JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The proposed mixed-use development at Lot J took another step forward Wednesday when the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) voted to recommend the project's approval, with changes, to the Jacksonville City Council.
Last week, the council passed a resolution asking DIA to review Ordinance 2020-648, which would put more than $200 million in taxpayer subsidies to fund part of Jaguars owner Shad Khan's development.
On Tuesday, DIA released its staff analysis ahead of the Wednesday board meeting, first as a draft and later as a finalized report.
While the analysis called into question the $65.5 million interest-free "breadbox" loan, along with part of the planned infrastructure spending, the report ultimately called for DIA to recommend approval with conditions.
Much of Wednesday's meeting was focused on which recommendations in the report would be accepted by the development team, and which would not. However, a large chunk was centered on a debate around whether the language on that "breadbox" loan should be included as a recommendation.
Originally, the draft analysis stated:
"Our analysis of financial feasibility and construction costs, based on the information provided, does not reveal a need for this additional incentive as currently structured. If a portion of it were provided, absent a further gap analysis substantiated by construction budgets and pro formas, it should be substantially reduced or structured as a more traditional loan."
Following conversations with the Office of Mayor Lenny Curry and the Lot J development team, the language recommending a reduction or restructuring of the loan was removed. Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer said the decision was not "clandestine" and the changes to the analysis were not atypical.
Some DIA board members advocated, successfully, for the remaining language to be removed entirely as a recommendation. They said it did not constitute a recommendation because no action was suggested.
An effort by board member Oliver Barakat to revise the language to recommend to council to research and gather more information about the need for the loan was ultimately defeated.
"We are recommending to council they need to get more information about the financial feasibility and or construction cost of this project," Barakat said while advocating for the change. "And to me that is a stronger message than attaching it as an addendum."
The board also struck language that had called into question the city spending $18 million on parking garages at the apartment buildings on site.
Ultimately, the development team, led by Jags President Mark Lamping, accepted the vast majority of recommendations in the finalized analysis.
The Jacksonville City Council will make the next call, perhaps the most procedurally significant, in a meeting of the whole Thursday morning.
"It's not enough time," Councilman Matt Carlucci told First Coast News at the meeting. "I mean I'll vote, I'm not scared to vote. But I'd like to make a better informed vote, but it's going to be difficult to do. And that's [DIA's] frustration, there's not enough information."
Lamping said his team is ready to move onto the next step, but criticized the process as its played out. Still, he noted his team has made concessions.
"We made a commitment to be open minded, to listen to ideas, even though they're coming in at the 11th hour, to fully consider them and to be responsive," Lamping explained.
Looming questions for council stemming from the DIA analysis also include the agency's calculation of a 40 cent on the dollar return on investment (ROI) over 20 years, which becomes 74 cents over 35 years.
Also, a report on the development presented by the Northeast Florida Regional Council at the board meeting predicted the addition of only 129 jobs at Lot J's five-year mark. When the deal was first presented in early October, Mayor Curry said the project would boast more than 1,000 permanent jobs.