Riverfront activation gets helping hand from Conservancy, nonprofit groups
An update on pocket parks and projects ahead
Last August, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund released the Activation Plan for Jacksonville’s Downtown Riverfront — a plan “informed by hundreds of hours of conversation…with stakeholders from across Jacksonville’s neighborhoods” to activate and revitalize the invaluable North- and Southbank real estate — through both public and private developments — to create what it believes will be the City’s “social, cultural and economic spine, bringing the community together to play, learn, innovate and celebrate.”
Since then, the riverfront activation has continued to build momentum as plans for various developments moved through the city’s approval and permitting process or broke ground on actual construction. These developments include RiversEdge: Life on the St. Johns, One Riverside Ave and the Hardwick at Ford on Bay, to name a few.
Additionally, the highly-anticipated Emerald Trail — the 30-mile urban trail connecting 15 Jacksonville neighborhoods and linking to 21 parks, 16 schools and two colleges — continues to progress. In February, The Resident reported on the trail’s early phases of construction taking place in LaVilla while its “Hogan Street segment between Riverwalk and FSCJ is in design now with construction expected to begin in late summer 2023…”
Another vital part of the riverfront activation, though, is the creation and development of public green spaces along the river. Achieving that activation is not something that the city can accomplish alone, however, and a new nonprofit has joined the numerous organizations already established to help Jacksonville’s downtown flourish, with a mission specifically focused on the downtown riverfront parks.
The Riverfront Parks Conservancy was first announced in February at Riverfront 2025: A Look Ahead, a public event hosted by the City of Jacksonville’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services and the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) in partnership with in collaboration with the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Riverfront Parks Now and Build Up Downtown detailing the plans in place for riverfront parks and the organizations that support them.
The Riverfront Parks Conservancy will serve as stewards of these parks once they come online, providing support and resources as needed to maintain them. Part of that stewardship involves acting as a conduit between the public and the city, passing along community feedback, but that is a smaller role for the organization, explained Riverfront Parks Conservancy Board Chair Barbara Goodman.
As time goes on, there will be various things that the parks will need that the city might not be able to accomplish,” said Goodman. “So we would be fundraisers to get funds to help provide something in the parks or to activate the parks or to help in some other way — providing volunteers, being there on the ground. That kind of support to help the city just in the sustaining of the parks.
Its first area of focus will be the Southbank’s St. Johns River Park — home to Friendship Fountain — which is expected to be the first of the new riverfront parks to come online.
“We are looking at how can we activate there and what are all the various different opportunities, so that is one place that will receive our focus,” Goodman explained. “We also have received a grant to do family and youth programming around health and wellness — no specific location has been selected for that. We put out an RFQ [Request for Qualifications] that just closed and we will be meeting as a board to go through the applications to hire somebody to assist us with that effort.”
Several other parks and amenities are either in design or already under construction along Jacksonville’s north- and southbanks.
“The destination parks on the riverfront will be great new places to play and relax, and they’re also an important part of the master plan for Downtown revitalization,” wrote DIA CEO Lori Boyer in an e-mail. “The public investment in these high-quality facilities is a key driver of further private investment in Downtown. These destination parks will also enhance the quality of life for Downtown residents and workers, and for the entire community while providing visitors with new things to see and do in Jacksonville. We’re very pleased to see them moving forward, and we also thank the many partners involved in the development of the parks — this was a true community effort involving both the private and public sectors. The involvement of the advocates like Riverfront Parks Now and the recently formed Riverfront Parks Conservancy to assist with funding, programming and maintenance are key to the success of this multi-faceted project.”
Other projects discussed at Riverfront 2025 include Artist Walk, the Music Heritage Garden, Riverfront Plaza, Shipyards West Park and the Parks at RiversEdge. Below is a brief summary of eachv:
Artist Walk
Location: Beneath the Fuller Warren Bridge at the park space between Riverside Avenue and Park Street; connects to the Emerald Trail
Features: Plaza space for programming/special events; synthetic turf lawn and areas for food trucks; seating areas; skate park designed by California Skate Parks; stage area
Commencement Date*: 2023
Completion Date: 2024
According to City of Jacksonville Chief of Natural and Marine Resources Jill Enz: “These under-the-bridge projects go a long way in reconnecting neighborhoods. A lot of the larger freeway projects during the City Beautiful movement really disconnected neighborhoods and so this is the potential to reconnect different parts of the neighborhood and really create interesting spaces that are shaded and that don’t get rained on.”
Music Heritage Garden
Location: Adjacent to the Jacksonville Center for Performing Arts
Features: Celebrates Jacksonville’s “rich musical heritage,” “richly planted,” rebuilt, custom-designed shade structures on bump-outs.
Commencement Date: 2023
Completion Date: 2024
Enz added, “This garden space and this park space is going to be dedicated to [artists hailing from Jacksonville] and interpreting what type of music and different genres of music that they represent.”
Riverfront Plaza
Location: Former site of The Landing, adjacent to the Music Heritage Garden and Main Street Bridge
Features: A large flex lawn in the center, coming from Laura Street; playground space with one entry/exit point; cafe area beneath playground space; small splash pad; beer garden; fountain that can also be a reflecting pool or play space; rain gardens with boardwalks; open flex lawn area.
Commencement Date: June 2023
Completion Date: December 2024 (Phase 1)
“This park went through a design competition about a year ago and this was the design that was selected,” Enz said. “It was completed and done by Perkins & Will. There are some design refinements as we went through the process and those have increased the amount of play space. The playground has increased in play space and the lawn has changed slightly different in form, but holistically the same.”
Shipyards West Park
Location: Between Catherine Street and Hogans Creek, accessed by East Bay Street
Features:Home to USS Orleck Naval and Jacksonville Fire museums; food hall; pavilion area; restaurant and dining terrace; pickle ball and volleyball areas; flex lawn and lawn games; beach area; chess and bocce ball; grilling and birding areas.
Commencement Date: Late 2023
Completion Date: 2025
According to Abigail Fiala, landscape architect with Agency Landscape + Planning, the west side of the park — with the aforementioned museums — will have a historical emphasis and the eastern side will focus more on community gathering with the remainder of the park “offering moments for flexible recreation as well as more structured and unique recreation opportunities.”
“We are still in infancy and looking for feedback,” she added.
RiversEdge Trail & Park System
Location: RiversEdge development
Commencement Date: 2023
Completion Date: June 2024
RiversEdge: Life on the St. Johns, developed by Preston Hollow Community Capital, LLC will feature four different public parks, each with different features and amenities that will create unique experiences for the community to enjoy. These parks have yet to be named and are currently designated based on their locations within the development.
North West Riverfront Park
Features: digital kiosks; synthetic lawn; leisure swings; water taxi stop; interactive art piece; gathering and seating area
“We wanted to ensure this was a relaxing environment with great views of the river and this is really the pedestrian entrance in the parks system,” Anna Walling with Kimley-Horn, the civil engineer for the RiversEdge development.
Central Riverfront Park
Features: plaza areas; walking track; event lawn; pavilion; central art piece custom-designed for the park
“This is going to be, as I said, a very unique space,” Walling said. “It is going to be the centerpiece of the entertainment district of this development. So it’s going to be a place where you can connect with people, it’s going to be a meeting place and it’s also going to have a world-renowned art piece.”
Northeast Park
Features: four entrances; enclosed play space with two different age-based play equipment plus fitness equipment for adults; synthetic lawn spaces; interactive play equipment; leisure swings; yoga/event lawn; misters; flexible open lawn; kayak stand.
Walling stated, “This is a park that we’ve worked very closely with the City of Jacksonville Parks Department and the Downtown Investment Authority to ensure we were providing a place for play and activity and creating an environment where you can practice health and wellness as much as possible.”
Marsh Boardwalk
Features: 1,400 feet of boardwalk stretching from the Northeast Park to the Marsh Front Park with shorter routes leading to a lookout or looping back to the Marsh Front Park.
Marsh Front Park
Features: medicinal gardens with signage explaining the medicinal uses for plants in the gardens; synthetic, flexible lawn spaces; outdoor seating; pollinator plants
*All commencement/completion dates listed above provided by the DIA; dates are subject to change.
At the Riverfront 2025 event, Boyer added, “All the way from the Fuller Warren Bridge to Metropolitan Park, the riverwalk is funded and either constructed or in various stages of design with construction plans forthcoming. On the Southbank, that entire loop is either under construction or funded for construction and has already been designed.”
According to Riverfront 2025, additional riverfront parks include Gefen Park, McCoys Creek Park, Music Commons and Metropolitan Park.
By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News
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