(02-08-2020, 02:05 PM)Jagwired Wrote: The Jaguars as a business are the ones making the 500 million dollar investment. Therefore they will reap the profits of the complex, rents, sales, etc.

The Jaguars are investing $250 million in Khan's money into developing Lot J.  The other half is expected to come from the taxpayers of Jacksonville.  The property is controlled by the Jaguars, but it is owned by the city.

The reason Khan is going this route is because he can move more quickly on starting development around the stadium that will help increase revenues for the team that will allow them to boost their revenues to remain competitive while not putting all of the pressure to do so on the ticket buyers.  The Shipyards project is still a while away from breaking ground as the city is trying to determine who will be financially responsible for doing the necessary cleanup from decades of ship building and repair that will need to be done.  

The Lot J project is a good idea, and one that Lamping has actually been involved with in St. Louis with a similar setup around the Cardinal's stadium there. The downtown area is in desperate need of forward thinking vision, and I think this plan actually represents that.  They're going to bring in mixed use including housing, businesses, retail, restaurants, and entertainment to create a hub where people will be living and working around the stadium.   Because Khan has control over the property, he and the city will make money from the revenue generated, so the goal is to blow this thing up quickly so that we can start to pull back on those games in London.  We'll see if it happens.  Downtown development has been the chatter for decades.  The Landing was going to be the centerpiece of that renaissance 33 years ago, and it's now a vacant lot waiting for repurposing.  This seems to have a little more thought and planning behind it, and it should create a district around the stadium that will actually accomplish what they've been trying to make happen for decades.

I'm not happy about losing a 2nd game to London, and I'm still skeptical that it will be enough to reverse that trend.  We'll see how it goes.  I think I'll feel a lot more positive about this once they actually break ground.

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