A.G. Gancarski
If there is one signature event of the Alvin Brown administration, it’s One Spark. The One Spark week allows the Brown team to showcase how its public-private partnerships have helped to transform Jacksonville’s downtown, giving it a verve it hasn’t had in decades.
With One Spark being so high-profile and so popular, it allows for a functional synergy in terms of messaging. The backdrop of the event allows the Mayor’s team to showcase initiatives, such as the Florida Theatre facade restoration announced today, in the context of what most agree is an urban success story. It helps, also, that Wednesday was the 88th anniversary of what Councilman Jim Love called, during Thursday’s event, a “jewel” that is one of the three most beautiful theaters in the state.
When the Florida Theatre was built, downtown was the undisputed hub of the city, a distinction it held for about half a century afterward. However, suburban sprawl and the perception that “downtown is unsafe” helped make Jacksonville’s downtown a ghost town by the late 1980s.
The area is coming back, though, and the Florida Theatre is a big part of that renaissance. It remains the best place to see a concert in town. Thursday, the mayor, along with Florida Theatre President Numa Saisselin, Councilman Jim Love, and Cultural Council Executive Director Tony Allegretti, came together to announce the restoration of the facade on the august venue.
Brown called the theater a “landmark … a crucial part of Jacksonville’s history and culture,” while mentioning that the building, owned by the city and managed by the Florida Theatre Performing Arts Corp. nonprofit, is on the National Register of Historic Places and “one of the 100 most-attended theaters in the country.”
He also mentioned the tremendous “return on investment” afforded by the Theatre, helping to make arts and culture a “huge economic engine for the city.”
Last year, more than 150,000 people attended 151 Florida Theatre events, creating an economic impact just shy of $10 million.
The plan is for the city to contribute $75,000 to satisfy the state of Florida’s requirements for an $150,000 grant from the Bureau of Historic Preservation. The work being done is comparatively minor: fixing or replacing faulty terra cotta and sills, caulking, and such. But those who have been to the Florida Theatre know that it is a showplace. Maintaining it is a civic priority without respect for party lines. And Thursday was an important step toward that goal.
