The Jacksonville Landing was designed and built by the Rouse Company, 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,[3]balloon release, community choirs, and national acts. The Rouse company partnered with City of Jacksonville, which gave $20 million to the construction[5] of a festival marketplace to revitalize the city's core.[3]
The first floor of the Landing featured tenants that were common to other shopping malls when it first opened, including Foot Locker, The Gap, and Victoria's Secret. [6]
The second floor of the main building was devoted to the Founders Food Hall, a food court, 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, Ostrich Landing, which also later closed.[3] 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".[3]
The Rouse Company announced in 2003 that it would sell the Jacksonville Landing to a local developer, Toney Sleiman, for $5.1 million.[7]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.[8]
The 23-year obligation was finally resolved in 2010. The Jacksonville City Council 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.[9]
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.[10]
A mass shooting occurred at the video-game tournament that was held on August 26, 2018, at the GLHF Game Bar;[11] three persons, including the perpetrator, were killed, and others injured.[12][13]
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.[14]
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.[15]
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 Jacksonville Landing in 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, [for] we 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. [16]
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 9-acre (36,000m2) 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.[4] 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 (5.8×4.6m) 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.[17][2][5] Downtown Improvement District (DID) for Jacksonville claims it was a popular tourist destination.[18]
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.[19]
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.[20]
Gallery
View of Jacksonville Landing from the river
Looking West at Jacksonville Landing fountain
View of Main Street Bridge from the Jacksonville Landing
Statue of President Andrew Jackson in front of the marketplace
The 2016 Christmas tree lighting located near the Acosta Bridge
Harborplace is a shopping and dining complex on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.
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.
The Waterside, is a festival marketplace on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, opened June 1, 1983. While the Waterside Annex was demolished May 16, 2016, the main portion was renovated and reopened as Waterside District in May 2017.
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.
Park Tower is a skyscraper located in downtown Tampa, Florida. It is Tampa's first high-rise tower. At the time of its completion in November 1973, it was the tallest in Florida, and is currently sixth-tallest in Tampa, at 460 feet (140 m). It was the tallest building in Tampa until One Tampa City Center was built in 1981.
Horton Plaza was a five-level outdoor shopping mall in downtown San Diego, California. It was designed by Jon Jerde and was known for its bright colors, architectural tricks, and odd spatial rhythms, occupying 6.5 city blocks adjacent to the city's historic Gaslamp Quarter. Opening in 1985, it was the first successful downtown retail center since the rise of suburban shopping centers decades earlier.
The Carling, formerly known as the Carling Hotel and Hotel Roosevelt, is a historic building in Jacksonville, Florida, United States built in 1925. It is located at 31 West Adams Street in Downtown Jacksonville. As its former names indicates it was originally a hotel, and was used for that purpose until 1964; it currently serves as a residential building.
11 East Forsyth, formerly known as the Lynch Building and the American Heritage Life Building, is a historic structure in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally developed by Stephen Andrew Lynch, as its current name suggests, it is located at 11 East Forsyth Street in Downtown Jacksonville. On December 23, 2003, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Burlington Center was a shopping mall located in Burlington Township, New Jersey. It was built by The Rouse Company of Columbia, Maryland. Its anchors were Macy's, JCPenney, and Sears.
The Marketplace at Steamtown is a shopping mall in Scranton, Pennsylvania. United States. It was conceived in the mid-1980s as the keystone of downtown revitalization, though the project was not completed until 1993. Its opening in 1993 was nationally televised on CNN and attended by then-Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey, Sr., who was instrumental in securing funding for and initiating development of the mall. The mall is built on approximately half of the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad yard that was abandoned by Conrail in the late 1970s. The mall is located on Lackawanna Avenue in the heart of downtown Scranton, and includes a parking garage that stretches the length of the mall between Boscov's and the former The Bon-Ton. The mall has two levels with a food court overlooking Steamtown National Historic Site on the second floor. There is a pedestrian bridge leading from the food court out to Steamtown. The mall was featured several times on the NBC sitcom The Office which was set in Scranton.
Crossroads Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, at the intersection of 72nd and Dodge Streets. Originally opened in 1960 by Omaha's Brandeis department store, the mall has been home to several major chains, including Sears, Target and Dillard's before the store closed in 2008. The mall is now demolished, and is expected to be redeveloped as a mixed-use center, called The Crossroads, in 2025.
Metropolitan Park is a 32-acre (130,000 m2) urban waterfront park and concert venue located on the north bank of the St. Johns River in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. It is projected to be the eastern terminus of the northbank 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 2-mile (3.2 km) Downtown Northbank portion travels alongside the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville, Jacksonville Landing, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, CSX Transportation Building, and extends into the Brooklyn district. The 1.25-mile (2.01 km) Southbank portion of the trail connects local landmarks such as Friendship Fountain, Museum of Science and History and Riverplace Tower.
Friendship Fountain is a large fountain in Jacksonville, Florida. It is in St. Johns River Park at the west end of Downtown Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk attraction. The world's largest and tallest fountain when it opened, it has been one of Jacksonville's most recognizable and popular attractions.
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