Plans by the Jacksonville Jaguars to develop an entertainment district adjacent to the team’s “Stadium of the Future” were a nonstarter in negotiations with the city of Jacksonville on stadium construction, but the proposed district isn’t dead.
Jaguars President Mark Lamping told City Council members June 20 that the team still sees a need for the district, which it rolled out simultaneously with plans for the stadium in 2023. Responding to questions from Council member Jimmy Peluso, Lamping said that for the stadium to attract major events, “We’re going to have to give more options for attendees of these events to do something before and after.”
Asked later by a reporter whether the team was actively developing the district, Lamping said, “We’re not in a place right now where we have anything we’re ready to bring forward.”
“But the need is still there, and hopefully, between us or maybe others, we can fulfill that need,” he said.
Lamping also said the team was master-planning the second phase of its Shipyards development project. Plans announced for that phase in 2021 included a 42,000-square-foot orthopedic sports medicine complex run by Baptist Health and its affiliated Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute.
He said the development would include residential and structured parking. It is planned on property next to the site where Iguana Investments, the development company of Jaguars owner Shad Khan, is building a Four Seasons hotel and an office building.
Regarding the entertainment district, Lamping recalled the team’s efforts to develop Lot J, the proposed mixed-use development that fizzled in 2021. In January of that year, a $245.3 million package of public incentives for the project failed to draw a required two-thirds majority vote by the Council.
“The need in Downtown has not changed since then,” he said. “The only thing that has changed is the cost of doing that project is a lot more.”
Council voted 12-7 on the incentives for the $450 million Lot J entertainment and retail project, which was planned west of EverBank Stadium.
In June 2023, the Jaguars introduced an entertainment district along with plans for the revamped stadium.
The city, in an investment summary dated a month before the rollout, listed rough cost estimates for the development at $550 million to $668 million, with the city contributing $75 million to $100 million.
The district is not part of the proposed $1.45 billion agreement between the team and Jaguars to revamp and modernize EverBank Stadium.
Mike Weinstein, lead negotiator for Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration, said the city and team never seriously discussed the entertainment district in negotiating the proposed stadium deal.
As for the mixed-use development near the Four Seasons, Lamping was referring to a second phase of its Shipyards development. When the Phase 2 plan was announced in 2021, it included the Baptist campus, 15,000 square feet of street-level retail and a parking structure with 200 spaces.
Lamping said June 20 that Iguana would seek incentives from the Downtown Investment Authority for the project.
“It’ll go through the rigors of the DIA dialogue and analysis and ultimately find its way here to City Council if we’re able to find common ground,” he said.
Lamping’s comments came during a Council meeting to discuss the parking agreement, development agreement and 30-year lease that are included in the nine agreements that make up the stadium deal.
At the meeting, Council also approved an amendment to detach $94 million of proposed community benefits agreement from the deal and consider it as separate legislation beginning in July.