Jax vs. Miami: Downtowns Headed in Opposite Directions?
Both cities were developed in the era of sunbelt sprawl and both have visions of downtown revitalization. However, one has ambitions of international greatness and the other is still in search of its identity. Today, Metro Jacksonville visits the downtown streets of a Sunbelt city attempting to transform itself into an internationally known walkable community: Miami.
Published September 22, 2015 in Cities - MetroJacksonville.com
Tale of the Tape
City of Miami highlighted in red.
To help Jaxsons gain a better understanding of the scale of Miami, here are a few statistics of the city in relation to Jacksonville:
Miami's (red) city limits overlayed over Jacksonville's city limits. Jacksonville's pre-consolidated city limits are highlighted in green.
Population
Miami City Population 2014: 430,332 (City); 5,929,819 (Metro 2014) - (incorporated in 1896)
Jacksonville City Population 2014: 853,382 (City); 1,419,127 (Metro 2014) - (incorporated in 1832)
City population 1950: Jacksonville (204,517); Miami (249,276)
City Land Area
Miami: 35.68 square miles
Jacksonville: 757.7 square miles
Metropolitan Area Growth rate (2010-2014)
Miami: +6.56%
Jacksonville: +5.46%
Urban Area Population (2010 census)
Miami: 5,502,379 (ranked 4 nationwide)
Jacksonville: 1,065,219 (ranked 40 nationwide)
Urban Area Population Density (2010 census)
Miami: 4,442.4 people per square mile
Jacksonville: 2,008.5 people per square mile
City Population Growth from 2010 to 2014
Miami: +30,875
Jacksonville: +31,598
Convention Center Exhibition Space:
Miami: Miami Convention Center (1982) - 28,000 square feet*
Jacksonville: Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center (1985) - 78,500 square feet
*-The proposed Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo will include a 100,000-square-foot exhibition hall when it opens in downtown Miami in 2018. In addition, the Miami Beach Convention center has 500,000 square foot exhibition hall in Miami Beach.
Tallest Building:
Miami: Four Seasons Hotel Miami - 789 feet
Jacksonville: Bank of America Tower - 617 feet
Who's Downtown Is More Walkable?
Miami: 89 out of 100, according to 2015 walkscore.com
Jacksonville: 72 out of 100, according to 2015 walkscore.com
Who's Downtown Is More Bicycle Friendly?
Miami: 60 out of 100, according to 2015 walkscore.com
Jacksonville: 71 out of 100, according to 2015 walkscore.com
Next Page: Downtown Miami Photo Tour
Map of Downtown Miami, including Metrorail and Metromover transit routes and stations.
Central Business District
1.
Bayside Marketplace wraps along the banks of Biscayne Bay. Completed by the Rouse Company, the same year the Jacksonville Landing opened (1987), the center attracts 15 million visitors annually and is now owned by the same firm that owns Jacksonville's Regency Square Mall, General Growth Properties.
2.
Plans are in the works to revamp and expand Bayside Marketplace. New development at Bayside include a $430 million, 1,000-foot observation tower called SkyRise Miami, which has already broken ground. In addition, Bayside's owner intends to add 17,000-square-feet of retail and a new walkable environment facing Biscayne Boulevard, eliminating its lack of connectivity with the rest of downtown. SkyRise is expected to open in late 2017.
3.
The Miami Riverwalk parallels the north side of the Miami River for a mile between Bayside Marketplace and the Riverwalk Metromover Station.
4.
The 32-acre Bayfront Park hosts many large events such as the New Year's ball drop, Christmas celebrations and concerts.
5.
6.
7.
Metromover is a fare free 4.4-mile automated guideway transit system serving downtown Miami. Along with the Jacksonville Skyway and the Detroit People Mover, it is one of three downtown people movers built in the country during the 1980s. Metromover has a daily weekday ridership of 35,300.
8.
The construction site of All Aboard Florida's MiamiCentral passenger rail station. When complete, this train station will include three million square feet of mixed-use development with residential, office and commercial, and a retail concourse. It will connect two Metrorail stations, two Metromover stations, Metrobus, and a future Tri-Rail station.
9.
The Freedom Tower serves as a memorial to Cuban immigration to the United States. Originally completed in 1925 as the home of Miami News & Metropolis newspaper, the structure was used by the federal government to process, document and provide medical services for Cuban refugees during the 1960s. Today, the tower has been restored and converted into a museum, library, meeting hall and the offices of the Cuban American National Foundation.
10.
Home to department stores La Época and Macy's, Flagler Street is downtown Miami's historic commercial thoroughfare. In an effort to make downtown's streets more pedestrian friendly, Flagler Street will be reconstructed over the next few years.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
The 360' Miami-Dade County Courthouse was the tallest building in the State of Florida when it was completed in 1928.
22.
Miami-Dade College's Wolfson Campus opened in downtown Miami in 1970. Directly served by Metrorail and Metromover, the campus has an annual enrollment of 27,000. The campus also houses the New World School of the Arts, a comprehensive high school and college program, known as one of the best art schools in the country.
23.
24.
25.
The bike-sharing program, Citi Bike Miami, was launched in December 2014. The program is operated by DECOBIKE LLC.
26.
27.
Plans are underway to physically transform Biscayne Boulevard into a vibrant, attractive public space that rivals the great streets of the world like the Champs-Elysees in Paris or Las Ramblas in Barcelona. In coordination with the FDOT, the hope is to convert Biscayne Boulevard into a roadway with 4-6 shared parking/travel lanes, a pedestrian promenade in the median, wide sidewalks and a separated cycle track.
28.
The 21-story historic Alfred I. DuPont Building was the first skyscraper built in Miami after the bust of 1928. Similiar in design to Jacksonville's Ed Ball Building, the DuPont Building was designed by Jacksonville-based Marsh and Saxelbye. Like the Ed Ball Building, it was built for Jacksonville's Florida National Bank.
29.
30.
Construction continues on Newgard Development Group's Centro Lofts. Miami's high-density district zoning rules exempt minimum parking requirements for residential buildings located within 1,000 feet of transit stations. This essentially covers all of downtown. Newgard is taking advantage of this exemption. The 352 unit, 37 floor Centro Lofts will offer a valet, a five-spot Car2Go autoshare hub, covered bicycle parking and a bike share station instead of a parking garage. Residents who need parking will have to get spots in a nearby city garage. In addition, a ZipCar office is located across the street.
31.
32.
33.
MDM Development's 32-story Met 3 includes a ground floor Whole Foods Market in an 11 story pedestal with 17 floors of 462 apartments above.
34.
The Atrium offers luxury residential living in the heart of downtown Miami.
35.
36.
Brickell
The Brickell Financial District is the epicenter of Miami's banking, investment and financial sectors. Brickell has most of the state's foreign consulates. With a 2010 population over 32,000, 1.19 square mile Brickell is also one of Miami's fastest-growing neighborhoods.
37.
38.
Swire Properties' Brickell CityCentre is a $1.05 billion mixed-use Transit Oriented Development (TOD) under construction in Brickell, just south of the Miami River. Anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, the 9.1 acre environmental friendly development contains 5.4 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, retail and entertainment space. In addition, the TOD, which is developed around an existing Metromover station, includes a two-level underground parking garage.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
Brickell Avenue is the main thoroughfare serving the Brickell Financial District. Desiring the make the corridor into a multimodal friendly street, for years the City of Miami found itself at odds with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) design standards. To eliminate the conflict, in 2014, the city passed Resolution R-13-0219, authorizing execution of a transfer agreement with FDOT. Now the city is responsible for owning, operating, and maintaining Brickell Avenue within the limits of the transfer.
44.
45.
46.
47.
Espirito Santo Plaza is a 36-story office building that loosely mimics the Saint Louis Arch. Completed in 2004, it is the headquarters for BrickellBank (formerly Espírito Santo Bank). The Four Seasons Hotel and Tower (right) is located just south of Espirito Santo Plaza. Rising 789', the 64-floor tower is the tallest building in Florida.
48.
The island of Brickell Key grew +82.8% between 2000 and 2010. According to the 2010 Census, it had a population density of 57,566.2 residents per square mile.
49.
50.
51.
52.
With Brickell City Center well underway, Miami plans to transform South Miami Avenue into the entertainment and retail heart of Brickell. Plans call for a streetscape that includes wider sidewalks, heavily shaded landscaping, lighting and bicycle facilities.
53.
54.
55.
56.
Metrorail is Florida's only rapid transit metro system. The heavy rail system is composed of two lines of 23 stations on 24.4 miles of standard guage track.
With the opening of a line to Miami International Airport and new TOD adjacent to several stations, weekday ridership has increased from 59,900 in 2010 to 74,600 in 2014. One of downtown Miami's most ambitious projects, The Underline, is proposed to utilize right-of-way under Metrorail between the Miami River in Brickell and Dadeland. The Underline will transform the land into a 10-mile linear park and urban trail.
Arts & Entertainment District
57.
58.
59.
60.
Plans are underway to physically transform Biscayne Boulevard into a vibrant, attractive public space that rivals the great streets of the world like the Champs-Elysees in Paris or Las Ramblas in Barcelona. In coordination with the FDOT, the hope is to convert Biscayne Boulevard into a roadway with 4-6 shared parking/travel lanes, a pedestrian promenade in the median, wide sidewalks and a separated cycle track.
61.
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts is Florida's largest performing arts center. Designed by Cesar Pelli, the center is partly built on the grounds of a former Sears department store and was completed in 2006.
62.
Construction of the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science continues at Museum Park. The museum is anticipated to be completed in 2016.
63.
Museum Park opened as Bicentennial Park in 1976. The site was previously occupied by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the location of the Port of Miami. Covering 30-acres, it is the new location of the Pérez Art Museum Miami. It is directly served by the Museum Park Metromover station.
64.
65.
66.
67.
PortMiami is the 11th largest cargo container port in the country. It's also the largest cruise ship terminal in the world. To accommodate the expansion of the Panama Canal, the downtown port's recently completed projects include a channel dredging to 52', a tunnel for port truck traffic, and an FEC intermodal rail facility.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com
This article can be found at: http://dev.metrojacksonville.com/article/2015-sep-jax-vs-miami-downtowns-headed-in-opposite-directions
Copyright MetroJacksonville.com