The most common definition of "vision" is related to sight – the ability to read the letters on an eye chart or to recognize the face of a loved one – but for a select few, vision means seeing what isn’t there. It’s the ability to recognize potential, to foretell the future, to move forward with courage and conviction toward what others cannot fathom...yet. Jacksonville University President Tim Cost has vision.
It’s inherent in his leadership, and it’s apparent to all who know him that he sees JU – not simply for what it is – but for what it could be. Home to a medical school and the region’s top law school, a champion of the arts, a true partner in the development and revitalization of Arlington – these are no longer lofty goals. They are, instead, the most recent indications of an ever-advancing plan driven by Cost over the course of the last decade.
“I believe a premier private university has a responsibility to improve the area around it,” Cost said. “That includes the education of those around the campus, the arts available to those around the campus. If somebody wanted to make me happy, they would help us finish the work we started in 2012 to build a collegiate village–to have safe, attractive, fun, interesting culture around this University. Places to eat, gather, watch sports, enjoy entertainment.”
Cost’s concept of a collegiate village is one to which he has been firmly committed, and from the beginning, he has recognized that a strong partnership with Arlington is crucial to its success. “Our University is an economic engine that impact studies have valued at more than $400 million for this region,” Cost added. “I believe the role of this exact University, 89 years on, can be to help clarify how the town can benefit. We can be a force for good.” Capt. Matt Tuohy '75, director of JU’s School of Aviation and Military Sciences and the chairperson of the Renew Arlington Community Redevelopment Advisory Board, agrees. “If you look at some of the nicest campuses and some of the nicest college experiences, those universities are surrounded by a community. They are a part of it and vice versa,” Capt. Tuohy said.
As a JU alumnus, Tuohy remembers an Arlington populated with students. They lived in the apartment complexes. They patronized the restaurants. The separation between university and community was less pronounced, but that has changed over time. “In the ensuing 40 years, there wasn’t much done in Arlington, and JU kind of shrunk into itself,” Capt. Tuohy said. “We became this little oasis in the middle of Arlington, but with President Cost, we have taken down that fence from a commitment perspective, and we are very much involved.”
According to Capt. Tuohy, there have always been well-intentioned citizens and groups who have tried to tackle the issues facing Arlington, but as is frequently the case, limited funds and influence often hindered real progress. In addition, the sheer scope of the effort such undertakings involved was daunting. That changed with President Cost.
"As the old adage goes, you eat the elephant one bite at a time,” Capt. Tuohy added. “But you’ve got to go for the elephant, and I think that’s what JU did. They took all this effort that was on a smaller scale and basically took it to a much greater level.”
Former District 1 City Council Member Joyce Morgan can attest to that. “Having a person
like Tim Cost in the mix is paramount to how Arlington has continued to grow,” she
said. “He doesn’t just leave it to Arlington. He brings Arlington to the attention
of the entire city of Jacksonville and that has
been monumental.”
In particular, Morgan cites the forthcoming medical school as having a tremendous impact on the future of Arlington. It’s a future that she is working diligently to realize because, like Cost, Morgan is a visionary. She has a TLC approach to her district, an idea that given the proper attention and investment, Arlington will again become a thriving gateway to downtown. She knows it’s possible with a partner like Cost, not just because of what he brings to the table, but because of his own history here.
“He understands fully the dynamics of what happened in the community,” Morgan stated. “He went to school here, graduated, left, had a full life most common definition of “vision” is and a career, and came back to an Arlington that wasn’t like the one he remembered.”
According to Morgan, the construction of new neighborhoods and retail developments, like St. Johns Town Center, the Avenues Mall and River City Marketplace, steadily drew attention away from Arlington. The once desirable suburb began to show signs of neglect, blight, and a general notion that no one seemed to care anymore.
But someone did care, and in that someone, Morgan has found a willing partner. “Tim Cost is such a special person to me,” she said. “He welcomed me as a new city council member into his arena. He supported the ideas that I had about how we move forward. He listened. He’s a great listener, and he reacted and did the kinds of things that were absolutely vital and necessary to move our community forward, not just Arlington and not just JU but the city of Jacksonville. I’m so impressed with him, and I must congratulate him on 10 fabulous years.”
There are others who share Morgan’s sentiments, citizens and residents, and investors who are registering the positive changes taking place. What started with strategic planning sessions and impact studies is finally producing noticeable results. As Capt. Tuohy said, “A rising tide raises all boats,” and that’s exactly what’s happening in Arlington. Renovated apartment buildings; road improvements, including the new roundabout at the entrance to campus; the IDEA School Florida’s River Bluff campus, which will establish a pre-K through doctorate educational hub in Arlington; new housing, a Wawa – these “boats” are all moored in the same welcoming harbor, but few have a better appreciation for what it took to raise this tide than Margaret Dees '86.
As Jacksonville University’s former senior vice president for economic development and external engagement, and its current College of Law vice dean, Dees has been working alongside Cost from day one. A fellow alum, she shares his vision and is inherently familiar with the hurdles they’ve had to clear. “You can’t just go put a collegiate village out there and have it work if you don’t have a cultural and social and economic system that works,” Dees said. “If you don’t have the infrastructure that works, and if the neighborhood has been ignored for a really long time, you first have to build a foundation upon which we can then, in the future, encourage the type of economic development that would lead to the ability to even dream of something like a collegiate village.”
For the last 10 years, Dees has been doing just that. She has been part of a team committed, not just to JU but to the community of Arlington as well. “The vision was never just about JU,” she said. “It’s a shared vision because we want to be a part of the neighborhood, integrated into the neighborhood. We want Arlington to be prepared for the Jacksonville University of the future.”
Supporting this type of preparation takes time. It takes pivotal victories, like the state-approved establishment of a community redevelopment area in Arlington, the use of a zoning overlay that is essential to the beautification of storefronts and streets, the implementation of the Complete Streets program to promote a more pedestrian-friendly environment. It takes the cooperation of utilities like the Jacksonville Electric Authority and agencies like the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and government officials. It takes the support of an anchoring organization like Jacksonville University, which happens to be the largest employer in Arlington. It takes Charter Days and orthodontist clinics and art installations that benefit the neighborhood. It takes a village to create a village, but it also takes a leader like President Tim Cost.
“He’s a true visionary who exercises strategic persistence to achieve a goal,” Dees said. “He is a transformative leader of my alma mater, and that’s meaningful to me.”
Something else that’s meaningful to Dees, as well as a little surprising, is that Cost has often said that he didn’t want to be president of any university. He only wanted to be president of this university, and that – as far as JU and the community of Arlington is concerned, has made all the difference.
