Jacksonville Jaguars team owner and president
In January 2021, Jacksonville Jaguars President Mark Lamping told reporters at City Hall that team owner Shad Khan’s $450 million mixed-use entertainment development Lot J “is dead.”
City Council failed to secure a 13-vote majority to approve the project adjacent to TIAA Bank Field after mounting public scrutiny over the $245.3 million public incentives deal.
It was Khan’s only off-the-field loss in 2021 as plans for Downtown development gained traction.
In August, city leaders backed a proposal to split the cost of a $120 million football performance center.
Council signed off in October on a $114 million incentives package for Khan’s plan for a five-star Four Seasons Hotel and Residences-anchored development on the Downtown riverfront.
On the field, Khan fired first-year head coach Urban Meyer on Dec. 16.
In addition to Meyer’s 2-11 record, many fans and sports analysts raised concerns about his behavior, including reports of harsh treatment of his coaching staff, allegedly assaulting former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo and his answers about personnel and play call decisions.
A video of Meyer and a woman at a bar in Ohio led to a rebuke from Khan.
The issues resulted in criticism by Jacksonville taxpayers of the city’s decision to invest in Khan and the Jaguars’ development ambitions.
Before Council approved the Four Seasons and Sports Performance Center deals, Lamping held more than a dozen community meetings to build public support.
Next up is a major renovation of TIAA Bank Field.
The Jaguars and the city contracted with designer and contractor Haskell to determine if the structure can be renovated, which Lamping said could save $600 million over building a new facility.
Lamping says it is needed as the team’s 2030 lease expiration approaches.
He said in December that approving the sports performance center was the biggest hurdle to securing a “stadium of the future.”
He said he is confident the Jaguars and the city’s interests “are completely aligned.”
“You judge that team based on the wins and losses and it’s the single most important thing,” Lamping said. “But don’t think for a moment, the path to keeping a team in the city is team performance.”
By Mike Mendenhall
VyStar Credit Union President & CEO
VyStar Credit Union’s Downtown corporate campus reopened Nov. 1 to its employees with a hybrid work model since starting remote work at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CEO Brian Wolfburg spent 2021 working on growth and the logistics of running a financial services organization during a global pandemic.
“I believe that for truly great organizations you’re going to require physical presence where your employee base comes together, works together to solve bigger issues,” Wolfburg said in March.
Wolfburg said VyStar’s Downtown staff reached 1,100 in the days before the credit union closed offices at its 23-story tower at 76 S. Laura St. and next door at 100 W. Bay St.
He said VyStar will grow to nearly 2,800 employees by the end of 2021.
To accommodate them, VyStar and the city broke ground in August on a $22 million, seven-story parking garage at Laura and Forsyth streets with 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space planned.
VyStar is poised to be the 13th largest credit union in the U.S. with 850,000 members, 88 branches and $12.5 billion in assets when it completes the acquisition of Jonesboro, Georgia-based Heritage Southeast Bank.
VyStar made a $20 million investment in banking software company Nymbus Inc., which relocated its headquarters from Miami Beach to VyStar Tower with the pledge of 673 jobs.
Wolfburg’s partnership with The Bread & Board owners resulted in new restaurants and retail space at 100 W. Bay St. open to the public.
In May, they cut the ribbon on the rooftop Estrella Cocina restaurant and The Bread and Burger outdoor restaurant in the credit union’s breezeway.
The Breezeway’s event stage has become a performance spot for local musicians during the Jacksonville Jazz Festival and Downtown Art Walk.
Wolfburg also continued his community involvement. He said in August he has been asked by the nonprofit LIFT JAX Inc. to help with job creation and poverty elimination on Jacksonville’s Eastside.
VyStar donated $50,000 in 2021 to the Duval County Public Schools to help finance schools named after Confederate figures to be renamed.
By Mike Mendenhall
