The city will reconsider its intent to revitalize Downtown along East Bay Street by adding more publicly owned real estate to its scope and nullifying a redevelopment proposal from Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan that was approved 19 months ago but never acted upon.
At the request of the mayor’s office, the Downtown Investment Authority is scheduled to consider a new request for proposals for redevelopment of not only the Shipyards property, but other urban riverfront property owned by the city.
Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa on Nov. 22 asked authority CEO Aundra Wallace to expand the real estate inventory in the RFP, title it “Notice of disposition/redevelopment of city-owned riverfront property” and to drop the phrase “known as the Shipyards site.”
Mayor Lenny Curry said Wednesday he wants to see improvements around EverBank Field, and East Bay Street from Metropolitan Park to the Plaza at Berkman condominiums. Mousa’s email did not say which properties he was referring to.
The DIA board of directors in April 2015 authorized Wallace to begin contract negotiations with Iguana Investments Florida LLC, owned by Khan, after the company was selected from three respondents to redevelop the site.
Iguana’s plan included up to 600 residential units with a marina, office space, a hotel and community football fields representing a private investment of $428 million to $663 million.
Questions immediately arose about the city’s contributions to the project, including improvements to East Bay Street and mitigation of environmental issues that would be needed before any construction could begin.
When there was no contract eight months later, Wallace said negotiations had not stalled, but that Khan’s Downtown redevelopment focus had changed to the amphitheater project at the stadium, which is underway.
The mayor’s office said Wednesday the final environmental report on the site has not been issued and the cost to remediate environmental issues is not known.
Wallace said the negotiations with Iguana will be closed and that all city property Downtown will be “under consideration” in the new request.
He is in discussions with the mayor’s office concerning the specific scope of the new solicitation and will have a draft ready for the board when it meets Dec. 14.
“It’s a major asset and we want to take advantage of as much of the market conditions as we can,” Wallace said.
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