10 grass fields to get you pumped for Landing demolition

Opinion from J.D. McGregor of ModernCities.com

What can we expect to see once Mayor Lenny Curry completes his $22 million plan to demolish the Jacksonville Landing? Here's ModernCities.com's look at 10 city-owned fields in the Downtown area showing off exactly what we're getting! #JaxOnTheRise!

10: 1005 West Forsyth Street 

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LOVE that view! What other downtown can boast a field that overlooks another field that cars park on? If you look closely, you’ll see that the city has done a marvelous job maintaining the site’s many ecological areas, which include everything from grass to dead grass to bare patches of dirty sand. We can only hope the Landing looks this good when the city’s done with it!

9: Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park

For those who think creating a great park requires a lot of boring planning and effort, look no further than Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park, the childhood home site of author and civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson and his brother John Rosamond Johnson. Transforming the space from a grass lot into the bustling park shown above didn’t take expensive additions like programming, active amenities or a proper tribute to Jacksonville’s greatest literary titan. All it took was a resolution calling it a “Park” and a few strategically placed PVC signs with words on them. The payoff of the city’s efforts is obvious and space has emerged as one of the best-maintained parks in the system.

8: 735 Houston Street 

The designers of this field were inspired by the Japanese concept of mono no aware, the understanding of and love for the impermanence of the material world. The distressed grounds, fallen sign and busted up fencing may look like the result of long-term neglect, but it’s all part of an intentional design reflecting on the transience of life. Mono no awesome!

See seven other visions of the potential future of the riverfront once the Landing is demolished on ModernCities.com.