By Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Saying “shame on us if we don’t have vision,” Jaguars co-owner Wayne Weaver says he expects leadership by the mayor’s office, the Chamber and the business leaders to take advantage of the Super Bowl’s impact.
“I have a vision for downtown and so do our leaders,” Weaver said during a press conference Tuesday at Alltel Stadium. “There will be a tremendous residual value from the game.”
Weaver predicted new hotels and a major development on the site of the old Southside Generating Station, where the NFL Experience theme park was placed last week.
“Surely someone looked at that side and said “Wow,’” said Weaver. “It’s so big (42 acres) and so well located.
“The Shipyards will come and it’s not unlikely that we’ll see a luxury hotel - maybe 150-200 rooms - as part of that.
“The key is the riverfront, both the Northbank and Southbank.”
The Super Bowl Host Committee will meet Thursday to “debrief,” as he put it, the entire operation that brought the game to Jacksonville and how the city handled it.
“It is not possible for this city to stay as is,” said Weaver. “Look what happened to Tampa and San Diego after their got their first Super Bowls. They can directly point to that (for the growth of the downtown areas.)”
Weaver expressed confidence in the city’s leadership.
“Clearly they do have a vision,” he said, reacting to a question that indicated he might not think a vision for downtown was in place. “The mayor, the Chamber, the business leaders are all together in this to move the city to another level.”
That level, he added, might not include big conventions.
“National, no. We have Atlanta to the north and Orlando to the south,” he said. “Regional, absolutely. We are going to grow as a business city, not as a convention city.”