Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, April 10, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 105 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Gordon hired to lead Downtown Vision Decision made outside public meeting violates Sunshine Laws
By Max Marbut Staff Writer Downtown Vision Inc.’s board of directors announced Thursday its new executive director is Jacob Gordon, who has led a similar agency in New Jersey for eight years. However, the hiring process apparently violated the state’s Sunshine Laws. DVI board Chair Debbie Buckland said Thursday night that after a properly noticed meeting
last week had been adjourned, members of the search committee evaluated the four finalists and Gordon came out on top. Search Committee Chair Pat McElhaney said he then had discussions about Gordon with committee members, some of which occurred on the telephone. He said the decision to hire Gordon was reached Tuesday. “We didn’t meet,” he said in clarification. “I called everybody to make sure they were OK with the decision.”
Both the telephone discussions and the fact that a decision was not made in a public meeting violate Sunshine Laws. Attorney George Gabel, whose specialties include Sunshine Law issues, said because Downtown Vision was created by City Council, a public entity, and performs public functions using a budget derived from public funds, the agency is subject to the Sunshine Law. Its board members and members of selection or screening
committees are defined as public officers under the law. “All of their deliberations should be public and noticed,” Gabel said. “The public is an important participant in these discussions.” Gabel also said since committee members conducted business outside public view, their selection process in this case could be called into question. “Any decision made outside the Sunshine (Law) is voidable,” he said.
Prominence getting $8M ‘extreme makeover’
First tenants will move in as early as next week By Carole Hawkins Staff Writer Six hundred new apartments — one of the most encouraging signs of Downtown revitalization — were scheduled to open in Brooklyn during the fourth quarter of last year. For those following the project, it was like anticipating the lead act of a rock ‘n’ roll concert — everyone waited. Weeks stretched into months. Now, the moment is almost here. Brooklyn Riverside, a 310-unit apartment complex behind Fresh Market, will release its first 43 homes to tenants as early as next week. At 220 Riverside, a 294-unit complex just a block away, no release date has been announced yet, but developers say it’s a matter of weeks. “We are very close,” said Coen Purvis, senior vice Brooklyn... Continued
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Brooklyn Riverside expects to turn over the first 43 apartments in its 310unit complex to tenants next week. They will be the first residents for what developers hope will become a walkable neighborhood near Downtown.
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The apartments include features trending in single-family homes, like subway-tile backsplashes, quartzite or marble countertops, Italian cabinets and vinyl plank flooring.
Gabel went on to say the remedy would be for the committee to “re-do everything they did in an open meeting so the public gets to participate.” Buckland said Thursday evening she insisted on full transparency during the interview and selection process and “I thought that’s how we managed it.” Both rounds of interviews with candidates were conducted in properly noticed public meetings. Buckland said the board has DVI... Continued on Page A-4
Investors typically sink money into upgrading the commercial properties they buy, some more than others. In the latter category, Josh Edwards, vice president of Crocker Partners, is operating in the middle of the $8 million in renovations underway at Prominence in Baymeadows. Edwards, whose office is in Building 100 there, calls the work an “extreme makeover” of the 27-year-old office center. Boca Raton-based Crocker bought the sevenbuilding, 54-acre office park in December 2012 for $27.8 million. There’s the new name. “Prominence” takes over “Freedom Commerce Centre.” A major signage and landscape change, which Crocker calls “dramatic,” is planned at the main entrance along Baymeadows Road, just off Interstate 95. Construction should start this month and be completed in the summer. There are the upgrades of the buildings. All seven are slated for exterior and common-area improvements, including Edwards lobbies, restrooms and elevator cabs, as well as installation of new lighting fixtures throughout the properties. Building 100 is almost completed; work on Building 400 should start in May; Building 500 is next. Buildings 300 and 600 are completed, and work on 200 and 700 should start by early next year. There is the removal of the building’s names. Freedom Commerce Centre comprised the Osborn, Gunti, Jackson, Hamilton, DeSoto, Nassau and Suwannee buildings. Now they go by numbers. Exterior signage is available for anchor tenants, but the generic identification is now 100 through 700. Then there are the tenants. Edwards said the buildings, totaling more than 750,000 square feet of space, are collectively almost
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