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<\/p>\nA stretch of Jacksonville\u2019s Southbank could become a flexible festival street with events, food trucks, vendors, outdoor dining and new pedestrian-friendly features.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A stretch of Flagler Avenue on Jacksonville\u2019s Southbank could soon become a flexible public space where cars can still drive and park, but the street can also close for festivals, markets and other events.<\/p>\n
The project covers about 800 feet of Flagler Avenue between Prudential Drive and Riverplace Boulevard, near the Main Street Bridge. Plans call for a shared-street design with level sidewalks and pavement, designated parking, wider pedestrian areas, shade trees, benches, lighting and retractable bollards to close the street during events.<\/p>\n
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Daniel Ashworth, a landscape architect and urban designer with GAI Consultants and the project\u2019s lead designer, said the goal is to create a space that serves multiple purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you design for pedestrians first, like this street is trying to do, it starts creating interest for those properties,\u201d Ashworth said.<\/p>\n
The redesign would allow pedestrians to use the entire paved area when the street is closed to traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt essentially makes the street and the sidewalk the same grade,\u201d Ashworth said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a flat pedestrian surface from edge of right of way to edge of right of way.\u201d<\/p>\n
During events, parking spaces could accommodate food trucks, vendor tents and nonprofits. The project also includes expanded outdoor dining at Southern Grill, at 800 Flagler Ave., with additional seating, shade and a protected, curbless dining area.<\/p>\n
Jonas Loh, owner of BB\u2019s Restaurant and Bar on the Southbank, said increased activity could benefit nearby restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s phenomenal. I think all this extra traffic, extra activity is always good for the neighborhood,\u201d Loh said.<\/p>\n
He said events could bring more customers into the area throughout the day while emphasizing the importance of safety and crowd control.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny event is good from day to night. It will always benefit all the restaurants,\u201d Loh said.<\/p>\n
Ashworth said the project is also intended to encourage long-term investment in surrounding properties, including underused parking lots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just really trying to create a space where people feel welcomed and want to be there and hopefully one day would spur some redevelopment to happen in some of the underused parking lots,\u201d Ashworth said.<\/p>\n
The improvements would connect Treaty Oak Park near Prudential Drive with Riverplace Boulevard\u2019s bike lanes and wider sidewalks, potentially improving pedestrian and bicycle access toward the Southbank Riverwalk.<\/p>\n
Retractable bollards at both ends of the project area would allow Flagler Avenue to remain open to traffic most of the time while providing flexibility for special events.<\/p>\n
The project is about 60% designed, Ashworth said. Design plans are expected to be completed in January 2027, with construction bids potentially opening in the spring and groundbreaking anticipated in summer 2027.<\/p>\n
The project is funded through Downtown Investment Authority CRA\/TIF funding. Public planning documents have previously estimated the Flagler Avenue Shared Street project at $2 million.<\/p>\n
Ashworth said the broader goal is to encourage more activity throughout the Southbank beyond the Riverwalk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they see it as something else to do outside on a nice day,\u201d Ashworth said. \u201cIn the Southbank. You know, all of the activity right now is kind of focused on the river walks, and if we can draw some of that activity and interest and um, even redevelopment interest further into the Southbank and the Northbank. I think that will continue with that would continue making downtown Jacksonville better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stretch of Jacksonville\u2019s Southbank could become a flexible festival street with events, food trucks, vendors, outdoor dining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-429515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}