Jaguars President Mark Lamping said Four Seasons would be owned solely by team Owner Shad KhanIguana Investments
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said that a Four Seasons hotel, a medical center and more "could be coming" to Jacksonville's Shipyards if the team is "allowed to develop the property" near TIAA Bank Field, according to Alex Wilson of the JACKSONVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL. Work on the project "would be done in two phases," with the first phase including a "116,000-square-foot Four Seasons hotel with 177 rooms, 91,500 square feet of residential space across 20 to 30 units, a 52,000-square-foot medical center and a parking garage." Lamping said that the Four Seasons "would be owned solely" by Jaguars Owner Shad Khan. Wilson noted work on the hotel "could begin at the same time that work takes place on Lot J." Lamping said that by doing the two projects together, whatever is "asked for from the city would be reduced." When asked about the timeline of the project, Lamping said that if Khan's Iguana Investments and the Cordish Companies are able to "come to an agreement with the city he would aim to have initial site work started within six months of executing the agreement." He added that "both parties are waiting on a report from the state on the environmental status of the site" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/12).
PUTTING IT TO USE: In Jacksonville, David Bauerlein in a front-page piece reports Khan "wants to build a separate 50,000 square foot medical building that would specialize in orthopedic treatment." Lamping said that some of the Four Seasons Hotel rooms "would be designed to meet the needs of patients going to the medical building." He said that a project team has been "working for about a year on the Four Seasons plan," and the design has a "'nautical' theme based on the past era when the property was used as a shipyard." Lamping added that the area around the hotel "won't be just for guests because the business plan depends on others using the restaurants and stores." Bauerlein notes the plan "would be to keep a public marina at the site and also extend the Northbank riverwalk all the way to the hotel" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 11/13).
FLAWS IN THE PLAN: In Jacksonville, Nate Monroe notes a review by the Jacksonville City Council Auditor's Office shows that the $233M taxpayer subsidy package for Lot J "would provide City Hall a negative return on investment, lacks key information, contains loopholes that could provide public incentives on top of projects already receiving public incentives, and would allow Khan and his business partner to sell parts of the project for a profit and walk away without paying taxpayers back for helping to build them." That review is "likely to be the only independent, in-depth and credible analysis of the largest taxpayer incentive package the city has ever offered to a developer," and it "contradicts a key metric Mayor Lenny Curry's Office provided the public." The auditors determined taxpayers "would receive only 44 cents in value for every $1 spent on Lot J, dramatically lower than the $1.69 return Curry's office touted." Even the auditor's "dismal figure is likely overly optimistic since it factored in sunny revenue projections provided in an economic analysis" commissioned by Khan and the Cordish Companies, a partner in the project (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 11/13)
