Khan interested in developing shipyards

[MusicMan]

Land for free? I hope not. He pretty much got the Laura Street trio and old Barnett Bank Bldg for free. If he pays a fair market price for it, that might work. I did see that they are thinking about an indoor practice facility at The Shipyards, and I think that is a terrible idea. Taking a premium part of the city and turning over to the Jags for private practice prevents anyone else in the city from ever using it. It will be surrounded by their "private" parking. I would like to see him bring in an experienced and successful Real estate developer to his "team."  Because while he has made a lot of money with auto parts, he has no real estate development accolades that I am aware of. And to state the obvious, Jacksonville has been FOR SALE for years and there have been no takers.

[thelakelander]

There's too much focus on the Shipyards, IMO. We should be worrying about all the underutilized uses and surface parking lots along the riverfront in the heart of the Northbank first. However, if Khan wants the Shipyards, he should pay for it instead of being given the property for free.

[mtraininjax]

Whatever we do as a city, take the reigns of power out of the Mayor's hands. He is a terrible negotiator. No one in their right mind in leadership would have proposed giving an owner of the Charitable No Federal Taxes Paid NFL 40 million of citizen money when the owner only has to pony up 20 million for video jumbotrons. Giant Pong televisions, when the City Pension is gobbling up 40 million dollars every few months like its Ms. Pacman in search of the cherry.

Brown is liable to give the Shipyards away, yet again, to get himself on TV. "Oh, I'm fixing downtown with new Pong video boards, This is a game-changer". As my esteemed author says, " YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN"

[thelakelander]

In today's "State of the Franchise" address by the Jaguars organization, Lamping and Khan introduced a lot of concepts for the next 5 years. The stadium as we know it will be changing by more than scoreboards. The hour long address is available on jaguars.com but here is a screenshot of Khans proposed Shipyards development plan that includes training facilities and sports venues. Sorry, this is just a screenshot from computer, if someone can get one with better detail that'd be great!

The entire east side of the plan appears to be the indoor and outdoor practice fields and associated surface parking.

The same with the future projects — create the kind of premium experience that fans are willing to pay premium prices for but also expand the team's footprint away from the stadium.

■ The indoor practice facility. This was the first time Lamping has put this idea out for public consumption. The Jaguars' headquarters would remain at the stadium.

"If we're going to be the developer of the shipyards, we think it makes a lot of sense to integrate the Jaguars, and one way to get people interested in going over there is to have the team doing some practices [inside]," Lamping said. "The idea of having a covered facility with an outdoor field that would allow for football-themed activities, it would draw a lot of people."

http://members.jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2014-05-13/story/ideas-abound-jaguars-club-renovations-indoor-practice

[Tacachale]

So giving this property over to Khan for a song may not be the best long term plan? Shocking.

[downtownbrown]

So given a choice between giving to Khan (who obviously has put substantial resources into planning) and selling it to all of those developers lining up to buy it and begin work immediately,  I'd vote for reality over the fairy tale.

[comncense]

I'm not sure if anyone can tell the details of the screenshot of the site plans, they are fuzzy at best. Though I agree, the city shouldn't just 'give' away the land, but if Khan is proposing the practice fields in addition to some commercial development on the property, I don't see what's the big deal. The Jaguars have been talking about building an indoor practice field for at least the past 3 years. I'm not sure how big of an attraction that would be to get people to come downtown. At best that's only going to last during the football season. I suppose they could probably offer that property up during FL/GA and Gator Bowl Events for schools to practice at as well. But if they added some commercial infill that could definitely be a draw. I'm sure Sleiman would be against it because that definitely would kill what little life is left in the Landing.

Sometimes something is worth more than a whole lot of nothing...

[jaxjaguar]

Whatever we do as a city, take the reigns of power out of the Mayor's hands. He is a terrible negotiator. No one in their right mind in leadership would have proposed giving an owner of the Charitable No Federal Taxes Paid NFL 40 million of citizen money when the owner only has to pony up 20 million for video jumbotrons. Giant Pong televisions, when the City Pension is gobbling up 40 million dollars every few months like its Ms. Pacman in search of the cherry.

Brown is liable to give the Shipyards away, yet again, to get himself on TV. "Oh, I'm fixing downtown with new Pong video boards, This is a game-changer". As my esteemed author says, " YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN"

Considering the Jags only host 10-15 events inside the stadium a year, Khan doesn't own the stadium (the city does), the city is required by law to maintain the stadium and insure it's occupancy, the scoreboards seem like a no brainer.... They were clearly the low point of the stadium along with the sound system. These new boards should greatly outlast their predecessor and draw much more attention to the stadium, hopefully filling it with some sort of event close to 200+ days a year.

[edjax]

Whatever we do as a city, take the reigns of power out of the Mayor's hands. He is a terrible negotiator. No one in their right mind in leadership would have proposed giving an owner of the Charitable No Federal Taxes Paid NFL 40 million of citizen money when the owner only has to pony up 20 million for video jumbotrons. Giant Pong televisions, when the City Pension is gobbling up 40 million dollars every few months like its Ms. Pacman in search of the cherry.

Brown is liable to give the Shipyards away, yet again, to get himself on TV. "Oh, I'm fixing downtown with new Pong video boards, This is a game-changer". As my esteemed author says, " YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN"

While I am no fan of Brown, this is a pretty dumb statement. Yes, no other cities or states give millions of dollars to sports franchises. Only happens in Jax. Yea right.  Ya still delusional from the Hogan for Mayor and Sleman days I guess.

[thelakelander]

I'm not sure if anyone can tell the details of the screenshot of the site plans, they are fuzzy at best. Though I agree, the city shouldn't just 'give' away the land, but if Khan is proposing the practice fields in addition to some commercial development on the property, I don't see what's the big deal.

No big deal to me. Regardless of what goes on that site, it's so isolated and disconnected from the DT core and neighborhoods to the north that the greater impact on the "outer square" at the pedestrian scale level isn't going to be significant. With a jail and coffee plant across the street, there won't be much opportunity for existing downtown businesses to benefit from spillover traffic in the vicinity either.

In reality, any type of entertainment, cultural, retail use, etc. proposed for that site would have more visible pedestrian scale and more immediate economic/atmosphere changing impact being placed on one of the many surface parking lots south of Bay, between the Acosta and Courthouse site instead. With that said, Khan could propose turning the site back into a shipyards again as long as he's willing to pay for the property.

[thelakelander]

Jaguars would link Shipyards with team; concept has practice fields at site

By Marilyn Young, Editor

Just under 30 minutes into the Jacksonville Jaguars' State of the Franchise news conference, a slide about the Shipyards popped up in a PowerPoint presentation.
It wasn't the Shipyards as it sits now, bare and empty.

It was a concept of what the Shipyards could be, not of something actually in the works.

There were docks and several buildings on the 40-acre site.

And there were practice fields for the Jaguars, an intentional tie to the team that plays just across the street at EverBank Field.

Team President Mark Lamping said plans continue to evolve for the site.

But, he said, "Know that we're going to make sure if we're the developer, that we're going to integrate the team into the Shipyards development to give it even more interest."

That integration could include indoor and/or outdoor practice fields, Lamping said, but would be something so the Shipyards site "can continue to be themed with this city's NFL franchise."

full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=542934

[I-10east]

Many people (most who aren't sports fans) wanna disconnect the sports aspect with revitalizing DT Jacksonville. Well like it or not, the sports community headed by Shad Khan continues to be the most aggressive faction of rejuvenating downtown Jacksonville.  Mayor Brown staying out of the way (besides the Cindy Laquidara folly)  is a GOOD thing IMO.

Listen to Alan Verlander who doesn't have a dog in the fight politically as he said that Brown was the best sports-friendly mayor; That one thing I have to give Brown credit on, because the sports events and another non-sports events shows, regardless of your bias and hate! To the people who are anti-sports; Who else has the capacity to rejuvenate, and is actively pursuing a better DT besides Shad Khan right now??? Yeah, I thought so....

[spuwho]

Many people (most who aren't sports fans) wanna disconnect the sports aspect with revitalizing DT Jacksonville. Well like it or not, the sports community headed by Shad Khan continues to be the most aggressive faction of rejuvenating downtown Jacksonville.  Mayor Brown staying out of the way (besides the Cindy Laquidara folly)  is a GOOD thing IMO.

Listen to Alan Verlander who doesn't have a dog in the fight politically as he said that Brown was the best sports-friendly mayor; That one thing I have to give Brown credit on, because the sports events and another non-sports events shows, regardless of your bias and hate! To the people who are anti-sports; Who else has the capacity to rejuvenate, and is actively pursuing a better DT besides Shad Khan right now??? Yeah, I thought so....

I don't think anyone disagrees that sports tourism is a valuable path the mayor has pushed for. I think it came at the cost of other important civic details that needed addressing. It really comes down to motivation. The mayor is extremely motivated to get more sports into COJ. However he is not so motivated to work on some other civic responsibilities (ie: budget).

To Lake's comments, the lack of connectivity is real and the city would like to address it (IMHO).  Khan also knows its a blight sitting right next to his most valuable asset. So either COJ get off its collective booty and get the mayor motivated or let Khan run with it and finish his "thousand step" journey he proposes.

[MusicMan]

How much is the Shipyards worth?  How much are the Jags/Khan willing to pay?  Putting practice fields on that site is just stupid. That's my opinion. There are plenty of non waterfront non premium parcels near the stadium where they can practice. For Gods sake develop it for all of the city, not just the "8 games a year" football team. Make it a destination not just for our citizens, but for folks driving south on I-95 (365 days a year) who might choose to stop there on their way to Orlando or South Beach. Nobody will stop to watch the Jags practice. Nobody is watching the Jags practice now.

I guess what I'm asking is "Are the Jags willing to pay the fair market price of a premium waterfront parcel for practice facilities, and is that the best highest use for all of the citizens of this city and county?"

[vicupstate]

^^ I agree.  I don't see any benefit to putting a practice facility on the riverfront.  Makes no sense at all.  Waterfront property should either be high caliber public use space and/or high density mixed use (residential, hotel, office, retail ,etc.)