Times-Union J Magazine: Frank Denton: J is our new Magazine Focusing on Downtown

Link to article: http://jacksonville.com/reason/frank-denton/2017-06-16/frank-denton-j-our-new-magazine-focusing-downtown

You have to look carefully and seek it out, but the new Jacksonville is emerging, faster than you think

Driven purely by positive market forces, there is active construction framing our downtown: The Lofts at LaVilla and Houston Street Manor on the west. The Broadstone River House on the Southbank. And, on the east, the Cowford Chop House, the developing Doro District with its brewery and distillery, as well as the sparkling new Daily’s Place amphitheater.

Smack in the middle of downtown, on West Adams at Main, a modest sign announces the “Coming Soon” of the 20 West Café, not just another eatery but the anchor of FSCJ’s new student housing, a statement of commitment to downtown.

But all that is merely a start. We have a long way to go. The plans — and ideas — for true revitalization of downtown are much grander and more transformative, as you must know since you are a Times-Union reader. Their prospects are anything but certain

The essential ingredients for a healthy, vital downtown are still in various stages of the achingly long planning/studying/official-approval/funding process. Though much of that has been going on for years, becoming at times almost a sad joke, now everything may be coming into sync, including key commitments by city leaders and private investors.

What is essential to the new Jacksonville is action. This year.

We need spades in the ground and cranes in the air and people working, building and creating a new heart of the city. And then Jacksonville needs you downtown to bring it to life — and enjoy living in a real, complete, interesting and exciting city.

Toward that end, we present J, a quarterly slick magazine of the rebirth of downtown. If you’re a seven-day home-delivery subscriber, you’ll get it free with your Times-Union tomorrow. Single copies will be for sale at the Times-Union, 1 Riverside Ave., and soon at some Daily’s, Publix and Gates stores. You’ll be able to order J online at Jacksonville.com/jmag.

Please note that J is produced by the T-U’s editorial page staff, not the newsroom. That allows the magazine to take a perspective and advocate for progress, much like our editorials and columns, including this one. We, of course, will be constructively critical and, when earned, complimentary. You’ll read all about the pros and cons, the ups and downs, the leaders and the barriers, the can-dos and the will-nots.

The 76-page first issue has stories about Shad Khan as the critical key, the St. Johns as a ­wonderful but wasted natural asset, the parking and panhandling issues and the thinking of urban thinkers and experts. We’ll compare Jacksonville to four role-model cities which are way ahead of us. We’ll report the interesting results of a public-opinion poll we commissioned.

You’ll be surprised at the projects on a Progress Report map and provoked by our tough grading of downtown ingredients and our thumbs-up-or-down on important actors and factors (hint: you may be one of them).

We target a downtown Eyesore and ask you to nominate your own.

While there are a lot of smart and committed people in J, I suggest you pay special attention to Ennis Davis, the urban planner, who says a successful downtown has a certain chemistry with three essential ingredients. I’ll argue that chemistry will bubble as the Sports Complex and Doro are physically linked to the Shipyards project, and to the Elbow and the Cowford Chop House then the Laura Street Trio and Hemming Park, with The District a water-taxi ride away on the Southbank.

I’ll give you four big reasons why the time is right for all that to happen. Starting this year.

As you read J, please take note of its sponsors and advertisers. They are stepping up not to sell stuff but to make the public statement that they too are committed to reinvigorating downtown.

J is quarterly, but we won’t let the issues rest for three month. Because we have decided downtown is so important, we’re dedicating half of each Wednesday’s op-ed page to the subject, starting this week.

That space will be anchored by four rotating columnists, smart community people who bring special expertise or background to issues affecting downtown revitalization. We’ll introduce them Wednesday. Why are we doing all this? From our unique position in the eye of civic life and as one of the institutions responsible for the success of this city, we believe that, without a vital and popular downtown, Jacksonville is only a collection of neighborhoods and suburbs, not a true city.

Even if you think you don’t care about downtown because you’re happy at the beach or in your own community, J intends to change your mind and enrich your quality of life by involving you in the heart of the city.

frank.denton@jacksonville.com: 904-359-4197