River Watch Renderings

[thelakelander]

TU rendering

Fast facts (according to diagram)

34 stories (33 story building + Heliport)
201 four star hotel condo units
187 residential condos (above hotel)
2 level lobby & street level retail

bird's eye view


Parking garage (corner of Hogan & Bay)


Parking garage up close (the top floors of the garage will be condo units)


Diagram


last, but not least, Jim and Jason have been working with Google Earth to create a 3d version of downtown. This view contains the proposed tower.

[Jim]

Very nice. Retail and 4 outdoor terraces are so welcomed.

[pearlstone]

The Google 3-D stuff is SO amazing! Kind of like electronic lego! ha ha

[RiversideGator]

I like it. Good job finding those, Lake, and thanks for posting them. I find myself liking Kuhn's proposal more and more. I think it is a nice structure. I would have personally designed it differently, but for this genre, it is good. I do agree, by the way, that downtown is the place for experimentation architecturally. It is just that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

By the way, I presume the helipad is for Kuhn to fly in and out of town. I remember reading that he commutes from Orlando to Jax via helicopter. Sort of a James Bond existence he leads.

[RiversideGator]

By the way, doesnt the the Google Earth version have River Watch too short? I thought it would be much taller than the SunTrust Tower adjacent to it, although not tall enough to compete with Modis or Bank of America.

EDIT: Looking at the rendering from the TU showing SunTrust and River Watch side by side, it doesnt look much taller. I wonder why.

[TheITSteve]

My only concern is it looks like the hogan st sidewalk is a little tight. Any idea how wide that is?

[TheITSteve]

BTW, just to get a little nostalgic, remember this?

This was the Humana garage (remember that one?)

[RiversideGator]

Good point Steve. The corner of Hogan and Bay looks pretty barren and bleak. It seems as if the building turns its back on Bay Street and is (obviously) oriented towards Water St and the Landing. It would be a shame to have a blank wall facing Hogan and Bay Streets as these are otherwise nice, vibrant streets. I hope Kuhn will try to incorporate either some retail or an entrance facing both Bay and Hogan Streets.

[RiversideGator]

Kuhn's design certainly beats the heck out of the old garage design though.

[thelakelander]

Originally Posted by TheITSteve

My only concern is it looks like the hogan st sidewalk is a little tight. Any idea how wide that is?

Probably about 10' to 12'. Tight, but better than what exists today. After visiting Philly and Charleston and noticing the width of their sidewalks, I wouldn't get too concerned.

Btw, notice the glass at street level behind the trees! Must be street retail. Also condos face Bay and the top floors facing Hogan. Overall, it looks to be a well designed project.

[HEIGHTS UNKNOWN]

Originally Posted by RiversideGator

By the way, doesnt the the Google Earth version have River Watch too short? I thought it would be much taller than the SunTrust Tower adjacent to it, although not tall enough to compete with Modis or Bank of America.

EDIT: Looking at the rendering from the TU showing SunTrust and River Watch side by side, it doesnt look much taller. I wonder why.

I always thought that it would be at least as tall as the BellSouth Building, but shorter than MODIS and BOA; not taller than BellSouth but almost as tall.

[Jim]

Since this is mostly residential and hotel, the ceilings heights are shorter than the neighboring office towers.

Jacksonville Center - 24 floors - 357 feet.
Bellsouth - 32 floors - 447 feet.

I expect this tower to be almost 400 feet.


It's also noted in the renders and int he description that ground floor retail is a big aspect fo it so it's safe to assume that Bay and Hogan streets will have retail.

[theskyliner]

Great pics! I can not wait until the building breaks ground. Let's pray there will be street retail. I like that the parking garage faces Bay. It should create more foot traffic towards the Landing and hopefully spark some retail along Bay and Hogan (We could use another Cheesecake Factory) Sorry but I am a big fan of that restaurant.(LOL)

[thelakelander]

There is street retail. If you look at the picture showing the corner of Bay & Hogan, you can see the glass storefronts behind the trees. Also the diagram, points out street retail. I'm interested to see how will the building interact with the pedestrian mall planned between the two towers.

[BostechComputers]

Why Kuhn doesnt run for mayor of Jacksonville????

[fsujax]

I think it would be great if they could open a "Cheesecake Factory" type restaurant in that new building on the ground level, with outdoor seating and all, what a way to liven that place up. Personally, I would like to see a Gordon Biersch open up Downtown, they brew their own German beer, the best I have had since I was in Germany.

[theskyliner]

Originally Posted by thelakelander

There is street retail. If you look at the picture showing the corner of Bay & Hogan, you can see the glass storefronts behind the trees. Also the diagram, points out street retail. I'm interested to see how will the building interact with the pedestrian mall planned between the two towers.

A pedestrian mall in between the Riverwatch building and the new building? That sounds great! Stores and/or restaurants? If so this would mean a lot of foot traffic in between the buildings pedestrian overpass into the Landing would be a cool concept. This will prevent both pedestrian and vehicle congestion in that space. Just an idea! Here are some visuals of what I was thinking.

Have any of you been to the Ocean Walk in Daytona? This overpass is connected to a parking garage that crosses A1A into a 4 story shopping plaza.

[thelakelander]

A pedestrian mall in between the Riverwatch building and the new building? That sounds great! Is this something sort of like Phase II of SJTC in between the two buildings? If so this would mean a lot of foot traffic in between the buildings and maybe stairs, a glass elevator along the outside or an escalator from the pededstrian mall leading to a pedestrian overpass over Water street into the Landing would be a cool concept. This will prevent both pedestrian and vehicle congestion in that space. Just an idea! Here are some visuals of what I was thinking.

I stopped at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. a couple of years ago, but we really didn't explore the entire Ocean Walk complex.

I don't know how much retail will line the walkway between the Riverwatch towers, but its probably safe to assume at least a couple of nice sit down restaurants will (given its a 4-star hotel). If successful it could serve as an extention of the Landing.

Regarding the overpass, Independence Drive doesn't carry a lot of traffic like AIA in Daytona. A nice wide pedestrian crossing directly connecting Riverwatch to the Landing (dead smack half way between Hogan and Laura) should do it.

[Keith726]

Just cant wait to have a new Tower in the North Bank Skyline,will enjoy watching it rise.

[Jason]

Now that I have some new angles and a little more info on the proposed tower I'll have to redo my Google Earth rendering. I'm going to try to put some texture and color into it this time too.