Jacksonville Landing
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Jacksonville Landing (informally The Landing) was a
festival marketplace A festival marketplace is a European-style shopping market in the United States. It is an effort to revitalize downtown areas in major US cities begun in the late 20th century. Festival marketplaces were a leading downtown revitalization strategy ...
in
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, at the intersection of Independent Drive and
Laura Street Laura Street is a north–south street in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, named for the daughter of the city's founder, Isaiah D. Hart. Historically, the downtown portion of Laura Street has been considered the financial district of Jac ...
, along the
Jacksonville Riverwalk The Jacksonville Riverwalks are a network of multi-use trails and open space developments along both the north and south banks of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. The roughly Downtown Northbank portion travels alongside the Hyatt R ...
.
Metro Jacksonville.Com, March 22, 2007—Urban Connectivity: The Jacksonville Landing
It was built by the
Rouse Company The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. Beginnings - Moss-Rouse Company T ...
for $37.5 million, opened in 1987, and officially closed after the 4th of July festivities in 2019. Demolition began about October 8, 2019. The center was comparable to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's
South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
's
Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...
, and
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
's
Bayside Marketplace Bayside Marketplace is a two-story open air shopping center located in the downtown Miami, Florida. The banks of Biscayne Bay wrap around the property with the City of Miami marina at its side. It is recognized by the Greater Miami Convention & V ...
,Frommer's Destinations Jacksonville Landing
all developed by Rouse.


History

The Jacksonville Landing was designed and built by the
Rouse Company The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. Beginnings - Moss-Rouse Company T ...
, which built similar structures in other cities. It opened its doors on June 25, 1987, hosting a week-long celebration featuring a drum-and-bugle corps, balloon release, community choirs, and national acts. The Rouse company partnered with City of Jacksonville, which gave $20 million to the construction of a
festival marketplace A festival marketplace is a European-style shopping market in the United States. It is an effort to revitalize downtown areas in major US cities begun in the late 20th century. Festival marketplaces were a leading downtown revitalization strategy ...
to revitalize the city's core. The first floor of the Landing featured tenants that were common to other shopping malls when it first opened, including
Foot Locker Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an Americans, American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in ...
,
The Gap The Gap may refer to: Places Australia * The Gap, New South Wales, a locality near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales * The Gap, Northern Territory, a suburb of Alice Springs, Northern Territory * The Gap, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland ...
, and
Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
. The second floor of the main building was devoted to the ''Founders Food Hall'', a
food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...
, with 18 restaurants. The décor featured silhouettes of 17 persons instrumental in the settlement of North Florida. Outside seating included a view of the center courtyard fountain and stage and of the river. Foot traffic never reached projected numbers, and within four years a third of the food court tenants had closed. The west side of the food court became a
video arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as c ...
, ''Ostrich Landing'', which also later closed. Ever more food tenants closed; in 2019, the food court closed completely, after the shooting at the Landing, and the Landing blocked and disabled the escalators. The Landing's first bar was Fat Tuesdays, which sold frozen alcoholic beverages. The business attracted mostly young customers; the Landing management decided not to renew the 10-year lease, citing a desire for an "older crowd". The Rouse Company announced in 2003 that it would sell the Jacksonville Landing to a local developer, Toney Sleiman, for $5.1 million. ''The Florida Times-Union'' reported that Sleiman, who bought the buildings but not the city-owned land, would not have to pay the $100,000 rent required by the City of Jacksonville for the land until the city provided the 800 parking spaces that it had promised the previous owners.Daniels, Ear
"Landing to go for $5.1 million"
Florida Times-Union, August 28, 2003
The 23-year obligation was finally resolved in 2010. The
Jacksonville City Council The Jacksonville City Council is the legislative governing body of the city of Jacksonville, Florida. The council meets in its chambers at Jacksonville City Hall, 117 W. Duval St. Under Florida’s government transparency laws, all official co ...
passed a bill to give $3.5 million for Sleiman's purchase of a parking lot near the Landing. That money included a 20-year parking-validation program at a cost of $2.5 million to the city. Mayor John Peyton vetoed the bill, and the council voted unanimously to override the veto. In May 2018, the City of Jacksonville informed Jacksonville Landing Investments, LLC, a subsidiary of Sleiman Enterprises, that the Jacksonville Landing had defaulted on the lease by not curing a breach of contract within the 30 days of notification. The City of Jacksonville demanded immediate access and possession of the property. A mass shooting occurred at the video-game tournament that was held on August 26, 2018, at the GLHF Game Bar; three persons, including the perpetrator, were killed, and others injured. On February 20, 2019, the city of Jacksonville and Sleiman Enterprises reached an $18-million settlement to transfer ownership of Jacksonville Landing to the city. The agreement includes $1.5 million to buy out the remaining tenants' leases and $1.5 million to demolish the mall for redevelopment of the site. On May 1, 2019, the city of Jacksonville sent letters to the remaining tenants of Jacksonville Landing, giving them 30 days to vacate the premises. The City of Jacksonville bought out the three remaining tenants' leases, paying $303,333.31 for the Hooters lease, $550,000 for the Fion MacCools lease, and $450,000 for the BBVA lease. BBVA must not open after October 28, 2019. The city received demolition bids and has bids ranging from $978,200 to $2,776,000. Plant City–based D. H. Griffin bid $1.074 million to tear down the Landing; this was one of seven sealed bids received by the deadline, 2 p.m. on June 14, 2019. The Department of Public Works recommended this bid to the General Government Awards Committee, which approved it at its next meeting. D. H. Griffin was to start site work 10 calendar days after the city sent the contractor a written notice to begin. The Landing wasn't officially fully closed until after July 4, because it was the primary viewing spot for the downtown Independence Day fireworks. On August 5, 2019, it was reported that D. H. Griffin Wrecking Co. Inc, the company hired to demolish the Landing, would erect fences so that demolition work could begin. In August 2019, Mayor Lenny Curry discussed a plan to build at the site housing, restaurants, and a museum, staying "I think that those are the options that are on the table. What will happen is, as demolition happens, the Downtown Investment Authority will put out a request for proposal to the market to say, you know, to private investors, 'What would you like to do here? What can you do here?' My personal opinion is it should be a combination of some green space—not all, orwe don't want just a park there—but a combination of some green space and then some sort of buildings that are iconic, that serve the public. It's an important piece of property. I also think should you be able to see the river from Laura Street. We don't want to block the view of that wonderful jewel." Some citizens believe that the mayor didn't include them in the decision to demolish or renovate the Landing.


Location and services

The two-level glass-and-steel complex with the orange roof is located on the north bank of the
St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...
. The complex at one time featured 65 stores as well as dining, with full-service restaurants plus a food court, and entertainment. The Landing staged a variety of special events. There was weekly live music on the courtyard stage. Most events took place in the open brick courtyard in the center of the horseshoe shaped structure. Just before the Georgia-Florida football game in 2007, the Landing installed a 19 × 15-foot (5.8 × 4.6 m) JumboTron in the courtyard.


Patronage

The Jacksonville Landing (usually referred to as just the ''Landing'' by locals) had a local patronage base of over 65,000 downtown office workers and over 1,000,000 residents in the surrounding metropolitan area of North Florida. According to various Florida travel sources, it had been "an icon" for Jacksonville and "one of the most recognized attractions in Northeast Florida" since it opened in June, 1987.
Visit Florida, Jacksonville, Florida

City of Jacksonville website: About Jacksonville-a Rich and Vibrant History
Downtown Improvement District (DID) for Jacksonville claims it was a popular tourist destination.


Events

The Landing hosted more than 300 events each year including Florida–Georgia football rivalry, Florida/Georgia Weekend Celebrations, the annual Christmas Tree Lighting, New Year’s Eve and
Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...
Celebrations, St. Patrick’s Day, the
Jacksonville Jazz Festival The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is an annual Jazz Festival held in Jacksonville, Florida. Events MUSIC FESTIVAL: For more than 40 years, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival has brought music lovers together to enjoy an incredible weekend of food, dri ...
and July 4th fireworks. Weekly events included year-round live entertainment in the center courtyard every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The bands offered a variety of music including classic rock, oldies, contemporary, jazz, and top 40. The Landing also hosted national country concerts and classic rock concerts in the spring, summer and fall each year. In September, 2010, The Landing announced a partnership with Downtown Vision to host an every Friday Farmer's Market from 10am to 2pm. The market was relocated from Hemming Plaza. Since relocating to The Landing the market averaged over 40 vendors each week. The Landing also hosted events for the community, such as charity walks and runs and the Earth Day Ecology Fair.


Museum

The Landing allowed the Jacksonville Maritime Museum to use unoccupied retail space to display their collection of large-scale model ships for seven years, beginning in 1990. It was a positive for both parties; the museum increased their exposure with a free venue and the Landing filled an otherwise empty storefront and offered a free attraction to increase foot traffic. Jacksonville Maritime Museum Society President John Lockhart explained, "Every time they would get a new tenant, they would move us to another empty space." That situation occurred five times in seven years, but in mid-November, 1997, the museum was given seven days to vacate in preparation for a new tenant. "This time, they just ran out of empty space," commented Lockhart. Many exhibits were put into storage. In October 2011, the museum was invited to return to the landing, and was given a large space to use. Their former home on the Southbank of the Riverwalk was demolished as part of a larger renovation that included
Friendship Fountain Friendship Fountain is a large fountain in Jacksonville, Florida. It is in St. Johns River Park (also known as Friendship Fountain Park) at the west end of Downtown Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk attraction. The world's largest and tallest fou ...
.


Gallery

File:Jacksonville Landing Dec 2016.jpg, View of Jacksonville Landing from the river File:Looking West at Jacksonville Landing fountain.JPG, Looking West at Jacksonville Landing fountain File:JacksonvilleLanding-2010-02-l.JPG, View of Main Street Bridge from the Jacksonville Landing File:Andrew Jackson statue in front of Jacksonville Landing.JPG, Statue of President
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
in front of the marketplace File:2016 Jacksonville Landing Christmas Tree.jpg, The 2016 Christmas tree lighting located near the Acosta Bridge File:Jacksonville Landing and surrounding area.jpg, At night from across the St. Johns River


See also

*
Jacksonville Riverwalk The Jacksonville Riverwalks are a network of multi-use trails and open space developments along both the north and south banks of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. The roughly Downtown Northbank portion travels alongside the Hyatt R ...


References

{{authority control Shopping malls established in 1987 Economy of Jacksonville, Florida Tourist attractions in Jacksonville, Florida Buildings and structures in Jacksonville, Florida Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in the United States Shopping malls in Florida Downtown Jacksonville Northbank, Jacksonville Laura Street 1987 establishments in Florida 2019 disestablishments in Florida Demolished buildings and structures in Florida Buildings and structures demolished in 2019 Demolished shopping malls in the United States