In their last “State of the Franchise” event, Jacksonville Jaguars president Mark Lamping discussed how urgent it was for the city to begin making progress on the development of Lot J, and it appears they heard him loud and clear. Monday, Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry revealed that both parties are ‘verbally close’ to an agreement on the project.
Per Jacksonville Daily Record, the expectation is that an incentives package will be presented to the City Council by the end of the summer, which will be “a comprehensive plan of what Lot J will look like” and “not piecemeal.”
Jaguars owner Shad Khan first began presenting his idea for the $500 million entertainment, recreation and living district in Lot J back in January of last year. During their 2018 “State of the Franchise” event last spring they presented renderings by Cordish Companies, who engineered districts like the Lot J project in the past for teams like the Texan Rangers, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals to name a few. However, the idea didn’t really gain traction until the Jags’ last “State of the Franchise” this year as Jags president Mark Lamping expressed that the city needed to show urgency because companies were interested in being a part of the district. Curry, who attended the event, expressed that he would work toward a deal afterward, and now we’re here.
The district is expected to include a Live! arena venue, which is for dining during games, a hotel (likely by Live!, too, or Loews), a residential building, an office building and a parking garage. By turning Lot J into a place where people can occupy 24/7, the hope is that it will spearhead the growth of downtown Jacksonville, which ultimately will bring attention to the Jags.
Last year we discussed what the district could look like here based on the districts Cordish Companies have done in the past.
