The ongoing revival of downtown Jacksonville has led to a new appreciation for the area after years of neglect.
But some residents still haven’t warmed up to the idea of hanging out downtown. Many don’t even know why anyone would do so. After all, it’s often portrayed as an empty wasteland – and who wants to hang out in an empty wasteland?
In reality, though, downtown Jax isn’t that bad. It’s actually pretty nice, and it’s getting increasingly nicer as development projects wrap up and new tenants arrive.
Obviously downtown is far from perfect. There’s a lot of work left to be done, and it’s still fighting reputation issues and lots of ground-floor vacancies. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth checking out – and more importantly, it means the area needs as much of the community’s support as it can get.
So if you’re still in need of some persuasion, here are a few great qualities of the city’s downtown area that just don’t get enough love.
Sure, the Skyway is super outdated and doesn’t really go anywhere interesting. But it’s still pretty fun to ride.
Not many cities have elevated people-movers like the Skyway. It offers some pretty cool views along its admittedly-limited path, even crossing over the Acosta Bridge and giving you a nice look at the water. You can even close your eyes and pretend you’re on the people-mover at Disney World.
It’s not really useful for actually getting anywhere, but if you’ve got nowhere to go and some time to kill downtown, riding the Skyway is a fun little blast from the past that we should enjoy before it gets the axe in favor of self-driving pods.
