The Jacksonville City Council backed a resolution Nov. 24 that calls for the Downtown Investment Authority to review a $233 million incentives deal for Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s Lot J development.
A counter-proposal by Council member Matt Carlucci that would have replaced Mayor Lenny Curry’s negotiating team with DIA staff to complete the remaining talks with the Jaguars failed to gain enough votes to be brought to the floor for debate.
The Council voted 15-4 on Council member LeAnna Cumber’s emergency Resolution 2020-741 that asks the DIA to review the existing deal supporting Khan’s $450 million residential, entertainment and retail development west of TIAA Bank Field.
The resolution also requests the DIA board recommend approval, denial or changes to the city’s development agreement for Lot J.
Carlucci, Council members Joyce Morgan, Garrett Dennis and Brenda Priestly Jackson voted against the resolution.
Unlike Cumber’s bill, Carlucci wanted the DIA to commission an independent market analysis to determine if the Lot J proposal is financially viable and how the development project would impact Downtown.
Carlucci also wanted to give the DIA a deadline of 15 business days to issue its report and make recommendations.
Both bills were introduced Nov. 24 as in-and-out emergencies, but Cumber’s bill was first on the agenda. Carlucci attempted to amend Cumber’s bill with his priorities but failed to gain Council support.
“I appreciate Mr. Khan … for his vision and his investment in our city. But at the same time, we must gain our most valuable asset and that’s the trust of our citizens and civic leaders in this bold project,” Carlucci said. “And our citizens, by-and-large I can tell you, have lost confidence in Lot J.”
Carlucci noted that he was a Council member in the mid-1990s and voted in favor of the final agreement that brought the Jaguars to Jacksonville. Carlucci said he wanted to support the Lot J project but the deal “is not in a good place right now.”
Cumber said Nov. 24 that her goal is to use the DIA review as “another data point” in the Council’s Lot J analysis and not replace Curry’s negotiators after more than two years of talks.
“Irrespective of this deal, I don’t agree that we need to be telling investors, whether they're local investors or outside investors, that you can’t have confidence in (city) negotiations,” Cumber said during a noticed meeting with Carlucci earlier Nov. 24.
DIA CEO Lori Boyer said it would take 2½ months for her agency to solicit an independent consultant and complete a market study, pushing the Council’s final Lot J vote into late January or early February.
The project, a partnership of the city, Khan development company Gecko Investments LLC and The Cordish Companies, includes a city-owned 100,000-square-foot Live! District entertainment venue; 75,000 square feet or retail; 40,000 square feet of Class A office space; and a 150- to 250-room hotel.
The DIA board already recommended approval Nov. 18 of the $12.5 million residential Recapture Enhanced Value Grant in the deal and voted to award Khan and Cordish development rights for the project.
An early analysis by Council Auditor Kim Taylor projected that the city would receive a return of 44 cents for every $1 invested in the project. The mayor’s office, through the Office of Economic Development, calculated a return of $1.69 for every $1 invested.
Boyer told Council on Nov. 19 she expects the DIA’s Lot J report and board recommendations to be ready by the next Council Committee of the Whole scheduled for Dec. 3.
According to a schedule released by President Tommy Hazouri’s office, the Council would take its first vote on the Lot J deal at the end of that meeting.
The legislation would be poised for a final vote by the Council’s regular Dec. 8 meeting.
