Thank God for Lot J, even if it is a fictitious dream of our our NFL owner and city mayor.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/t...n-released

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I hope it works out; Jax is a great city and even if they can't get a respectable football team, at least they can have some development and revitalization of downtown.

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Looks pretty awesome. A competitive football team would go a long way to helping that be successful.

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I'd want a new lease before any money is spent

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Is this gonna be where the mall was downtown?

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Is this gonna be where the mall was downtown?

I'm guessing it will be on Lot J.

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I see they are up to it again. Wake me when it really happens.

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So whats the big deal with Lot J? Is it supposed to be a ton of renovations around the stadium to make the area more attractive?

I live in Chicago and never visited Jax so i'm just curious. I'm wondering if its similar to what the Cubs owners did around Wrigley field. About a billion dollars went into renovating and gentrifying the area.

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So whats the big deal with Lot J? Is it supposed to be a ton of renovations around the stadium to make the area more attractive?

I live in Chicago and never visited Jax so i'm just curious. I'm wondering if its similar to what the Cubs owners did around Wrigley field. About a billion dollars went into renovating and gentrifying the area.

Jacksonville has 0 entertainment in the downtown area. It's pretty bad. Literally every building is for commercial purposes. Lot J, among other ideas being tossed around with the Shipyards, is supposed to try to provide some sort of tourist attractions. Unfortunately they dropped the ball with the recent demo of the landing and are putting a park there instead of something more substantial. Our local Government seem to have a resistance to putting anything cool in our downtown area, probably so they can siphon more taxpayer money into their children's trust funds.

I vividly remember people being genuinely confused when we hosted a superbowl, because there was "nothing to do". At least some of them figured out they had to drive 30 mins away to the beaches.

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So whats the big deal with Lot J? Is it supposed to be a ton of renovations around the stadium to make the area more attractive?

I live in Chicago and never visited Jax so i'm just curious. I'm wondering if its similar to what the Cubs owners did around Wrigley field. About a billion dollars went into renovating and gentrifying the area.

Jacksonville has 0 entertainment in the downtown area. It's pretty bad. Literally every building is for commercial purposes. Lot J, among other ideas being tossed around with the Shipyards, is supposed to try to provide some sort of tourist attractions. Unfortunately they dropped the ball with the recent demo of the landing and are putting a park there instead of something more substantial. Our local Government seem to have a resistance to putting anything cool in our downtown area, probably so they can siphon more taxpayer money into their children's trust funds.

I vividly remember people being genuinely confused when we hosted a superbowl, because there was "nothing to do". At least some of them figured out they had to drive 30 mins away to the beaches.

The Landing was where I always went everytime I went to a game.  There wasnt a lot there but it was something close

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When I went to the Colts game i discovered Riverside Park/ 5 Points. That place was kinda cool and not that far, went to the roof top bar and old arcade

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So whats the big deal with Lot J? Is it supposed to be a ton of renovations around the stadium to make the area more attractive?

I live in Chicago and never visited Jax so i'm just curious. I'm wondering if its similar to what the Cubs owners did around Wrigley field. About a billion dollars went into renovating and gentrifying the area.

Jacksonville has 0 entertainment in the downtown area. It's pretty bad. Literally every building is for commercial purposes. Lot J, among other ideas being tossed around with the Shipyards, is supposed to try to provide some sort of tourist attractions. Unfortunately they dropped the ball with the recent demo of the landing and are putting a park there instead of something more substantial. Our local Government seem to have a resistance to putting anything cool in our downtown area, probably so they can siphon more taxpayer money into their children's trust funds.

I vividly remember people being genuinely confused when we hosted a superbowl, because there was "nothing to do". At least some of them figured out they had to drive 30 mins away to the beaches.

I actually really like the park idea personally. It is an achievable way to make the main st. entrance to downtown more attractive to future investment and visitors. People enjoy spending time outside and downtown Jacksonville has surprisingly few "green spaces" to do that. It also isn't an absurd amount of money/ time/ risk to make it happen and with regular maintenance should be viable indefinitely. Another mall competing with the town center juggernaut, in the limited footprint of the landing, with more difficult access in and out, is a much harder project to realize and sustain. Ultimately that is what killed the landing.

I also would like to see Lot J and the Shipyards progress. River adjacent property for entertainment like the renderings I've seen is pretty common in other cities. Plenty of public parking around the stadium when events aren't happening will be appealing. Of course boosts for those businesses during games or shows will help get the area going. The area also isn't quite as business heavy to your point, so they aren't forcing into a space, they are trying to focus on an area to grow a real entertainment district. Hopefully the start of better things for downtown.

The approach makes sense to me on the front end, hopefully it doesn't completely blow up in the taxpayer's faces.

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With the upgrades and if the Jags ever were to leave, it would be a really nice venue for weekly college games.  Imagine 12 straight Saturday of visiting college teams and their fans packing the city and stands.  Last weekend we could have hosted Clemson-Miami and this week we could host Bama-Georgia  (HA !!!!)   knowing our luck, we'd get Austin Peay vs Liberty

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The Landing made a lot of sense when there was a big event in town and lots of people walking around. But on a random weekend, it could be fairly dismal. As said above, not necessarily easy to get to and not surrounded by a lot other than commercial properties. And just so many vacant parking lots and garages scattered all over downtown. Such a waste of real estate.

I like the idea of Lot J. But downtown sure is a hassle to get to for a lot of people. And I do wonder if there are only so many consumer dollars available in the market though. I remember Regency was the big shopping destination 4 or 5 decades ago when it was built. Avenues came along and Regency turned into a dump. Now we have the Town Center and Avenues is slowly turning into the next Regency. There is the wanna-be town center up by the airport. Oakleaf out on the west side. Obviously those serve growing markets on their respective side of town. But this isn't the richest city and it can only support so many restaurant / shopping outlets.

Hope it works though... assuming it gets off the ground. So much potential from the stadium all the way to downtown.

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Scouting well is all that matters.  Draft philosophy is all fluff.

The Landing made a lot of sense when there was a big event in town and lots of people walking around.  But on a random weekend, it could be fairly dismal.  As said above, not necessarily easy to get to and not surrounded by a lot other than commercial properties.  And just so many vacant parking lots and garages scattered all over downtown.  Such a waste of real estate.  

I like the idea of Lot J.  But downtown sure is a hassle to get to for a lot of people.  And I do wonder if there are only so many consumer dollars available in the market though.  I remember Regency was the big shopping destination 4 or 5 decades ago when it was built. Avenues came along and Regency turned into a dump.  Now we have the Town Center and Avenues is slowly turning into the next Regency.  There is the wanna-be town center up by the airport.  Oakleaf out on the west side.  Obviously those serve growing markets on their respective side of town. But this isn't the richest city and it can only support so many restaurant / shopping outlets.  

Hope it works though... assuming it gets off the ground.  So much potential from the stadium all the way to downtown.

There is also the Orange Park Mall which continues to thrive. Sears closed but I predict that space will be leased out soon. Although not a fan of IKEA, I think one would do well in that space.

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Regency was legit until the mid 90's or almost 2000. Not quite 4 or 5 decades ago. Still a pretty legit shopping area as a whole. Town center concept is just whack and rhe traffic and parking there is horrible. I hate the town center area as a whole and avoid it whenever possible.

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Regency was legit until the mid 90's or almost 2000.  Not quite 4 or 5 decades ago.  Still a pretty legit shopping area as a whole.  Town center concept is just whack and rhe traffic and parking there is horrible.  I hate the town center area as a whole and avoid it whenever possible.

I moved to Mayport in '99 and some vestiges of Regency's glory days were still present, but it was waning fast. By the time I moved from Mayport in late 2003, it was a place to be avoided.

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I originally moved to Jacksonville on 12/31/1992 and lived by JU along the river. Regency was my original hangout as i really didn't know anyone in town. I also recall venturing over to a sports bar named the Stadium Club on Beach Blvd. That's the 1st time I've ever seen a bag of ice placed in a pitcher of beer.

I vote to tear down Sears and just build a legalized fighting ring where people can take out their anger as they travel down Blanding Blvd.

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Wouldn't the biggest factor in the long term success of the way Lot J downtown entertainment area is proposed be whether people would actually live in the 400 residential properties?

I'm a bit skeptical that people would rent in downtown when they probably could find a larger space outside of downtown. On top of that, the proposed renderings look a lot like "college dorms" from the outside which is a very old fashioned look. I've been out of Jax for a bit, I'm unsure if this really help alleviate the need for affordable housing in the city or not.

If not, then people generally won't live in downtown unless there are more/better things to do there than other parts of Jax. So, I would think a Lot J proposal should have more glitz and attractions for the initial plans.

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I'm skeptical about this whole plan. Financially, it's basically a big financial give away by the city. Shad Khan has almost no risk in the deal.

It might be a better idea to take the money and use it to subsidize development of downtown living. If we get enough people living downtown, all the entertainment, restaurants, bars, etc, will grow organically, from private enterprise.

I get the idea the city is scared of Shad Khan moving the team if they don't do this. So we're bending over and dropping our drawers. Meanwhile, the Jags move another game to London, and we only have 6 home games. The only way I would do this deal is if the Jaguars sign an ironclad lease extension. But they won't do that, because they plan to demand a new stadium in a few years.

So the Jags continue to lose, the fan base dwindles, and Khan is "forced" to move the team to another city. And we're left with a big white elephant of a project. Khan loses nothing, because he took on no risk to begin with.

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