Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, July 31, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 185 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Why Macquarie chose Jacksonville
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
Glen Skarott runs the New Delhi, India, shared-services operation for Macquarie Group. As deputy group financial controller, he is based at corporate headquarters in Sydney, Australia. He knew Macquarie (which is pronounced “muh-quarry”) needed a new site to support its significant and growing U.S. and Americas businesses and it needed to be in a favorable location. It also needed resiliency, which
allows companies to flow work from one time zone to another as well as to provide a backup in case of weather issues, power outages and other potential disruptions. A search that began on Skarott’s desktop computer formally ended Thursday when Macquarie U.S. Country Head Michael McLaughlin, Mayor Lenny Curry, City Council President Greg Anderson, JAX Chamber Chair-elect Audrey Moran and JAXUSA Partnership Chair Mark Frisch announced Jacksonville was chosen for the Global
Finance Services site. “Our team conducted a very robust search,” McLaughlin said at a news conference at the JAX Chamber offices Downtown. “Jacksonville emerged as the best choice.” McLaughlin said of 20-25 economic-development factors, Jacksonville scored the best, citing the talent pool, quality of life, climate and availability of airline flights to Macquarie’s U.S. headquarters in New York. Jacksonville landed the 123job center that McLaughlin said Macquarie continued on Page A-2
Photo by Max Marbut
Talent, environment and time zone all played a role
Mayor Lenny Curry and Macquarie U.S. Country Head Michael McLaughlin at Thursday’s news conference.
Shopping center to get $18M makeover
Expanding The Elbow
Pablo Plaza to add PetSmart, Whole Foods
By Mark Basch Contributing Writer
Alva Richcreek has a new vision for the former Northstar the Pizza Bar at 119 E. Bay St. in The Elbow.
By Max Marbut Staff Writer From washing dishes at Pizza Hut to owning a restaurant in The Elbow. That describes Alva Richcreek’s 33-year career in the culinary arts. He was the cook at the former Northstar the Pizza Bar at 119 E. Bay St. When he found out the business was for sale, he called on a couple of partners and bought it with a vision for some extensive changes. “The only thing that will be the same is the furniture,” said Richcreek, who has renamed the establishment Bay Street Bar & Grill. While the previous owner offered patrons of Downtown’s
Public
entertainment district a bar where they could get a slice of pizza, Richcreek is planning a more extensive menu that will include traditional pub fare plus some choices leaning more toward fine dining. While getting his new venture ready to open by the end of August, he talked about serving chicken piccata and fresh seafood along with burgers, wings and cheese steak sandwiches. He’s also planning to serve some classic diner fare like meatloaf and macaroni and cheese. “It will depend on what I find in the morning at the farmer’s market,” he said. Vegetarians and those who need a gluten-free diet will find Restaurants continued on Page A-3
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Photos by Max Marbut
Bay Street Bar & Grill and Spliff ’s join mix
Spliff’s Gastropub is scheduled to open this fall along Ocean Street next door to 1904 Music Hall.
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As it prepares to add Whole Foods as a grocery anchor sometime in the next six years, Equity One Inc. announced an $18 million makeover of the Pablo Plaza shopping center in Jacksonville Beach that will also include PetSmart as a junior anchor. Equity One announced the renovation project as it reported its second-quarter earnings late Wednesday. “Pablo Plaza is in need of a makeover and it’s getting it,” property manager Kevin Hollenbeck said Thursday. Equity One bought the property, which was built in 1973, for $19.3 million in 2010 and it is valued on the company’s books at $18.4 million, according to its annual report. So the company is spending nearly as much on the renovation as the value of the center. The 146,491-square-foot shopping center at the intersection of Third Street and 23rd Avenue South is 79 percent leased, according to Equity One’s second quarter report. Current anchor tenants include Marshalls, Home Goods and Office Depot. Office Depot sublets its space from Publix Super Markets Inc., which holds a lease that expires in November 2018, according to Equity One’s report. Publix moved out of that space in 1995 when it opened a store in the South Beach Parkway center south of Butler Boulevard along Florida A1A. Whole Foods Market Inc., which operates a store in Mandarin, announced in May it had signed a lease to open a store in Pablo Plaza but not until 2021. However, it would be able to move in once the Publix lease expires in three years. “I would think it would be sooner than that (2021),” Hollenbeck said. But Equity One is not waiting for Whole Foods. Hollenbeck said renovations should begin this fall, including the space for PetSmart. PetSmart has seven other Jacksonville Whole Foods continued on Page A-2
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