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December 12-18, 2019
Pedal Pub party bike to offer tours of neighborhood bars PAGE 4
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JACKSONVILLE
Record & Observer REDEVELOPMENT JACKSONVILLE
Council sets vote on JEA resolution
CORNER LOT PLANS Record Observer SAN MARCO’S& NEXT STEP Smith Hulsey & Busey hired to advise City Council about the utility’s possible sale.
JACKSONVILLE
Record & Observer BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
City Council will wait until Jan. 14 to vote on member Brenda Priestly Jackson’s resolution urging the JEA board to end the utility’s efforts to privatize. The Dec. 10 decision was one of several developments this week in the city-owned utility’s push toward a possible sale. Council also approved an emergency bill at the meeting to hire Jacksonville-based law firm Smith Hulsey & Busey to advise members about JEA’s invitation to negotiate. JEA’s board of directors scheduled a meeting for Dec. 17, its first since Oct. 22. A draft version of the agenda shows the board is scheduled to discuss and possibly take action on a rate change related to its growing financial liability with the Georgia nuclear Plant Vogtle. Other highlights this week from JEA include: n JEA board Chair April Green appeared before a Council factfinding committee to ask members to “press the restart button” on the invitation to negotiate. n JEA board member and Corner Lot Development Group CEO Andy Allen said his Dec. 2 resignation from the board was to protect his business. n JEA negotiators, staff and city ethics director Carla Miller traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet with nine companies bidding to buy JEA.
Record & Observer SAN MARCO SPACE TRANSFORMED Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
Restaurant, possibly offices planned for the former men’s club space. BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS
Above: Bill Ware with Harbert Realty Services and George Leone and Andy Allen of Corner Lot Development Group stand in front of the 1939 Hendricks Ave. building they plan to demolish and transform into a restaurant, and possibly, office space. Below: An artist’s rendering of the new building planned at 1939 Hendricks Ave. Plans for the building, near San Marco Square and across the street from Southside Baptist Church, include 32 parking spaces.
EDITOR
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an Marco could start 2020 with another redevelopment near the neighborhood’s central Atlantic Boulevard and Hendricks Avenue intersection. Corner Lot Development Group CEO Andy Allen and COO George Leone, in partnership with Harbert Realty Services, have a contract to buy the 67-year-old building at 1939 Hendricks Ave. Allen said they plan to close on the purchase about April. The group intends to demolish the building and redevelop the site with a restaurant and possibly
Special to the Daily Record
SEE SAN MARCO, PAGE 6
The top commercial sales of the week in Northeast Florida PAGE 5 Basch Report: Maple Street offices may be on the move PAGE 8 Sailer Report: Bill seeks to boost affordable housing PAGE 10
MMENDENHALL@ JAXDAILYRECORD.COM @MIMENDENHALL (904) 356-2466
THE MATHIS REPORT
Southside payroll firm plans to expand, hire 130 workers Plus: Imeson warehouse, restaurant notes. PAGE 3 VOLUME 2, NO. 28 • ONE SECTION