WEDNESDAY March 25, 2020
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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: YOUR INSIGHT
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Northern St. Johns hospital planned
‘We’reDaily like the PublixRecord for pets’ JACKSONVILLE
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
Ascension St. Vincent’s confirms project along Interstate 95.
BY KATIE GARWOOD STAFF WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Photo by Mike Mendenhall
Frank Wallmeyer is president of Standard Feed & Seed. The store at 1236 Kings Road sells animal and pet food and garden center items.
Standard Feed & Seed President Frank Wallmeyer says sales are up as much as 25% over last year. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
Frank Wallmeyer is not one of the many Northeast Florida retailers that have had to close their doors as local and state officials restricted capacity on commercial retail space to slow the spread of COVID-19. “We’re like the Publix for pets. We need to be open so people can get cat food, dog food, potbelly pig food and feed. Animals still need to eat,” said Wallmeyer, president of Standard Feed &
Seed Inc. Like grocery stores, sales volume is up at the animal feed and garden supply store. “We’ve been slammed,” he said. Daily sales have increased 20% to 25% over this time in 2019, Wallmeyer said. Standard Feed & Seed has a budgeted garden center sales increase in March. Wallmeyer said the company is selling more vegetable plants this year because people are stuck at home with time to work on what many of his customers are calling “victory gardens.” “The good thing about this crisis is it’s forcing people to think more about where their food comes from,” he said. SEE WALLMEYER, PAGE 2
KEEPING CLOSE – FROM A DISTANCE Since March 13, city event venues, stores, restaurants, malls, entertainment centers, churches and businesses shut down and laid off workers or sent them home to telecommute to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Daily Record will report how local small business owners are dealing with the imposed social isolation.
Ascension St. Vincent’s is planning to build a hospital in northern St. Johns County along Interstate 95, spokesman Kyle Sieg said March 24. “We can confirm that we are planning to build a new hospital in north St. Johns County along I-95,” Sieg said in a statement. “The area and type of facility were selected based on present and future community need. We are currently in the preliminary planning phase for this exciting new project,” he said. He would not provide further information on the location or timeline of the hospital’s construction. “Right now, we are completely focused on providing our community with compassionate, personalized care and keeping everyone safe during this trying time,” he said. “Given this, we are unable to provide additional details about this project at this time.” Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine is the only hospital in St. Johns County. Ascension St. Vincent’s operates a Health Center off County Road 210, which includes primary and urgent care services. Baptist Health operates Baptist South at the border of Duval and St. Johns counties. Ascension St. Vincent’s also is constructing two free-standing ERs in Duval County and bought land for what appears to be a third. The two under construction SEE HOSPITAL, PAGE 2
Link Industrial Properties buys Crossroads Link Industrial Management LLC paid $24.25 million on March 18 for property at southeast Interstate 295 and Pritchard Road. Records show that Link Industrial and Link Industrial Properties LLC of Chicago bought the 104.75-acre property from Crossjax Distribution LLC. Crossroads Distribution Center developed the 297,067-square-foot Building 100 warehouse in 2019 at 6950 Pritchard Road. It is leased to W.W. Grainger Inc. Miles River Partners LLC and TriGate Capital developed Crossroads Distribution Center. Crossjax Distribution bought the vacant land in 2018 for $3.15 million.
VOLUME 107, NO. 91 • ONE SECTION