The Downtown Development Review Board gave final approval May 12 on designs for Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s Four Seasons hotel-anchored project on the Downtown Riverfront.
The 5-0 vote is one of the final city approvals Khan’s development company Iguana Investments Florida Inc. needed for the estimated $370 million project to break ground.
The review board ensures real estate development projects comply with the city Downtown design overlay code.
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said May 11 he expects the project to start by the end of 2022.
“Today marks another key milestone as we transition from the planning phase to execution on the Four Seasons, office building and plans for the riverfront,” Jaguars Vice President of Real Estate and Development Drew Frick said in a statement.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with the Downtown Investment Authority towards our shared goal of a revitalized downtown Jacksonville,” he said.
Lamping and Frick told reporters May 11 that Iguana intends to ask the DIA for a six-month extension in the project’s performance schedule that is part of a $114 million public incentives package for the project.
Lamping said the cost increase, $49 million, would mean more ad valorem property tax revenue for the city in the long term.
Because of the increased private investment, Lamping said Iguana intends to ask the DIA to increase the city property tax refund it would receive as part of the incentives deal approved by City Council in October 2021.
It’s not clear when the Jaguars will return to DIA for the amendment to the agreement.
They expect to close on the property purchase June 10.
Khan’s proposed five-star Four Seasons hotel and residences would have 174 rooms in a 12-story building with a parking garage below; a 25-unit, 12-story residential building; and a six-story Class A office building near TIAA Bank Field, according to civil engineering plans submitted to the city.
The design review board members praised the project’s design for being “absolutely amazing” and “a truly remarkable job.”
Before the vote, member Matt Brockelman explained how he sees the project in the broad context of the Downtown real estate market.
“It expands the type of experience we get Downtown,” he said.
“Very soon we will have a collective group of experiences that include high-quality affordable housing all the way up to extremely premium offerings like what a Four Seasons would do here. I think that says a lot about our Downtown.”
Project renderings by Dallas-based HKS Architects say the public would have access to the Four Seasons restaurant and bar terrace on the 11th level; riverfront food and beverage amenity deck; dining terrace; fire and cascading water features; Riverwalk entrance; and “beach lounge.”
Cyndy Trimmer, partner attorney with Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, represented the Jaguars at the meeting.
She told the board the “dramatic” land grade changes built into the site will add protection and give the Four Seasons and office tower storm surge resiliency.
Trimmer said the ground floor of the office tower will have public retail. Lamping said May 11 that the Jaguars will occupy the first three floors.
“This site has been made very lush so that we’ve got the incredible pedestrian experience,” Trimmer said.
“Yes, there is this hotel component, the private residence component, but there are a lot of aspects of this property that are really going to engage the public and provide a whole new level of amenity than what we have today in Jacksonville.”
