Jaguars State of the Franchise 2018

[Kerry]

I'm all for removing the ramps but it is going to take a lot more than that.  There are no ramps on Riverside through Brooklyn and there are 3 empty restaurant sites and 1 that closes at 2pm - and there are 1000 residents within 2 blocks.

[vicupstate]

Back in October Lamping said they were close to inking a deal with the City.  What happened to that deal?

My thoughts are they were waiting on the election to be over with because there is potential for backlash when the cost is disclosed.

[thelakelander]

I'm all for removing the ramps but it is going to take a lot more than that.  There are no ramps on Riverside through Brooklyn and there are 3 empty restaurant sites and 1 that closes at 2pm - and there are 1000 residents within 2 blocks.

River City Marketplace built in a spot with very little immediate residential population base. It's packed full of autocentric retail. However, what it does have is high visibility and direct access to I-95, making it a regional draw for the northside of town. While the Hart Bridge Expressway pales in comparison, it is a highway connecting downtown and the urban core with the Southside and Beaches. Having that access to traffic that will drive through there regardless of if there is a special event going on or not is critical for development around the stadium.

I also don't have a problem with removing the ramp for that to happen. However, let downtown benefit from the extra traffic too. Close the rest of the ramp and funnel the majority of traffic through Bay Street.

[Kerry]

Four words about that idea: State and Union Streets.

[Tacachale]

Four words about that idea: State and Union Streets.

What about them?

[thelakelander]

Glad someone mentioned State and Union. They're two high traffic corridors that we certainly have not taken advantage of. There have been market rate projects that have taken place along them over the years but little oversight has been given to making sure they best fit into a plan that makes that corridor more pedestrian friendly.

[thelakelander]

City, Jaguars 'verbally close' to agreement on Lot J deal

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/city-jaguars-verbally-close-to-agreement-on-lot-j-deal

[Kerry]

Curry said he expects an incentives package will be presented to City Council by the end of the summer. He said it will be "a comprehensive plan of what Lot J will look like" and "not piecemeal."

Translation:  We are going to give the Jags all the incentive money upfront with no guarantee that any of Lot J will be built.  Why?  Because the whole purpose here is to keep the Jags in Jax now, not 20 years from now.  The Jag finances must be worse than even I thought it was.

[fieldafm]

Curry said he expects an incentives package will be presented to City Council by the end of the summer. He said it will be "a comprehensive plan of what Lot J will look like" and "not piecemeal."

Translation:  We are going to give the Jags all the incentive money upfront with no guarantee that any of Lot J will be built.  Why?  Because the whole purpose here is to keep the Jags in Jax now, not 20 years from now.  The Jag finances must be worse than even I thought it was.

You really are annoying.

The article indicated that the incentives will include completion grants and REV grants.  Those are paid a) upon completion and b) as an annual rebate against property taxes.

Now, what the article doesn't mention is the extensive remediation costs and the construction of a very large parking garage... all of which will be borne by the City. Hard to argue that environmental remediation costs wouldn't be the responsibility of the City on City-owned property. Those could be quite high.

As for the parking garage... devil is in the details. Really curious what the proposal is there.  If the City builds/owns that facility... but it includes a ton of parking credits to Cordish/Jags/future users, than the likelihood of the garage ever making money will be small (see the $50 million in subsidies given to MPS for the other sports complex garages).

[Tacachale]

City, Jaguars 'verbally close' to agreement on Lot J deal

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/city-jaguars-verbally-close-to-agreement-on-lot-j-deal

The city has been doing such an awesome job developing Downtown that there's no doubt this will be just as good.

[Kerry]

Curry said he expects an incentives package will be presented to City Council by the end of the summer. He said it will be "a comprehensive plan of what Lot J will look like" and "not piecemeal."

Translation:  We are going to give the Jags all the incentive money upfront with no guarantee that any of Lot J will be built.  Why?  Because the whole purpose here is to keep the Jags in Jax now, not 20 years from now.  The Jag finances must be worse than even I thought it was.

You really are annoying.

The article indicated that the incentives will include completion grants and REV grants.  Those are paid a) upon completion and b) as an annual rebate against property taxes.

It says "could" and an unidentified 'City Official' is credited with the comment.  If the intent was to pay the incentives in a staggard timeline then why would the Mayor present the request for incentives as a final product?

[KenFSU]

If the intent was to pay the incentives in a staggard timeline then why would the Mayor present the request for incentives as a final product?

^Because it's easier to get the City Council to approve a neatly packaged set of incentives for the entire Lot J project than it is to get them approve a garage, hotel, office building, Live! complex, and residential tower piecemeal. The Jags did the same thing when they packaged stadium upgrades with new video boards, or club level renovations with a practice facility and ampitheater.

To Mike's point, the devil is in the details, and hopefully the city reads the fine print. In the above instances, the city acted shocked after the fact when they discovered that they had to pay the massive electricity bill for the video boards, or when they learned that they had to throw down millions every year to add temporary seating for Florida/Georgia.

The city has been doing such an awesome job developing Downtown that there's doubt this will be just as good.

^If the City Council approves the economic development agreement - which I have no doubt they will based on the Landing vote- I think it'll be a pretty awesome project in terms of execution. Cordish is legit, the Jags have capital for days and are vested in Lot J's success, and if the project is successful, it might finally spur additional development in the Shipyards and Doro District.

It'll just be obscenely expensive and come at the expense of investment in the downtown core.

This might be mega pessimistic, but personally, seeing how our capital/downtown investment dollars have been spent in the central business district in the last four years (demolishing the Landing, Coastline, the old Courthouse, City Hall Annex, etc.), I'd much rather the current administration just leave the northbank core alone for the next four years and focus on the area between the Berkman and the sports complex. At least that way they're not doing active harm to our historic building fabric and we're getting net-new development on the edge of downtown. Insane subsidies that are going to leave us in a hole or construction of a convention center is where I'd draw the line, but what's currently proposed for Lot J ain't exactly gonna put downtown out of business.

--

Side note, with JEA out of the picture, I've been hearing that the Jags are interested in Fanatics for Lot J.

Interesting timing that, shortly after JEA chose Ryan, Curry personally introduced legislation to help Fanatics satisfy their existing economic development agreement on the southside:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/fanatics-seeking-changes-to-economic-development-agreement

Might just be a coincidence, but something to keep an eye on.

Really, if Lot J is going to be a thing that happens, Fanatics would be the perfect fit.

[RiversideRambler]

Are there any details on the Live! Arena? With Daily's Place and Veterans Memorial Arena next door, it doesn't seem like all three can coexist.

[wanderson91]

I think the Live! Arena was essentially a replacement for the Metro Park stage? So more of a venue for music festivals or maybe sports adjacent concerts

I imagine a lot of this work is being done with the intent to bid for a Super Bowl or draft day in the next 10 years

[KenFSU]

Are there any details on the Live! Arena? With Daily's Place and Veterans Memorial Arena next door, it doesn't seem like all three can coexist.

They would all serve different purposes.

Veterans Arena is for the Arianna Grande-ish concerts that can pack in 12,000+.



Daily's is for a slightly lower tier of act that can pack in up to 5,500.



The Live! Arenas are more like what's at the Landing right now - they basically just convert the interior of the mall into a standing-room only concert venue. Lesser tier acts. Not always ticketed. Maybe 2,000 max. Without all the parking and concession overhead of the larger venues.