Laura Street Trio in Trouble? Updated status of six key Downtown projects

[sschwartz2929]

I agree. Thank you for your support.

[jaxjags]

Two international companies vetted the project. Marriott is one. Duetsche Bank the second?

[whyisjohngalt]

The onky link between Khan and the Atkins guy is that Khan began foreclosure proceedings on part of The Trio property that Atkins hadnt made any payments on.

What's the standing on that case you might be wondering?  I am currently too busy trying to research qualifications for Atkins (which were supposed to be posted here) then I'll look up the case.

The Trio should be finished.  The Barnett was completed in summer of 2015, as promised, and finishing the other buildings will be a huge asset to the Northbank.  Are there any development teams that can do this project without city $ so it can continue?

[jaxjaguar]

Wait what? The Barnett has been completed? I've only been gone for 6 months, but last I saw / heard it wasn't even close to being started.

[thelakelander]

No. The Barnett isn't complete. Construction hasn't even began.

[acme54321]

Maybe I missed it, but is this 10% being asked for in tax incentives?  Cold hard cash up front?  Is the developer just asking for the city to give them 10% outright, what does the city get out of it?  10% ownership?

[sschwartz2929]

The City will benefit from $152 million in total economic impact from the development, with a projected $17.5 million in operations each year and a $7 million increase in new regional payroll. In total, the project will generate 448 jobs during construction and 247 permanent mid-to-high wage jobs during operations. Plus it saves 4 historically significant buildings and gains a mixed use (parking plus retail) parking garage to support the development with plenty of excess to support the city.

[sschwartz2929]

Nice Lead Letter today
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters-readers/2015-11-12/story/lead-letter-laura-street-building-projects-deserves-citys

[CCMjax]

Nice Lead Letter today
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters-readers/2015-11-12/story/lead-letter-laura-street-building-projects-deserves-citys

Great article.  It is awesome to finally see the media hopping on board and demanding that this get done.  He said it well, they really aren't asking much out of the city for a project like this.

Keep on pressing!  Schwartz, thanks for the link to the petition.  I signed it and sent it to my whole office and about 50 others, ha ha!  I urge all the others on this board to pass it on.  I think a lot of people disconnected from downtown don't even know about this project and how much it impacts our city, so pass it on and get the word out to as many people as possible.  I will do the same.

[SunKing]

I doubt the Trio will have any impact on the bed tax being able to fund the $45 million amphitheater. These are really two projects, over a mile apart, that don't have anything to do with one another. We should view and treat them that way.

Literally no one besides sun king is comparing the two projects.  I suppose that we could bring in the effort to build something in Dubai or New York as well.

I imagine I could post some outrage laden thing about who thinks that any of these projects are comparable to an artificial island in the middle east.

I mean come on!  Are either of these guys even qualified to build an island?

Cant we be reasonable and separate the Artificial Land Masses from the simple task of historic renovation downtown Jacksonville?

lol.

A couple of posters with an agenda to lessen the developer posted and the rest of us have played along stupidly.

Joke is on all of us.

joke is on you Stephendare as you are the only one making comparisons between the projects. I support the project and only asked what Atkins qualifications were, not his partners. 

[acme54321]

The City will benefit from $152 million in total economic impact from the development, with a projected $17.5 million in operations each year and a $7 million increase in new regional payroll. In total, the project will generate 448 jobs during construction and 247 permanent mid-to-high wage jobs during operations. Plus it saves 4 historically significant buildings and gains a mixed use (parking plus retail) parking garage to support the development with plenty of excess to support the city.

Yes I read and understand all of that.  So long story short is that the developer is asking for 10% frwe and clear, with no guaranteed return.  That's fine and all I was just looking for some clarification.

[Tacachale]

So what has Atkins done before? I've sorted through 20 pages of this back and forth. It's pretty silly to keep bringing Khan into this, especially for those trying to defend Atkins; "self-made billionaire and most famous guy in the city" would make anyone pale in comparison.

[acme54321]

The City will benefit from $152 million in total economic impact from the development, with a projected $17.5 million in operations each year and a $7 million increase in new regional payroll. In total, the project will generate 448 jobs during construction and 247 permanent mid-to-high wage jobs during operations. Plus it saves 4 historically significant buildings and gains a mixed use (parking plus retail) parking garage to support the development with plenty of excess to support the city.

Yes I read and understand all of that.  So long story short is that the developer is asking for 10% frwe and clear, with no guaranteed return.  That's fine and all I was just looking for some clarification.

you mean other than the suddenly activated taxes on the properties and the businesses in five buildings,----four of which are multi story---- right?

No, I mean there is the possibility that the city forks over a bunch of free money and the project never gets completed --- amiright? 

[acme54321]

Good to know.  I am all for the project but as a taxpayer I'd like to know there is some sort of reassurance that public money isn't going to go up in smoke. 

[hiddentrack]

So what has Atkins done before? I've sorted through 20 pages of this back and forth. It's pretty silly to keep bringing Khan into this, especially for those trying to defend Atkins; "self-made billionaire and most famous guy in the city" would make anyone pale in comparison.

I also think its silly to bring in Khan as well, actually.  Especially since he is no longer involved with the deal (apparently to the dismay of a few people who think he should own all of downtown) But there you have it.

If any comparison is being made, its over the credulity involved with handing a billionaire hundreds of millions of tax dollars vs the incredulity on the part of a couple of posters who can't imagine why Steve was able to arrange financing with one of the country's most substantial real estate development companies and several of its largest and most recognizeable corporations.

In fact, if you scroll back, there was even an attempt to smear the reputation of the companies involved----simply because two of our posters would not like to see Atkins succeed.

The process should be uniform in my opinion.  Everyone should be subject to the same scrutiny and questions when asking for tax dollars.  But this conversation hasn't really been about the money or the bona fides (any thinking person would look at the financial team and realize that the process has been vetted by some of the best in the industry) its just about this southern local madness of casting aspersions on the crab that seems to be crawling out of the box.

I think the Khan vs Atkins debate - the one that's talking about them personally - is a distraction. I think what people may actually be arguing over is the simple financial health of this project. There isn't a lot known about Atkins, and it doesn't look like he has billions - or maybe even millions - of his own money he could dip into if there are cost overruns. We've seen too many examples of proposals falling apart due to financial issues after the city has forked over money.

That being said, if we start setting up barriers for smaller local developers that want to try and develop larger projects downtown, the whole redevelopment of downtown is going to remain a very slow process. One of my big pet peeves is that we have to rely on these big projects because so many buildings have been demolished over the decades that would have otherwise allowed people like Atkins and others to get their feet wet with smaller projects. These incentives wouldn't be needed if we had been smarter in the past. So forking over a little something to Atkins is just going to be the tax we pay for being foolish and shortsighted in the past.