Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 164 • One Section
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How Curry will build one city Mayor will partner with officials, pastors and residents to reach goal
It was a message hard to miss. Emblazoned on the large video board above the stage, a simple phrase. Bellowed by Bishop John Guns, with an echo that reverberated throughout Jacoby Hall. And finally, hammered home by Mayor Lenny Curry minutes after he took the oath to become Jacksonville’s mayor. “One City, One Jacksonville.” It was a symbolic, prevalent theme throughout the pomp and circumstance Wednesday, but it wasn’t meant as just an optimistic phrase. It’s a goal. One Curry believes is Curry reachable. One he knows he’ll have to lead to help coalesce for public safety, children and neighborhoods. One he began working toward months ago during the campaign. Reaching that goal means working with new Sheriff Mike Williams, the man he shared the stage with Wednesday. It means joining with faithbased leaders like Guns, who called for building bridges across racial and cultural lines for unity during his speech at the inauguration. Teaming with Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti for the betterment of education and children. Leaning on past mayors for advice. And working with City Council members to make those priorities a reality. Many parts, but one goal Curry is confident the city will achieve.
Making public safety inroads
Public safety has long been priority No. 1 for Curry. It’s a message he stressed on the campaign trail, during times when violent crime stories seemed to make headlines daily. Curry and Williams have regularly met and picked up the phone to talk with each other. The mayor said the two agree there needs to be more officers on the street. And that Jacksonville Journey programs need to be resurrected. Especially during these past few weeks of transition, Williams said the two have swapped information. And there’s another reality the two have realized: There’s not a lot of money to go around. The 147 officers Curry talked about adding won’t come in one fell swoop. That likely will take a few years. Money will be tight for those officers, cars and equipment, Williams said but the working relationship with Curry “is what is going to get us through this tough time.” Curry already has assisted on the financial end, helping secure a $250,000 grant from the Legislature that will go toward Williams hiring 15 additional officers. It’s a sign of the active role he said he’ll Williams play when it comes to what the city does with the state leaders, including Gov. Rick Scott — who sat with his wife, Ann, near the front of Inauguration cont inued on Page A-5
Boyd Curry gets a little help with his tie from his father as the family prepared to leave for Lenny Curry’s inauguration as Jacksonville mayor. Boyd, Brooke and Bridget Curry chronicled inauguration day for the Daily Record. See more photos from the younger Currys on Page A-3.
Photo by Boyd, Brooke and Bridget Curry
By David Chapman Staff Writer
FROM THE CAMERAS OF THE CURRY CHILDREN
Asbury buys Mike Davidson Ford for $13.8M
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
Asbury Automotive Group Inc. added another Jacksonville dealership this week when it bought Mike Davidson Ford in Arlington. It renamed it Coggin Ford to reflect its automotive brand in Florida. The Duluth, Ga.-based dealership group bought the dealership and a nearby collision center Tuesday in three separate deed transactions, according to the documents recorded Wednesday with the Duval County Clerk of
Public
Court. Those deeds total a purchase price of $13.84 million. Asbury Automotive bought the almost 7.8-acre dealership at 9650 Atlantic Blvd. and the nearly 4.3acre collision center at 704 Mill Creek Road. Deeds show two transactions, totaling $13.04 million, for the Atlantic Boulevard dealership and a separate deed, for $800,000, for the collision center. Davidson Ford Ltd. sold the collision center property to KP Motors LLC. Davidson Ford Ltd. and Mike Davidson Properties
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LLC sold the dealership property in two separate deeds to Asbury Jax Ford LLC. The managing member for both acquisition groups is Asbury Automotive Jacksonville LP. Asbury Automotive said in a news release that Mike Davidson Ford generates about $90 million in annual revenue. Asbury Automotive already owned eight dealerships in Jacksonville and St. Augustine, comprising Coggin Buick/GMC; Coggin Chevrolet at the Avenues; Coggin Honda and Coggin Honda St. Augustine; Coggin
Nissan at the Avenues and Coggin Nissan on Atlantic; Coggin Toyota at the Avenues; and Q Auto Jacksonville along Philips Highway. Asbury said in the new release that the purchase boosts the number of Asbury stores in Florida to 24, along with three Q Auto locations. “We are very excited to add this Ford store to better serve our Jacksonville customers and are pleased to expand our suite of Coggin stores. We welcome our new employees to the Asbury family and are looking forward
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to this opportunity in the Jacksonville area,” said David Hult, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Asbury Automotive Group, in the release. Asbury Automotive Group, a Fortune 500 company, operates 86 dealerships, comprising 106 franchises for the sale and servicing of 29 domestic and foreign brands of vehicles. It also operates 26 collision repair centers and three stand-alone used-vehicle stores. kmathis@jaxdailyrecord.com (904) 356-2466
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