Khan interested in developing shipyards

[AuditoreEnterprise]

COJ can't just hand the land over to Kuhn. At some point, they'd have to issue a Request for Proposals, allowing other groups a chance to attempt to get the property as well. So in the meantime, we'll get to see pretty pictures of various group's ideas for the land.

Who is Kuhn? 

flower company?

[CityLife]

Probably be a good chance that once the RFP goes out he may be the only even submitting a proposal. Or at least the one with the financing to actually pull it off instead of spirals in the sky silly proposals.  While I am sure these are very preliminary at least they appear realistic in scope.

Even if he isn't the only one interested, the powers that be can easily tailor the RFP to ensure he gets it. After all, there hasn't been any recent public input or visioning for the property.

[river4340]

river4340.  This is a design done at the request of Khan and was recently showcased in Orlando as Khan's design.  Notice, it says Khan's plans could include.  By the looks of it this is an initial idea with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in.  My guess is to see what sticks and most resonates with those in the city who will be making the decision on a final Shipyards deal.

Shad Khan's plans for the Shipyards could include office, retail, residential and medical facilities — and perhaps a Ferris wheel, according to plans unveiled at a builders conference in Orlando.

During a presentation at the Southeast Building Conference, Orlando architect Don Evans laid out renderings he said he had designed for Shad Khan, which can be clicked through above.

The plans include office, retail, residential and medical facilities, according to a source at the conference. Representatives with Evans Group said Monday they are "not allowed to discuss the plans" for the property and declined comment.

Well, I've certainly been wrong before.

[mtraininjax]

If Khan is willing to pay the $232 million the Mayor wants for his City Projects, for the property, in cash, up front, I have no problem selling him the property and tax incentives. After all, its no cash out of citizens pockets for tax increases, and a win-win for the Mayor and Khan. I doubt that the land is worth that amount, but maybe the Mayor's and some council members souls are worth that amount?

[Noone]

If the city leadership decides that they want Khan to have the shipyards, it will happen regardless of other proposals.  This is like Waste Management and Trail Ridge only bigger.  Make no mistake that Khan not only has the full support of the Mayor on this he already has some on council that you would never imagine would support this development deal firmly in his corner.  Consider this headline from the Jacksonville Daily Record, Brown awaits Shipyards plan from Khan.  What are we going t do next boss?  There is no real consideration at this point to how well designed a proposal Khan is submitting, the city is just looking to get a monkey off of their back.  That monkey is the shipyards.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=543520

+1

[Noone]

JB, Thanks for posting those pics. Just think that we just kicked to the curb the Water taxi company from Baltimore because the contract expired and under the new RFP we told them they needed to supply a 350 seat capacity for this community to make Downtown a Destination and not a pass through. They had vessels with a 346 seat capacity. Just 4 short. You are losers. Leave. Get out. You aren't welcome. We no longer require your services. We pick the winners and losers.

At the 7/23/14 Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting it was announced by Tera Meeks Chief of Waterfront Management and Programming that the new RFP instead of 350 seats it will now be 120.

2014-412 Active legislation before the Jacksonville city council on the 2 Unauthorized illegal purchases of the water taxis.
2014-305 - New Docking Rules and PENALTIES in a new 4.8 mile Waterway zone. Active legislation.
2013-669 Surplus city property for Police and Fire Pension Fund

DIA Board meeting tomorrow 7/30/14 will there be any media there? CRA announcement? Will the next level include you?

[thelakelander]

Looking at the site plan, I'm not going to cry about it at this point.  It does look more realistic then some of the other proposals I've seen. 



Based off this conceptual, the property has been split into two. On the west side of Hogans Creek, there appears to be a street grid featuring multiple parcels for mixed-use infill development. There's also good chunks of riverfront property serving as green space. Whether you like ferris wheels, observation decks, carousels, fountains, fisherman's wharfs, marinas, floating ship museums, etc., there seems to be space to accommodate entertainment venues such as those. What's shown in the sketch could easily become any of these scenes, depending on the design of the final uses:








Guys like Noone could even have their own charter fishing boat and kayak services as a part of what's shown above. Especially, since those uses are simply being stymied by city policy, not site design and layout.

The east side of Hogans Creek is clearly Jags football oriented. The fields probably won't be used every day, but they could draw extra events to the area, which helps stimulate foot traffic to any adjacent dining, entertainment, maritime, cultural, and retail uses. Nevertheless, they're still surrounded with public access to the waterfront in the form of the riverwalk, along with linear green space.  Such "flex space" could be used for anything from laying in the grass and reading books to kiosks for local vendors and periodic waterfront festivals.  It's also hard to see from the graphic, but those football facilities could be designed to be mixed use as well, thus featuring perhaps a Jags retail store, sports related museums/galleries, bars, bike rental shops, etc. The sky is really the limit.

The major no-no I see at the moment (based on the sketch) is the watefront parking garage.  There has to be a better way to handle parking on site.  This is where thinking about mass transit could really help downtown in general.  If you had a streetcar line or skyway extension to Everbank Field, you could construct a parking garage in one of the large surface parking lots north of the Hart Bridge Expressway. Mass transit could then connect the Jags stuff with this site and everything else in downtown.  Going one step further, maybe you kill the garage altogether and take advantage of the arena's garage, which is two blocks north.  After all, it sits empty most of the year.

[river4340]

Looks like the plan was done on spec:

While the architect publicly detailed some of his own visions of what the Shipyards property might look like in the future, Edwards said it's important to note that Khan hasn't committed to any design proposal.

"We have met with several people on plans and ideas and a decision has not been made at this time on what has to follow," Edwards said. "There are plans out there that are ideas from other people. Those are their plans and not necessarily ours."

Khan's personal spokesman Jim Woodcock said in an email Tuesday the architectural renderings unveiled in Orlando were unsolicited.

"We did not pay this architect, nor will we, for these renderings that represent his vision, nor ours. Nor will we play any architect for unsolicited work," Woodcock said. "This architect requested a meeting and Shad and the Jags agreed to it. At that time the renderings were shown to Shad and the Jaguars by this architect, nothing more. We did not request renderings from this architect or any architect."

http://members.jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2014-07-29/story/architectural-proposal-use-jacksonville-shipyards-unveiled

[thelakelander]

what.  You don't think its 'dated' or 'too 1993'? 

I come from an architectural background, so my perspective will be a little more technical oriented of course, but all I see is a "massing model". There's nothing to get really excited or depressed about. There is no detailed design or plan. As far as massing models go, it's not a bad one for that site, IMO. The uses that were suggested do fit with what's shown. You could even stick your buddy's 1960s Seattle Space Needle in the middle of it and the overall space massing really doesn't change much.

Rendering quality aside, it's more realistic then some of the stuff that's been floating around to date.

With that said, evidently, what was shown was only that guy's vision for the site.

[thelakelander]

Lol, Radio Shack will be located next to Boomtown Theatre!

The Ford's skylark is parked in the garage. Look real hard, you'll see Gerald and Betty inside. Rumor is, he's a sucker for "Lil' Mama's" peanut gravy!

[river4340]

The JBJ has taken the images down because they are copyrighted and it didn't have permission to use them. It's also made it clear, as the T-U did,  that the architect is not working with Khan at all.

[thelakelander]

Khan hopes to unveil official Shipyards plans in September

Although Shad Khan has met with an Orlando architect to discuss his ideas for the Shipyards property, the recently released renderings were but one of many unsolicited ideas, Khan's spokesman said Tuesday.

"Other submissions have been made, but not by our request," spokesman Jim Woodcock said in an email. "And we are not requesting submissions at this time."

Khan would like to unveil his official plans by the start of the NFL season, Woodcock said. The Jaguars' first game is Sept. 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/07/29/khan-hopes-to-unveil-official-shipyards-plans-in.html

[Noone]

Looking at the site plan, I'm not going to cry about it at this point.  It does look more realistic then some of the other proposals I've seen. 



Based off this conceptual, the property has been split into two. On the west side of Hogans Creek, there appears to be a street grid featuring multiple parcels for mixed-use infill development. There's also good chunks of riverfront property serving as green space. Whether you like ferris wheels, observation decks, carousels, fountains, fisherman's wharfs, marinas, floating ship museums, etc., there seems to be space to accommodate entertainment venues such as those. What's shown in the sketch could easily become any of these scenes, depending on the design of the final uses:








Guys like Noone could even have their own charter fishing boat and kayak services as a part of what's shown above. Especially, since those uses are simply being stymied by city policy, not site design and layout.

Bingo! instead of just picking the winners and losers. Opportunity for all. Don't believe me just ask the Baltimore guys. How is the illegal unauthorized purchase 2014-412 of the water taxis coming along?

DIA Board meeting today at 4 pm. 1st floor city hall. Anyone going? Will there be any media there? CRA? Has anyone seen an agenda?

2014-305 New docking Rules and PENALTIES on a new 4.8 mile super duper restricted zone. We will soon be telling people to VISIT JACKSONVILLE as we use the RIO St. Johns an American Heritage River a FEDERAL Initiative as we transport you from one Illegal side of the river to the other illegal side of the river.

Legislation is the dialogue of the community.

[pierre]

Reading the article in the JBJ, is it possible these designs are nothing more than an overzealous developer wanting to get his plans seen by Shad Khan?

Just had a feeling and this seems to be the case.

[jaxjags]

What this says to me is there "could be" some legitimate and realistic competition to develop the property starting to happen.