Jaguars $120 million football performance center up for design review

Designs for the Jacksonville Jaguars estimated $120 million football performance center is up for an initial design review next week. 

The Downtown Development Review Board is scheduled to vote Aug. 12 on conceptual approval for the proposed 127,087-square-foot practice facility that also would house team offices, equipment and training rooms and more.

In a report released Aug. 5, DDRB staff recommends the board approve the conceptual design.

The report describes a performance center with an indoor practice field; two outdoor natural-grass fields with about 2,300 bleacher seats; a team store; and concession facilities. 

The Jaguars would split the cost of the facility with the city and build it on a parking lot northwest of the stadium. The city would own the facility and lease it to the team.

Site plans and renderings by Detroit-based Rosetti, an architecture, interiors, graphics and planning firm, show a public entrance with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a translucent Jaguars logo.

The report calls the public facilities in the sports performance center “modern in design” with steel and large expanses of glazing “providing a clean and modern aesthetic.”

In its review, the staff recommends the Jaguars provide more “architectural interest” for the indoor practice field building.

In addition to proposed murals and graphics, the report states the Jaguars should add more features to the building, which staff says looks like an “airport hanger.” 

An open portico that runs along the shops provides shade, the report states. 

If approved, the design will have to return with more detail for final approval before the Jaguars can break ground. 

The football performance center is part of $441 million in development plans Jaguars owner Shad Khan has for Downtown’s Sports and Entertainment District and riverfront.

Law firm Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow is representing the Jaguars and Khan.

The design review comes just three weeks after Mayor Lenny Curry filed legislation with City Council to borrow $60 million to pay for the city’s portion of the project and amend the Jaguars stadium lease which expires in 2030. 

Khan, Jaguars President Mark Lamping and head coach Urban Meyer first pitched a city-owned practice facility concept June 3 during a media event about Khan’s plan for a Four Seasons hotel-anchored development on the Downtown riverfront.

Lamping said in June that removing football operations from TIAA Bank Field would make future stadium renovations easier.

The bill says the Jaguars would commit to an initial 30-year lease term for the performance center with two 10-year extension options and pay for all maintenance and repairs at the facility.

The deal would allow the city Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department to use and program the existing Dream Finders Homes FlexField and practice facility. 

Curry’s proposed five-year Capital Improvement Plan released July 20 shows the city spending $36 million on the project in fiscal year 2021-22 and another $24 million the following fiscal year.

That plan needs Council approval.

The deal with Jacksonville Jaguars LLC limits the city’s financial contribution for the facility to $60 million and requires the Jaguars to pay for any cost overruns. The team and city would split any under-budget amount equally and the Jaguars would be responsible for construction.

The Downtown Investment Authority board approved a $114 million incentives agreement July 7 with Khan’s development company, Iguana Investments Florida LLC, for a separate estimated $321 million project that soon could come before Council for final approval.

The project includes a Four Seasons Hotel and Residences, a six-story office tower and upgraded city marina facilities at the former Kids Kampus park along the riverfront.

Khan also is working with Baptist Health for a second phase that would bring an orthopedic sports medical facility to a site west of the proposed hotel.