Summati
THE
n Weekly USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C om mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n ta Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 17, No. 14
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
April 12, 2017
1 Section, 8 Pages
Written by Hana Frenette
More Than a Skatepark
Upward Intuition Envisions a Community Space
A
fter years of planning, fundraising and conceptualizing, Jon Shell is one step closer to making the underutilized greenway beneath the 110 interstate overpass into something the entire community can enjoy—The Blake Doyle Community Park. Shell, 28, now a realtor with Levin Rinke Reality, grew up skateboarding at a park called Deep South. When he was 12, the skate park closed and he and his friends were at a loss of what to do or where to go. They wanted to keep skating, but the public spaces permitting skating were very limited. “We were skating on private property downtown, and were getting hassled by police officers and business owners,” Shell said. Although Shell still had the passion for skateboarding, he put it on the backburner while he was in high school, doing it on and off instead of daily like he had as a child. He moved to Orlando to attend college at the University of Central Florida and after just a day or so of driving around town, he realized an important public facet that was missing from Pensacola. “There are public skate parks everywhere—even regionally there are several in Mobile, Milton, and all through central Florida,” Shell said. “Why not here?” Shell said the skate parks served as safe and positive places for kids and teenagers to ride bikes, skate, rollerblade, and interact with other kids. “I really got back into skating when I was in college,” he said. “And then I returned home and saw all the new development, the revitalization going on with downtown and Palafox Street, and I remembered we didn’t have a public skate park– but I really wanted to keep skating.” Shell started a blog in January of 2015, and wrote his first article about what he refers to as “Pensacola’s forgotten youth,”— the kids who love to rollerblade and skateboard, but don’t have the access to a public place to practice. “The post was basically about how far Pensacola had come, all the great things going on here, but how there’s this overlooked demographic of kids that are really passionate about skating, biking, rollerblading—but they don’t have anywhere to go to just do it, or to just be themselves.” Shell received a ton of positive feedback from the blog post– from people who used to skate or remembered going to the same skate parks and were now wishing for the same experience for future generations, as well as themselves, and just from people who thought
Pensacola should have more recreational opportunities for the public. Around the same, in 2015, Shell’s close high school friend and fellow skateboarder, Blake Doyle was hit and killed by a train. “I was seeing how completely devastated my friends were, and what an impact Blake had on us, and what a charismatic person he was,” Shell said. “He left behind a pregnant wife, and she was just devastated. I’d been close with his twin brother Bart, and we made a blog post about the future skate park we were hoping for– we decided to push forward for this project in the mem-
problems and crafting solutions, and we support their goals by offering them ways to become involved in projects with lasting significance.” “Our idea was to get our youth— this particular demographic—involved in this project and have them feel like its their project and to take ownership of it as a way to bridge this gap between this demographic of young people who have great ideas for Pensacola and want to see it grow,” Shell said. “It can be a way to reach the politicians and business leaders, investors— people who can help enact change.” Shell began working with the kids to create an Upward Intuition skate team in the summer of 2015. “We did the first event on April 24, 2015, and we filmed a documentary to highlight what we were doing and why we were doing it. We raised some money and then jumped in and started working with the city to find a location.” Originally, Shell envisioned the skate park location in the heart of downtown, possibly near Maritime Park or Main Street.
the corridor, which runs from Jackson Street down to Wright Street (adjacent to Hayne running north and south under I-110), was conceived half dozen years ago by the city and was in need of a jump start. Upward Intuition quickly got behind the city’s plan to revamp the prime location, which had languished for such a long time. Shell is hoping to start with one city block—approximately 1/8 of the corridor—as a catalyst for the revitalization of the entire corridor. “We realized pretty quickly that even though this started out as a skate park, in order to raise capital to fund it, we would need to have activities for all sorts of people— things parents can do, brothers and sisters, senior citizens, early learning components—and then it really morphed into something a lot bigger than a skate park,” he said. Shell and Upward Intuition met with the city again and the Department of Transportation (DOT)— the official owner of everything underneath the interstate. The city and DOT agreed they’d like to see
“That’s the spirit that we wanted to embody and live through this park. Just knowing what it means for Bart and his family, and also what it means for all the kids around here who love skating—that’s what has kept me going.”
The first part of the project will take up one city block—approximately 1/8 of the Hollice T. corridor ory of Blake and what he stood for.” Shell explained when Blake was in high school, he lost a leg in an accident, and even with the loss of his leg, he still got on a skateboard, and always had a smile on face. “That’s the spirit that we wanted to embody and live through this park. Just knowing what it means for Bart and his family, and also what it means for all the kids around here who love skating— that’s what has kept me going.” Shell dived in headfirst and realized he would need to begin fundraising for the project. “For the fundraising, we realized we’d either need to work with an existing non-profit or start our own,” he said. Thus Upward Intuition was born—a non-profit organization based on three words: Thoughts create reality. Their mission statement focuses heavily on youth-based programs and ways to enact positive change throughout the community. “We strive to lead by example in an effort to inspire and empower them to live with a sense of purpose, and to show the value of giving back the community. Through youthdriven programs we provide opportunities for young people to make good decisions. They are encouraged to be innovators by identifying
After graduating from college in Orlando and returning home, Shell noticed that despite the recent surge of development downtown, there was a lack of public space available for skateboarders to practice in Pensacola.
He was hoping the park could feed off the growth and excitement happening on Palafox Street. Several months later, Shell and the Upward Intuition team realized they might have to look outside the small downtown box they’d originally had their eye on. During a meeting with the city of Pensacola, city officials proposed the Hollice T. Williams corridor as a prospective location—a lengthy green space underneath the I-110 interstate ramp downtown. At first glance, Shell was against the location. “I thought, ‘There are 93 parks in the city, and you want us to be under this bridge?’” He said with a laugh. “After meeting with them a few times, they showed me the plans to make it into a greenway and I could see it was a really awesome plan--almost kind of similar to the beltline in Atlanta, or the Highline in New York—taking this underutilized space and transforming it with public art, walkways, sculptures, murals, music, a café—and a skate park.” Shell noted the Hollice T. Corridor is one of the first things you see if you’re exiting or entering the interstate from downtown, and to revitalize that corridor would be beneficial to visitors taking in the city. The original plan to revitalize
conceptual drawings of the space before moving forward, so Shell began looking for an architect. He found two men out of Los Angeles with experience building skate parks and reached out to them in hopes of securing their talent for the project. Shell will work with California designers Aaron Spohn and Vince Onel, who’ve built and designed skate parks used for the X-Games and other professional skating events, as well as landscape architects, Jerry Pate Design. “One of our ideas from the beginning was to build this park to be a venue where we can have professional events and to really put Pensacola on the map as having an iconic skate park,” Shell said. “We are really psyched to be working with them.” Shell and Upward Intuition went through several conceptual drawings in order receive DOT approval over a 7-8 months process. “We were able to get the mayor to commit in writing to the plans, then we got approval from the city Parks and Recreation board,” Shell said. “And then one last thing—because I didn’t want Upward Intuition to be in the business of trash cleanup, removing graffiti, cleaning bathrooms—was the idea was that we handle the design and build this incredible park and then turn it
over and the city will maintain it.” The cost of maintenance and trash removal is estimated to be $40,000 to $50,000 a year, and Shell was met with some resistance at first. After going before City Council on October 16, 2016, with an incredibly strong number of people in support of the park, all council members voted in favor of the proposal to have the city maintain the park. “Once the city agreed to maintain and operate it, I felt comfortable to move forward and start fundraising,” Shell said. Phase one of the fundraising tops out at $125,000, with approximately 85 percent of the goal met as of February 2017. The fundraising will cover all of the project’s preliminary development costs--things like construction documents, which typically cost about $25,000, geotechnical consultations, surveying, Phase I assessm ent, design and development, civil engineering, marketing etc. “We’ve gotten funding from the Bear Family and the Kugleman Family—both of those family foundations want to be involved. Levin Rinke Realty and Robert Ranke made a really generous donation as did, Pensacola Sports, the Hammond Family, Julian MacQueen from Innisfree Hotels, the Levin Papantonio Law Firm, Escambia County Commissioner Doug Underhill, city council president Brian Spencer, and city council members Larry Johnson, Andy Terhaar and Sherri Myers. Once the project has reached its Phase one goal, Shell says they’ll be at the point where they can plan to break ground, which he hopes will be sometime in 2018. The park designers met with Shell on Feb. 21 to walk the site, attend several community input meetings, and begin to finalize the new designs for the park. Shell noted much of the original design will change to incorporate additional seating, a small amphitheater, a café, the existing community garden and additional walkways. Later in the year, Upward Intuition will host a gala to reveal their new park design accompanied by a short film and new renderings, which will officially kick off phase two of the fundraising process and put Shell and Upward Intuition one step closer to creating their long-awaited community park. “I’m really grateful for the opportunity to make an impact in my hometown and for the way the community has embraced and supported our vision. This project is more than just a skate park,” Shell said. “It will provide a safe and positive environment for an underserved demographic and is the next step in creating a greenway corridor leading in to the heart of our downtown and waterfront. We’ve come a long way over the last couple years but still have a ways to go.”