Belated Feb 25, 2011 Update...

Here is my belated Feb 25, 2011 update, sorry for the lateness...

The first thing anyone will notice is a new sidewalk has been poured and standing above it are Seven 25 - 30 foot tall palm trees...



Next are two new Lamp posts at the entry way to the Park...



Here is a shot of pavers being arranged and laid, tedious looking work...



Also in the News on Monday Feb 28 was the following article "Southbank Riverwalk shut near Friendship Fountain for repairs through Friday "

I used a new Android app for my Dell Streak, "The Beast", and took this Panoramic shot of the site from the roof of the Pump House...



Lots of visible progress and work going on now and hopefully they will be able to continue on schedule :)

Until next time,
Bob

Outside looking in...

I decided to take a quick trip down to Friendship Fountain on Saturday to get some shots from the perspective of those passing by the construction site...

You can view all the pictures here:
http://jaxfountain.com/Gallery/Outside

But here are some quick views...

From the Main Street Bridge.


Peaking in from the Southbank Riverwalk.


From a small rise next to River City


Finally through the fence from the main entrance to the Fountain...


If you look at earlier pictures you can see progress even when looking from the outside and this Friday I should be able to get inside pictures with more details on the recent progress...

Till then...
Bob

Feb 11, 2011 Update

Took my bi-weekly trip to Friendship Fountin, hoping to see more progress but concerned that the recent rains may have delayed work...

I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to see a dozen or more workers all over the Park and in the Fountain itself working not to mention progress since my last visit 2 weeks ago.

A group was working inside the Fountain itself pressure washing the deck and walls preparing for painting and very noticeable by their absence, the railings around the Fountain have been removed, to be replaced with new railings...



Immediately walking into the Park area you cannot help but notice additional landscaping being done, along with additional concrete pad picnic areas...



The area where circles were being laid last visit for highlights in a walkway has been formed out awaiting concrete pouring (originally scheduled for Sat Feb 12 however due to the rains postponed until Mon Feb 14).





One thing very obvious was the stacks of bricks all over the place, arranged in color order preparing to lay them, which has started...

The tower tops that were laying on the ground after being refurbished just two weeks ago have been reattached to the top of the towers again.

Larry the site foreman took a few moments to bring me up to date with upcoming schedules including talking about the rain which has caused some delays but he says they are keeping up with the schedule and May 2011 is still the targeted completion date.

With all the work being accomplished, being more visible results, I may try and get down to the Fountain next Saturday and see if they are working and if so get another update as well as some shots from the Main Street Bridge...

As I was leaving a Gentleman standing at the gate area saw me and introduced himself as Doug, guessing I was the "web site guy". Doug has been stopping by to visit the Fountain as the work progresses routinely and was as pleased as I am that it is being renovated so thoroughly as well as the recent visible progress...

Till next time...
Bob

Ps... For the first time since i started the bi-weekly trips i got caught by a train on San Marco, not just heading into the Fountain but another on the way out, gave me a chance to add some notes to my Dell Streak...

Pss... After i took about 10 pictures with the Olympus camera I always use the batteries died and the remainder of the pictures were taken with my Dell Streak, while you can see the quality difference between the cameras, overall not to shabby...

Jan 28, 2011 Fountain Renovation Update

Finally after a number of Friday afternoon misses (heck it was the holidays and I can understand the Construction workers wanting to bail early on Fridays..) I took my bi-weekly trip to Friendship Fountain and not only found a few folks around this time but over a dozen workers, all over Friendship Park, hard at work, grading, laying block and other tasks.

Since the last official updates there has been much accomplished...

New retaining walls for landscaping are being put into place.

The accent pavers are delivered and expected to start being laid next week.

Additional accent work is being done.

Grading of the land continues however it appears that the majority of fill needed may be in place.


Larry, the on site foreman took a few moments of his time to bring me up to date on how things were going which appears to be very well.

They expect to start laying the accent pavers into the poured walkway slots this week.

The tops of the Light Towers have been refurbished and delivered back to the site:


They expect to be able to start the final work on the Riverwalk adjacent to Friendship Park in a few weeks which will allow that portion of the Riverwalk to be completed.

There are a number of concrete pads that have been poured in the Park areas

and additional concrete pouring will probably be completed in the next few weeks as well.

However everything isn't good news... The recent freezes apparently resulted in some portions of the water main feeding the Fountain to start failing and it was reported to me that when exposed the water main pipe appears to be greatly deteriorated and some issues cropped up in the pump house so we will have to see where those lead...

All in all some great progress in the last few weeks and hope to be able to see even more in a couple of weeks...

Till next time,
Bob

Nov 5 - 19 and Dec 3, 2010 Updates... Finally ;)

First my apologies for not posting recently. While i did get the opportunity to visit the Fountain on Nov 5 and 19 I only took a few pictures as while much work was going on the photo evidence was lacking ;)

The pictures from the Nov 5 and 19th visits are located here and primarily show dirt (for grading) and some forms for walkways.
Nov 5 - 19 Pictures

My most recent visit on Dec 3, 2010 pictures are located here and you can see some of the results from the work in the earlier pictures, more grading and poured walkways.





As you can see above the main walkways from the center portion of the Fountain have been poured (the open spaces between sections will be filled with pavers and hopefully on the next visit that will be completed).

Also the hope is to have the final transition area from Friendship Fountain Park to the Southbank walkway completed in the next few weeks which should be the last interruption to the Southbank walkway during these renovations.

Once again my Thanks to the Men from AC General for taking their time to explain some aspects to me as well as providing details on the next steps and allowing us unfettered access. :)

Till next time,
Bob

Southbank River Walk Open again!

The Friendship Fountain Bi-weekly update ;)

The portion of the Southbank River Walk immediately in front of Friendship Fountain has been restored and is open for foot traffic again.





It also appears that all underground drainage has been put into place, all the open pipes seen two weeks ago have been covered and there are a number of new drain boxes clearly marked and in place. Today was the quietest I have seen the construction site since the renovations began.

Look for another update in two weeks...

Bob

Belated Oct 8, 2010 Update

Well folks a few days late on the biweekly update but as soon as I got back from The Fountain on Friday I was put into Halloween mode setting up our annual display which can be seen by clicking on the below image...





As far as The Renovations, grounds demo appears to be pretty well done with some actual infrastructure being put into place. As always pictures are posted and the direct link is:
http://jaxfountain.com/Gallery/oct82010





Another update in a couple of weeks and don't forget to Support Our JAGS on Monday Night Football Oct 18, 2010, just think next season they will be able to feature Friendship Fountain during our Home games again!

-Bob