either is (a) Tapestry park on Southside Blvd, which is Disney-esque and (b) SRG's investment in the Springfield historic district, which did very well but is suffering in "this economy".

Why don't more new suburbs embraces New Urbanism, and why don't more developers simply re-develop existing urban neighborhoods?

[Dappleganger]

One reason that Rivertown has died other than the economy, is that applying the urban to the suburban just doesn't work. Take a drive out there and you'll see why--people don't move out here to live on a piece of land the size of a Chiclet. They want to be able to walk around and not rub their elbows on their neighbor's home in the process. Now all you have is that smittering of tiny homes and a whole lot of nice roads (and a park) with NOTHING on them. What a waste--and I nearly cried when I saw the disregard the builders used when cutting down century-old magnificent trees and natural FL underbrush, and the erosion which took place. Most of us who've been here longer than 5 years were absolutely disgusted.

[Magnolia Bloom]

I didn't realize that Springfield was the birthplace of Victorian architecture.

Agree with Dappleganger, they just wiped everything out and put up some, IMO, really out of place homes. Very sad. Give me one of the those older homes on the river with the big oaks and palmetto bushes any day.

[donisanasfan]

I am pro growth 95% of the time, but I have always thought this was one the more poorly conceived ideas. There is no shortage of land in Jacksonville, so why go in and destroy so much old growth trees only to develop a poorly planned neighborhood? This may sound strange from someone who extolls the virtues of Nocatee, but the fact is that the planning and commitment level here was always at a more advanced level then Rivertown. Also there has been a concerted effort and commitment to permanently put aside huge areas of land to green space. Also the roads here are about ten years ahead of schedule which is evidence of the commitment and shows the implementation of a good plan. Rivertown simply gives those who are against urban sprawl a reason to keep on fighting it. In this instance a good reason.

[KerryB]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Bloom

I didn't realize that Springfield was the birthplace of Victorian architecture.

Apparently if you've only made it as far as Jax, FL it is.

Here's the deal, folks. You most def can build new, urbanized "little walkable cities" that are technically in the suburbs. So for people saying "it just doesn't work" aren't looking hard enough. There are numerous ones, too many to mention. My God, DC had freakin tons of them. So if they're "imitating" anyone, it's bigger cities up north because a lot of these types of newer developments look exactly like this.

This isn't gonna work here because these have to be a "little brother" & coexist with a bigger REAL urban core, which we don't even halfway have here (as much as some people like to preach that we do, we just don't, at least in terms of what true urbanism is). So yes, of course it's going to fail in a city that can't even get it's real urban core together & is a sprawled out mess for the rest of it. This is just stupid planning on a bunch of levels for this thing.

That's not to say that this kind of ticky tack, faux urban-in-the-suburbs stuff is my cup of tea (I'd much prefer the real thing), but it is what it is.

[fsquid]

Why don't more new suburbs embraces New Urbanism, and why don't more developers simply re-develop existing urban neighborhoods?

maybe they don't sell? maybe they are more expensive and the return isn't as much? maybe the demo of the suburbs doesn't want it? I really have no idea

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by fsu813

St. Johns County housing development readies its comeback


"RiverTown, a large residential and commercial development on the east bank of the St. Johns River 10 miles south of Mandarin, had barely launched into what had been a red-hot St. Johns County market in 2008 when the bottom abruptly fell out of the real estate boom and sales skidded to a halt.

Master developer and landowner The St. Joe Co. had created a special taxing district, floated a $13.9 million improvement bond and started to build the roads, sidewalks, drains, ponds, streetlights and signage that helped personify its turn-of-the-20th-century themed vision for the project. But it has been populated with only a few homes and much of it has sat dormant for months.

....

There are other streets, scattered with 12 homes. Some 11 Victorian-flavored homes that could fit in Jacksonville’s historic Springfield area have been sold and are occupied, one is a spec home and two spec homes are under construction, Kuhn said. "

from: St. Johns County housing development readies its comeback | jacksonville.com


Imitation is the best form of flattery.


Speaking of which, if you check out the inside letter page of Folio Weekly (Oct 19th-25th) you'll find a letter written to Folio that basically says the following (paraphrasing):

Riverside & Avondale were just named a Top 10 neighborhood in America large due to thier excellent planning and development management. But instead of trying to replicate that, developers just building mindless, generic, artificial, sparwling suburbs. (a) If you're going to build new suburbs, take a look at what works (b) developers should re-develop other urban neighborhoods with exisiting infrastructure, instead of building another suburbs 20 miles from anything.

The closest thing to either is (a) Tapestry park on Southside Blvd, which is Disney-esque and (b) SRG's investment in the Springfield historic district, which did very well but is suffering in "this economy".

Why don't more new suburbs embraces New Urbanism, and why don't more developers simply re-develop existing urban neighborhoods?

Well Uptown Springfield is coming up very nicely from what I have heard? Why develop in the sticks you ask? Maybe because they dont know about Brooklyn, Eastside Jax & Lavilla or maybe they know but have fear of fixing them up. Thats really all thats left is those three areas Brookln & East Jax having river access.