JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The future of the proposed development at Lot J is in the hands of Jacksonville City Council after the deal worked out between the mayor's office and Shad Khan's team was transmitted to councilmembers in full.
Ordinance 2020-0648, filed Tuesday afternoon, looks to bond just over $208 million in subsidies for the mixed-use development project.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, alongside Jaguars owner Shad Khan and Jags president Mark Lamping, announced the deal between the city, Khan and Cordish Companies last Monday.
Since the announcement, questions have been raised about the proposed $152.7 million in direct investment to fund infrastructure, and to support the hotel and residential components of the project.
On top of the direct investment, our news partners at the Florida Times-Union report the planned $65 million loan the city will give the developers will be interest-free, and payable in 50 years.
But Curry, Khan and Lamping described the project as a "catalyst" for further development in Downtown Jacksonville.
"Catalyst is exactly the word I'd use," said former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney, who said he is in support of the project.
"What you're after is to prime that pump so you can get water flowing through it. And what you typically see when you do something this big is people want to move near it. And they want to open businesses near it."
Delaney said he's heard a lot of feedback since last Monday's announcement, much of it negative and related to the large amount of taxpayer subsidies.
But he said he feels the project as a whole will be a positive for the city's core.
"It's a lot of money, but relatively it's not. The bond payments for the city are probably going to be around $10 million a year out of a billion-four budget. It's obviously money that could be spent in other places as well, but you want that catalyst," Delaney said.
"If the city decided to spend $200 million on projects near the stadium, and Shad Khan came in and said, 'Hey, if you're gonna do that I'll put a couple hundred million of my own money in it,' I think we would look at it differently."
Another big question: the feasibility of the project in Jacksonville.
Developers and supporters of the project have pointed to similar projects by the Cordish Companies in other cities, like Baltimore and Philadelphia.
"What's going to be most important is to see whether or not Jacksonville can fill the capacity once these buildings and this entertainment district is up, beyond just having it full for gameday events and conventions and big events," said Justin Bateh, professor of economics at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Bateh said he still has questions about the project, but feels it would be a positive for the city.
"I don't think we've seen anything like this proposal downtown in quite awhile," he said. "Everybody has had many great ideas over the past, and we've seen many great proposals, but finances has been the issue. Now, there may be an opportunity to spend money, quite a bit of money, but the expectation is that it will be fruitful as far as economic impact."
Mayor Curry said the project would bring in an estimated $100 million annually, but the calculations behind that figure have not yet been publicly released. A spokesperson for the mayor said she does not believe Curry plans to do any interviews on Lot J following the announcement of the deal.
Now that councilmembers and staff have the legislation in front of them, the first public hearing on the proposal will be held at the October 27 council meeting.
From there, the entire council will discuss the proposal on November 5 and could vote to approve as soon as Nov. 10.