MONDAY April 19, 2021 jaxdailyrecord.com • 35 cents
INSIDE: NAIOP 2021 annual awards section Public legal notices begin on page 3
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
REDEVELOPMENT
Area jobless rate rises to 4.4% in March
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
$61M renovation planned for Union Terminal Warehouse
The increase comes as more people enter the labor force looking for jobs.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Renderings special to the Daily Record
Atlanta-based Columbia Ventures LLC wants to redevelop the 108-year-old Union Terminal Warehouse at 700 E. Union St. on the edge of Downtown into apartments and restaurant space. It is seeking city incentives and a loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Columbia Ventures is seeking $9.2 million in city incentives for the mixed-use project with 228 apartments. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
Atlanta-based Columbia Ventures LLC is negotiating with the city for $9.2 million in gap funding for its proposed $61 million adaptive reuse of the historic Union Terminal Warehouse near Jacksonville’s Eastside. A statement April 15 by Columbia and documents it submitted to the Downtown Investment Authority outline a 228-unit mixed-use redevelopment of the 108-yearold warehouse at 700 E. Union St.
The workforce and affordable housing will allow Columbia to finance about 70% of the project with a 40-year, fixed-rate insured mortgage from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the documents state. In its report to DIA, Columbia representatives said COVID-19 market effects required “a pivot away” from private financing to HUD-backed financing. “To save this magnificent old building and give it a new life filled with inspiration from decades of serving small businesses is a challenging undertaking that has taken years of planning and work on its capitalization,” Columbia Ventures Managing Partner Dillon Baynes said April 15 in an SEE WAREHOUSE, PAGE 2
A rendering of community commercial space at the north end of the first floor of the Union Terminal Warehouse. Plans include 228 apartments, a coffee shop and restaurant.
Jacksonville’s unemployment rose slightly in March as more people began looking for jobs, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported April 16. The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties rose from 4.2% in February to 4.4% in March. The number of people with jobs rose by more than 7,000 to 765,796 last month but the unemployment rate rose because the size of the labor force rose by about 9,000 to 800,796. People are counted in the labor force only if they have jobs or are actively looking for work, so the rise in the labor force reflects more people seeking jobs as the economy improves. Every county in the metropolitan area reported higher unemployment but three counties still ranked among the lowest in the state. St. Johns County’s 3.6% jobless rate was second lowest behind Monroe County’s 3.3%. Clay and Nassau counties both tied for fourth lowest at 4%. Duval County had the highest rate in the area at 4.8% while Baker County was at 4.1%. The Department of Economic Opportunity’s survey of nonfarm businesses found companies in the Jacksonville area added 6,800 jobs between February and March. But the area had a net loss of 9,400 jobs since March 2020.
MBASCH@ JAXDAILYRECORD.COM
Project Pineapple construction to begin An unidentified tenant known as Project Pineapple has committed to lease a warehouse under development in NorthPoint Industrial Park. Peter Anderson, vice president of new investments for developer Pattillo Industrial Real Estate, said April 15, there is a tenant but he is “not at liberty to say who.” The city issued a permit April 14 for the foundation construction of the 351,520-square-foot building at 3559 Port Jacksonville Parkway. Arco Design/Build of Atlanta is the contractor for the $288,220 foundation project. “We will begin construction immediately,” Anderson said. He expects completion in the first quarter.
VOLUME 108, NO. 108 • ONE SECTION