The Landing needs to remain focused on the public

I believe Mayor Lenny Curry knows exactly what he wants to do with the taxpayer-owned property that sits underneath the recently abandoned and city purchased Jacksonville Landing.

It’s not like Curry to be unsure about things he wants to do, and he’s shown for four years that he can be extremely aggressive in getting his way.

If he didn’t already know what he wants to do about the Landing, why would he include $1.5 million for demolition in the legislation that purchased the city landmark from Toney Sleiman and give no thought at all to repurposing the building as has been done successfully with Rouse developments in other cities?

I don’t fault the mayor for having a notion of what he wants for the future of the property, but I do question why he is so dogged in his determination to lock the doors on input from the public; the very people who own what is the centerpiece of land in Downtown Jacksonville. I wonder why he would not share his plan with us and then work like the devil to rally the community to support his idea?

As mayor, it was my vision to set aside valuable city land on the river in Downtown so the properties could be used — forever — by the public, average citizens who could sit and walk and play beside the St. Johns River without having to purchase a high-priced home or condo. I targeted three pieces of land for that purpose: Metropolitan Park across from the then-Gator Bowl; construction of a riverwalk on the Southbank and a festival marketplace on the Northbank between the Main Street bridge and the Civic Auditorium, now the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts.

I also wanted a riverwalk on the Northbank, but term limits cut short my opportunity to get that done. Fortunately, the vision had merit. The Northbank Riverwalk was started by Mayor Ed Austin and completed by Mayors John Delaney and John Peyton.

Metropolitan Park opened in October 1983 with more than 100,000 people at the fourth annual Jacksonville Jazz Festival. Over the years, some of America’s — and the world’s — greatest entertainers performed there on the stage under the massive canopy, all free to the public. The Jacksonville Symphony held its Starry Nights concerts there, and local groups staged all kind of events for the community, like the World of Nations. It was also a beautiful place for families to visit just to picnic and enjoy themselves.

Now, under Mayor Curry, Metropolitan Park is a piece of riverfront public park land that will be developed instead for offices, a hotel, housing and retail.

A riverwalk on the Southbank, I believed, would open that side of the river to the public, attract economic investment and bring both sides of the river together in a total town.

Over the years, the value of the Southbank Riverwalk was recognized by mayors who came after me. Thirty years after it opened, the city demolished the original riverwalk and it was replaced with a wonderful concrete structure that opened to the public in 2015.

The Jacksonville Landing was built to be a public/private partnership that would turn city-owned parking lots into a vibrant, public-centric festival market; a centerpiece of our billion-dollar development in Downtown, and a place that would draw our citizens and visitors to Jacksonville’s greatest asset, the river.

Like Metropolitan Park and the Southbank Riverwalk, the Jacksonville Landing for years was where we brought family, friends and visitors, and where Jacksonville celebrated the Fourth of July, the Christmas tree lighting, the annual Light Boat Parade, New Years Eve and so many other great occasions.

The Landing opened to terrific fanfare in June 1987 with nationally famous retail shops and restaurants. From the beginning, the Rouse Co., the Landing’s developer, made it clear to the city that in order to succeed long term, the marketplace would need nearby dedicated parking. The city promised to make that happen, but it never did and as a result, the topline shops and restaurants began moving out once their leases expired.

Eventually, Rouse determined it wanted to get out and in 2003 the company sold the Landing to Jacksonville developer Toney Sleiman. Sleiman purchased the Landing for all the right reasons. He wanted to return it to its earlier excitement and as a public magnet in Downtown. And he envisioned a successful Landing as a great Jacksonville legacy for his family.

Sleiman had big ideas and plans. He wanted restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Chang’s to have their first Jacksonville locations at the Landing, but without the city-promised parking, he could not commit the number of dedicated spaces that top restaurants demanded.

As the months passed, except for music events Sleiman personally funded, and community-sponsored events that he hosted, there just wasn’t enough business to sustain a retail operation. Sleiman made numerous efforts over the years to alter and adjust the Landing, but he was unable to get help from the city. It’s well known that there was a laundry list of lawsuits between Sleiman and Curry that ended when Curry agreed to pay Sleiman $15 million to vacate the Landing.

Some now question the horseshoe-shaped design of the Landing with its back to Downtown and instead, its front opening to the vastness of the river. That was no accident. We wanted a design that would be unique to Jacksonville, not a copy of another Rouse development in other cities. Rouse determined that the interior of the building should be open to the river so that it was accessible to boaters, could allow the visiting public to embrace the river as was well as provide beautiful river views to people in the restaurants and bars.

Perhaps now, a new design would be appropriate.

Why am I revisiting this now? Because I don’t want us to lose sight of the fact that the Landing — like Metropolitan Park — had an important public purpose, and over the years it had meaning to thousands upon thousands of people.

I don’t want it forgotten that the land beneath the Landing — once concrete parking lots — sits in our city’s heart on the banks of our most important asset, the beautiful St. Johns River.

The Landing and its 7.5 acres of property belong to the families of Jacksonville, and whatever goes there should be something they believe in and support. That begins when the mayor lowers the curtain so we can have an open community discussion about its future.

Jake Godbold is a former mayor of Jacksonville.