JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three investors, including a company owned by Jaguars owner Shad Kahn, have new proposals on the table to develop a piece of prime riverfront property that has sat vacant for over 17 years
It's the latest of many plans by a handful of developers for land that until the mid-1990 was a working shipyard. Although there have been many promises and millions of city dollars have gone into the property, none of those projects got off the ground.
This time, city leaders are hopeful, but they are cautious.
A $782 million development nicknamed the Billion Dollar Mile was proposed in 2001, but it and others that followed have failed before construction started.
In 2005, a grand jury investigated the city's $40 million contract with the TriLegacy Group. It found no criminal wrongdoing, but criticized Mayor John Delaney's administration for failing to monitor progress of the project.
The Downtown Development Authority on Wednesday unsealed three new proposals for developing the property: Khan's Iguana Investments, Wess Holdings LLC and the Presidium Group..
Iquana, the only proposal that was made public, encompasses the land from Metro Park, across from EverBank Field, to part of Berkman Plaza, across from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The plan includes a veterans park that would include the historical Navy ship, the USS Adams, and a children's area. The projected cost of the project was not disclosed.
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With the help of the city, Kahn has already made huge investments in the area, including the Amphitheater and Flex Field under construction on the south end zone of the stadium. This final plan is somewhat different than proposals unsealed over a year ago, when the project was put on hold while the cost of mitigating hazardous materials left by its industrial past was calculated.
Mayor Lenny Curry is excited about he has seen.
"It will be good for downtown, but we also have two other proposals that I have not seen, and they will go through the process and we will see where we land soon," Curry said.
Details and the price tags on all three proposals are to be released in 30 days.
"We learned that a conceptual rendering is just that: It's a conceptual rendering. It's not binding," said Lori Boyer, president of the Jacksonville City Council. "It's not anything we should rely on, and so that is the very reason that the real content of the proposal is what is written in the documents that were submitted, and none of us have had the opportunity to see that yet."
Downtown business owners are eager for something to become of the property.
"Anything to breathe more life into downtown is always great," said Greg DeSanto, the chef at Olio, a restaurant on Bay Street. "We have been here about six years and we've seen a lot of attempts, some successes, some stumbles. It's nice to see more effort being brought downtown. More life needs to move this way."