Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan: Development 'paramount' to team

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a new, $2.5 billion vision for the area surrounding EverBank Field.

On Thursday, at the team's State of the Franchise presentation, the Jags showed renderings of a sea of hotels and convention centers to go along with the entertainment complex planned for Parking Lot J.

The team hopes to move forward with development by this time next year, but Jaguars President Mark Lamping said there’s still some work to do to get a deal done with the city.

On Thursday, in addition to the new vision for downtown, Lamping introduced a new partnership with the Cordish Companies.

But it all raised one question: Is Jags owner Shad Khan’s plan for the Shipyards on hold?

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“This is an expansion of our previously announced plans for the Shipyards,” Lamping said.

“The Shipyards can’t develop until the overpass issue is addressed, which is going to take some time,” Khan added.

Khan said adding to that, the cleanup of the contaminated site is a work in progress.

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For now, he wants the team -- and its new partner -- to focus on what it can control, knowing full well what this development could mean.

“This is absolutely paramount for the Jaguars to be stable in this area,” Khan said. “The city has to grow, and we’ve got to have energy around the stadium and in the stadium, especially on game days.”

At this stage, an exact timeline and any city contributions to the project are unclear.

Cox Media Group