The Shipyards & Metro Park 2020

[marcuscnelson]

Virtually attended the DIA SIC meeting today. Mark Lamping showed off some renderings of a new Four Seasons at Metro Park, as well as a wider plan for their development.











Lamping said that Cordish will not be joining Khan on anything south of Bay Street. He also said that there would be meeting space in the hotel, but what stands out is that they seem to have formally dropped plans for a convention center. Over two years after basically derailing proposals at what is now the Ford on Bay in favor of their past proposal, it appears they've moved on.

[thelakelander]

So we torpedoed the convention center discussion and timeline for nothing? It's best to see everything on a grand scale, to better understand the long term vision. Any update on the status of the Ford on Bay negotiations or how much money they'd potentially ask for the stuff south of Bay Street?

[marcuscnelson]

Explanatory Twitter Thread.

Jaguars President Mark Lamping tells DIA that plan for The Shipyards/Met Park area includes a Four Seasons Hotel. This would be on the other side of Bay Street from Lot J development. It would be 177 rooms and will have residential space as well for sale

Also would have a spa area. Development would have retail along a riverwalk. Plan would have a 50,000 medical center for orthopedic services. Lamping says would generate medical tourism. "We think it's really important to have that medical component."

Jaguars owner Shad Khan owns a Four Seasons hotel in Canada. He has hinted in the past that a Four Seasons in Jacksonville would be the goal but this is first time Jaguars say publicly it would be a Four Seasons brand

The DIA asked Lamping to talk about how Lot J would fit in with plans for development of Shipyards/Met Park. There is nothing on the table for an actual proposed development agreement for Shipyards/Met Park which would require a separate process for choosing a master developer

Lamping says Lot J "primes the pump" for what would come next

Lamping says Shad Khan would be the sole owner of the Four Season and his investment would be the reason for the hotel being in Jacksonville

The plan does not seem to include a convention center which I think has been part of past visions for redevelopment of Met Park area.

[marcuscnelson]

So we torpedoed the convention center discussion and timeline for nothing? It's best to see everything on a grand scale, to better understand the long term vision.

Looks like it. #TheJaxWay

Any update on the status of the Ford on Bay negotiations or how much money they'd potentially ask for the stuff south of Bay Street?

Nothing has been brought up at this meeting on that. Lamping said these renderings was just to show what's coming next, I don't think any details on cost were given.

[thelakelander]

Cool. Interesting to have a medical center proposed so close to the river.

[marcuscnelson]

Nate Monroe making our point.

So the city puts out an RFP for a new convention center on a different downtown parcel. Multiple companies submit bids and spend real money and time advocating them. Khan, who didn't bid, later says he's interested in building one. The city promptly scraps RFP. And now?

Maybe this Met Park proposal is wonderful. I'm sure with enough taxpayer cash behind it, it can be. But the constant bait-and-switch with Khan is just comical at this point.

[JaxAvondale]

Cool. Interesting to have a medical center proposed so close to the river.

Agreed! Many of the NFL players fly into Charlotte, Atlanta, and Philadelphia for their ortho consultations and surgeries. So, it will be nice to have a nice hotel nearby.

[Ken_FSU]

What's really unfortunate is how badly Curry and Aaron Zahn poisoned the well in terms of a potential JEA sale.

Privatizing our public utility is obviously a huge decision that should not be taken lightly, but we had offers up to $11 billion on the table.

All of these problems that we talk about in terms of pre-consolidation promises, downtown development, infrastructure, convention center, stadium improvements, park space, etc. could be addressed rapidly, really catapulting the city forward had a sale been transparently vetted and voted upon.

Not sure if the tradeoffs would have been worth it, but it's unfortunate that we can't even really have that conversation as a city because of how poorly it was handled by those in charge.

[Jagsdrew]

I don't see any U2C in the renderings...

[marcuscnelson]

I don't see any U2C in the renderings...

Save for some offhand remarks by JTA staff saying they’ve talked with the Jags, and some very early renderings back in 2017, there’s been no obvious attempt to put any serious infrastructure down to the stadium. The U2C plans show that it’s supposed to go out there, but it’s not clear what communication or planning is happening between JTA and the Jags for it.

What's really unfortunate is how badly Curry and Aaron Zahn poisoned the well in terms of a potential JEA sale.

Privatizing our public utility is obviously a huge decision that should not be taken lightly, but we had offers up to $11 billion on the table.

All of these problems that we talk about in terms of pre-consolidation promises, downtown development, infrastructure, convention center, stadium improvements, park space, etc. could be addressed rapidly, really catapulting the city forward had a sale been transparently vetted and voted upon.

Not sure if the tradeoffs would have been worth it, but it's unfortunate that we can't even really have that conversation as a city because of how poorly it was handled by those in charge.

Yeah, I’m not sure I’d trust this administration to responsibly spend several billion dollars. Also, I do see JEA as an important public asset, so I don’t know if I’d really support a sale period. The way it was done makes it a certainty that the current people in charge couldn’t be trusted to do it.

[Ken_FSU]

Yeah, I’m not sure I’d trust this administration to responsibly spend several billion dollars.

100% agree here.

Fox guarding the henhouse.

[downtownbrown]

is there a link to this?

[thelakelander]

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-gallery/jaguars-owner-wants-to-build-a-four-seasons-hotel-downtown

[Bill Hoff]

Question:

Are there other examples of Four Seasons in similar areas of other cities? Ie, within easy walking distance of extreme blight & poverty?

This seems like it would be pursued well after Lot J is finished, and is being presented now as a carrot to get city council & public approval for Lot J incentives.

[Charles Hunter]

Since Khan's development agreement for the City-owned Shipyards expired, won't the city have to issue a new RFP (or whatever the appropriate RF- is)? Need to see if anyone else is interested, how much they are bringing to the table, and how much they want from the City.