Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, April 17, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 110 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Dredging gets OK, now how to pay $50M sought for environmental issues
Photos by Max Marbut
By David Chapman Staff Writer
The first floor of the former Haydon Burns Public Library Downtown has been transformed into the Grand Salon of the Jessie Ball duPont Center. The grand opening celebration won’t be for a couple of months, but the first tenants already are moving in.
Open for business 15-month, $25 million Jessie Ball duPont Center project virtually complete
By Max Marbut Staff Writer The Jessie Ball duPont Center Downtown along Adams, Forsyth and Ocean streets is nearly complete. The former Haydon Burns Public Library has been transformed into a 90,000-squarefoot, three-story Class-A office building leased exclusively to nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Bookshelves and help desks have been replaced by offices, meeting and seminar
Architect Brooke Robbins in the breakroom and kitchen on the second floor of the Downtown building.
rooms. The facility features the latest trends in office design such as communal break rooms with full kitchens, a co-working area and Wi-Fi throughout the building. Purchased by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in 2013 for $2.2 million, more than $20 million in renovations and improvements began Jan. 16, 2014. The concept behind the project is to offer office space at about half of the market rate to allow nonprofit tenants to devote as much of their financial resources as possible to their missions.
The focal point of the first floor is the Grand Salon. The space will be used by tenants and also available for private functions. Fund spokeswoman Mary Kress Littlepage said the $12.25 per square foot rent will cover the direct cost of operating and maintaining the building. Rental income will go into a reserve fund for ongoing maintenance. In the center of the salon is a new “floating staircase” that reflects the late architect DuPont Center... Continued on Page A-2
Dredging the St. Johns River is economically worth the risk. But along with that, there should be at least an extra $50 million spent to offset potential environmental impacts that would come with deepening the channel from 40 to 47 feet. Both conclusions were reached by the Jacksonville Port Task Force on Thursday, after months of studying the much-discussed project. Now, maybe the hardest part of the 15-member group’s work is coming. The next question to wrestle: How will the city pay for its share of the estimated $695 million project? It’s an answer Mayor Alvin Brown tasked the group to determine, although any decision won’t be made until after voters decide whether he’s been re-elected next month. The local share, consisting of city and state funding, should be somewhere between $300 million-$350 million. To make it this far, the task force had to settle on whether the project made financial sense. When the project was approved by the federal government in June, the cost-to-benefit ratio was 2.7. To receive federal funding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a minimum threshold of 2.5. Brian Taylor, Jacksonville Port Authority CEO, told the task force that efforts are being made to lower the cost of the project and improve that ratio, which would improve the speed of federal funding One idea he mentioned was breaking the 13-mile project into smaller pieces, which would allow more companies to bid on the work and increase competition. Other ideas, he said, were too early to talk about. The task force later voted to approve moving forward based on the economics, but it wasn’t unanimous. Quinton White, executive director of the Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University, has for some time had an issue with the corps’ analysis. Before being the lone vote against, he said he was Port... Continued on Page A-2
Belk’s potential sale stirs Macy’s rumors
You can’t keep a good rumor down. The possibility of Macy’s opening in Jacksonville has again surfaced, continued not only to be fueled by its local television advertising but because of Belk Inc. Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help evaluate strategic alternatives, including a potential sale. Reuters broke the story in early April. That has ignited speculation
Public
that Macy’s could open in Jacksonville through a purchase of Belk or possibly only its five Northeast Florida stores. It could be a long shot, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Reuters reported major department stores, such as Macy’s Inc. and Nordstrom Inc., as well as large private equity firms, are expected to be contacted by Belk to solicit their interest in a deal. Belk, a private, family-owned company, issued a statement it
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was starting a scheduled fiveyear planning process within the rapidly changing retail industry, was coming off of a successful fourth quarter in a strong financial position and was enthusiastic about the future. “We also believe, however, that
we have an obligation to consider whether there are alternatives to our current plans that would provide a better return for our stockholders,” Belk’s statement said. A Belk spokeswoman re-issued the statement Thursday and said there was no further update. Here’s where the door cracks open for Jacksonville. As part of its due diligence, Belk engaged Goldman Sachs to help identify all its options and said it expected to conclude the analysis within several months.
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“All options” raises the question whether Belk would divide its holdings and sell stores to different buyers, such as selling the Jacksonville area stores as one package. Goldman Sachs declined comment Thursday. Analysts say it doesn’t make sense for Macy’s, or Seattle-based Nordstrom or other department store competitors, to bid for Belk for several reasons. One is that retailers are trying to branch Mathis... Continued on Page A-4
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