Innovation Square leaves some in limbo
It also marks a turning point for the development of Innovation Square itself. After years of planning and strategizing and literally laying down the groundwork with new streets and utilities, the pieces of this giant jigsaw puzzle sprawling over 40 acres between UF and downtown Gainesville are starting to fall into place.
Negotiations are close to completion for a four story office building next to the Innovation Hub, as well as a 135 unit luxury apartment complex along University Avenue for employees of the tech companies moving into Innovation Square.
patagonia wetsuits for sale online Hopefully now we ll get on a roll, said Ed Poppell, the director of UF Development Corp., which oversees development of Innovatiopatagonia better sweater coat women'sn Square. We hope a lot happens in the next couple of years.
It s welcome news to all the stakeholders of Innovation Square: UF, the city of Gainesville, Alachua County, Santa Fe College, the Community Redeveloppatagonia better sweater womens pineapple3ment Agency, the Chamber of Commerce and various landowners, developers, Realtors and brokers.
But it s also cause for concern for a group of business owners along University Avenue the tenants who are facing eviction if and when the luxury apartment complex comes to fruition.
They were put on notice back in June when thepatagonia down sweater full-zip hoody review university s property management company did not renew their leases, instead putting them on month to month leases with no clear timeline for when they would have to move.
I m being told it could be anytime but not soon, said Lilly Wiggins, who runs the Unified Training Center at 805 W. University Ave., its dragon mural entrance on Eighth Street barely vispatagonia backcountry guide pants reviewible from the Ayers Technology Plaza where Poppell has his office. What does that mean? It could be years, because of the way property development works.
Poppelpatagonia hooded guide jacketl said he s promised to give the tenants six months advance notpatagonia outlet store onlineice so they can make other arrangements. If a contract is signed with the developer in the next week opatagonia better sweater womens pineapple2r two, the developer wouldn t begin work upatagonia better sweater womens pineapplentil May or June, Poppell said.
Also, leases would be assigned to the new owner, who could let tenants stay for the duration of the planpatagonia better sweater womens pineapple0ning process.
It would be nice to know what the plans are, said Keith Bucella, who s run the Addiction Tattoo and Piercing Parlor on University Avenue for five years.
The uncertainty of the property s future is affecting their business, which is affecting their ability to pay the rent and keep the lights on.
The competition has been telling customers not to come to Addiction, Bucella said.
People come in and say they heard we were closing down, Bucella said. I have to explain what is going on. We re here. Come on down.
Bucella and Wiggins fear that publishing the plans Innovation Square has for the area wpatagonia outlet store illinoisill ring the death knell for their businesses. Wiggins said she s had to hold fundraisers to pay the rent.
We re a ghost town in the middle of midtown during this transition, she said. We still need to have businesses here.
Wiggins has been running the Unified Training Center for 15 years, before UF owned the land on which it sits. The building was Gainesville s first bowling alley when it was built in 1954, its studio floor made from the same polished wood the alley lanes were made of.
When she took it over in 1999, she had the murals painted. It s my heart. Knowing it s going to close doesn t just affect me, but so many people, she said.
UTC has become a community center, home to a dozen classes, with 200 people a week taking fencing lessons, karate classes and instruction in other martial arts, yoga and dancing, Wiggins said.
Wiggins rents the space out for parties, dances, reunions, weddings.
I have a space that is so unique people come frompatagonia everlong review direct all over, she said. They leave and come back because there is no place like this.
Tearing the building down for luxury apartments will change the dynamic of the community, Wiggins said. Wiggins knows she can t stop it but hopes Innovation Square would take the concept behind UTC and reinvent it somewhere else within its vast plan
There is no movie theater downtown. Where do you go for fitness? she asked. Their slogan is live work play. So where is the play? Does Innovation Square have a plan for recreational space?
The vision of Innovation Square is to develop a community of innovation and creativity for millennials, Poppell said.
When you look at the millennial generation, they want to walk to work, walk to play and live where they work and play, take their skateboarpatagonia guide jacket quotationsd or bike to work, Poppell said. They don t care about cars.
The irony that patagonia better sweater womens pineapple1Poppell s office is the former drive thru window of the former Florida HealthCare Credit Union is not lost on him. The pneumatic tubes had to be removed before he could move into the space.
The other goal is to get all that nonprofit land back on the tax rolls through private development agreements. All the property bought by Shands when it took over Alachua General Hospital and transferred to the UF Development Corp., now held by Innovation Square, is being sold to private companies with one goal, Poppell said: To grow jobs.
Signet is close to announcing construction of the five story One Innovation Square next to the Innovation Hub, said Ken Krismath, CEO of Signet.
