Recently, the Gainesville City Commission approved a plan to use ambassadors to help with a lot of different things from cleaning to safety issues in and around downtown. I was initially skeptical of the plan and the costs ($3.1 million over 3 years), but I had the chance to speak with both Commissioner Eastman and Mayor Ward and did a little digging on my own end and came away supportive of the effort. At worst, at least the city is trying something to improve downtown. At best, we get similar results that other municipalities have seen with this type of program – a more vibrant and safer downtown that people actually want to visit.
About that last point though, I think the ambassador program is solid, but it can’t be the only thing the city does. Downtown has some great restaurants and bars, and it’s been encouraging to see some new businesses take hold. The owners of downtown businesses who care about the community really show up in a big way. When I talk about what downtown lacks, I don’t want to take anything away from them. The owners of the Bull, The Top, Loosey’s, Kin, Cry Baby’s and Baby J’s, Dragonfly, Hear Again Records, Flaco’s, the How Bazar, Wyatt’s Coffee, Alpin Bistro, and Palomino Pool Hall among many others have done a lot of work to make downtown fun, interesting, and inviting. But downtown could be even better if it weren’t plagued by a small handful of land owners who have left perpetually empty lots or decrepit buildings.
I want to call out the Florida Theater as an exception here. The Florida Theater isn’t in great shape these days, but that’s not the fault of the current owner. I know the story behind why the Florida Theater hasn’t been restored yet, and it is less out of effort and civic love from Bill Bryson and more out of bad luck and unfortunate circumstances. Anyone who knows Bill knows how much he loves Gainesville and how much he’s given to the music and arts scene here. The Florida Theater was going to be restored before the pandemic, supply chain shortages, and mounting health expenses for Bill combined to put a big dent in those plans. But the good news is that Mayor Ward and others are working with Bill on securing grant money to help with the restoration. I believe that in the years to come, we’ll see the Florida Theater restored to its previous glory. And when that happens, I think it will be a catalyst for new businesses downtown.
For the moment though, the Theater sits near a lot of spaces that need the same kind of love. Next to the Florida Theater is the space where the old Wise’s Drug Store once lived. That place was a treasure. The back of the building is now used for court-related services, but the front of the building looks like it’s used for nothing. Is this the sort of storefront we want at the entrance to downtown? This could be anything else and be better than what it currently is.
Downtown desperately needs retail of any sort. Right now, there are only a couple of spots where you can go downtown to buy something that isn’t a meal or a drink. People need reasons to want to go in the daytime beyond the trio of good sandwich places there (Pop-a-Top, the Paper Bag Deli, and Primo’s are all good at different types of sandwiches and worth a visit). I may be wrong (and I hope I am!), but I believe that Hear Again Records is the only non-food, non-tobacco retail shop downtown. Hear Again is a fantastic record store. I love shopping there. We need more places like that to shop at downtown.
Right across the Florida Theater sit some lots that have been empty since 2017. They’re fenced off with weeds growing out of the ground. Sometimes, a truck or two will drop construction equipment in the lots, but for the most part, nothing has happened in those spaces for more than half a decade.
I don’t know why these lots are empty, but I know the owners have been squatting on them for some time. The McGurns are responsible for some of the best developments in downtown – the Sun Center and Union Street Station. They’ve done a lot for Gainesville and the University of Florida over the years. If the past work is any indication, they clearly care deeply about Gainesville. You’d think if anyone was going to turn an empty lot into something worthwhile, it would be them, which makes it all the more confusing to me that these lots have been empty for so long and seem to be likely to stay that way for a while. Is there one more great downtown development left in them? Another Union Street Station project on those lots would be a huge boost to the area. If not, is there at least a deal to be done with a different developer who can make something happen there?
On north Main Street between North 1st Avenue and North 2nd Avenue on the east side of the block are more empty buildings that now currently serve as makeshift shelters for the homeless, not by intention or design and certainly not with any amenities or guarantee of safety for those who use these areas but because the building owners have neglected to do anything with these spaces. These buildings used to house the Wine and Cheese Gallery and later Downtown Wine and Cheese, a salon, a music store, and a cobbler. What’s especially shocking to me about these properties is that they’re owned by Holy Trinity, which has been a stalwart of the community for decades. They run a very good school down the block and host church services on NE 1st Street in a beautiful church. Holy Trinity runs a variety of services aimed at helping the local community. But there is a disconnect between Holy Trinity’s service to the community and their stewardship of their own properties. Holy Trinity’s neglect in keeping up one of their buildings in very basic ways was a factor in why Downtown Wine and Cheese moved out, according to the owner. Does Holy Trinity have a plan here? They could be making money for the parish by renting out those commercial spaces. They could be making a better downtown by housing both people and thriving businesses. Instead, they’ve chosen to do neither.
An aside about parking and the Streatery on SW 1st Avenue since it comes up all too often in discussions about downtown: There is plenty of parking downtown, some of it free, almost all of it pretty cheap. Paying 50 cents or a buck or even a couple of bucks to park somewhere is not very likely to dissuade someone from coming to a place. If you want to go to a place, you are going to go there regardless of any very minor parking barriers thrown up. The Streatery on SW 1st Ave should remain closed to cars too. It could be better utilized by the city, but it is still a far better use of the land, even in its current state, than yet another throughway for cars. In fact, one thing that would make the Streatery better is if the empty lot on SW 1st Avenue and Main Street was finally developed into something useful. It’s been empty for more than 10 years now. I wish more people would be mad about that.
Downtown Gainesville deserves better than empty lots and derelict buildings. A lot of business owners have worked hard to make downtown a destination. It’s disgraceful that a few landowners are making downtown worse by doing nothing. The empty lots and empty buildings don’t belong. We should have more housing downtown mixed with more businesses so we can have a more vibrant downtown, one that seems alive at all hours of the day. We should have a downtown that draws people in from all across Alachua County. Right now we’ve got too many empty lots. We should have a downtown that is whole.