Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, August 7, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 190 • One Section
Work to begin on rooms at Lexington
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JTA on time more often
On-time percentage
65.0*
Before change
68.2
December
70.8 January
Since the Jacksonville Transportation Authority began the Route Optimization Initiative in December, nearly 80 percent of buses arrive and depart on schedule. That’s an improvement of about 14 percent.
Photo by Max Marbut
Renovations are about to begin on guest rooms at the Lexington Hotel & Conference Center Jacksonville Riverwalk. New owner Vantage Hospitality Group, through LexDevCoJax LLC, has applied to the city for a permit to renovate rooms at project cost of $2.46 million. Gary Rito, president of the Vantage Hospitality affiliate that will manage hotel renovations, said Thursday the application is the start of the first phase of remodels. “It’s getting us in the queue to start renovating rooms,” he said. Rito said the first step in renovating the 323 rooms is to demolish interiors to see what needs to be done. The hotel remains open and the work will take place in phases. Some deferred maintenance was immediately done, he said. Rito declined to say how much Vantage Hospitality intends to invest in the total project. Rito is president of Brown Nester-Florida LLC, an affiliate of Vantage Hospitality that will manage what is expected to be an 18-month renovation. The permit application shows that Phoenix Building Corp. of Stuart is the contractor and David L. Wallace and Associates of Dunedin is the architect. Vantage Hospitality bought the property in early June and immediately put up banner signs for its Lexington brand over the former Wyndham name. Coral Springs-based Vantage Hospitality paid $9 million for the 34-year-old hotel on 5.8 acres at 1515 Prudential Drive on the Downtown Southbank. The property had been foreclosed and was bank-owned. Vantage Hospitality is remodeling the Lexington as almost 11 acres around it are being sold by another property owner. That ownership group is reorganizing Mathis continued on Page A-2
New system showing progress
By Max Marbut Staff Writer One of the key elements in the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s Route Optimization Initiative is on-time performance. According to data collected since the program began Dec. 1, the likelihood a bus will arrive at a stop on time has increased, on average, nearly 14 percent. The 78 percent on-time performance recorded in July set a record for timely arrivals and departures. Prior to the program, the authority didn’t have a formal process to gather accurate data on how often buses ran their routes on time based on the published schedule, said Lisa Darnall, vice president of transit operations. They estimated on-time perfor-
“No matter where you have to go or how long you ride, being on time is the most important part of transit for the customer.” Lisa Darnall Vice president of transit operations for JTA
mance at 65 percent. “Supervisors would stand on street corners and monitor buses,” she said. “It was very unreliable.” The campaign to make buses more dependable began in May 2013, when a pilot program, On
Time Transit Operations, was put in place on 12 poorly performing routes. Hub arrival and departure times were adjusted and time points were designed into the routes to allow a bus to get back on schedule if it is running early or late. If a bus arrives early at a time point, it waits until the scheduled departure time. If a bus is behind schedule, having wait time built into the route allows the bus to return to its published schedule by shortening the period it’s supposed to be stopped. Technology available on buses to automatically count passengers and log when passengers got on or off buses was used to establish a baseline. JTA continued on Page A-3
70.2
February
70.4 March
71.3 April
70.9 May
73.9 June
78.0 July
*Estimated percentage Source: Jacksonville Transportation Authority
Curry: ‘I’ve got a lot of reading to do’
Neighborhoods, economic development headline ideas
Mayor Lenny Curry and Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart listen to reports from transition team members. At left is Frank Mackesy, who provided remarks from “A Safer Jacksonville.”
Public
legal notices begin on page
A-10
Photo by David Chapman
By David Chapman Staff Writer Bringing back a city neighborhoods department. Reviving the transportation planning division. Supporting a new convention center. They’re among the many recommendations Mayor Lenny Curry’s transition committees officially bestowed upon him Thursday. The eight committees comprised about 120 people, most of whom spent many hours in meetings to talk about government since Curry was elected. “I’ve got a lot of reading to do,” Curry said, smiling as he
held up a binder almost an inch thick. Some recommendations have been addressed in Curry’s inaugural budget. A traffic engineering chief recommended by the Streamlining Growth and Opportunity group is proposed to be funded. That person will be a professional engineer and be responsible for things like traffic signals, railroad crossings and operating streets and highways. A Safer Jacksonville subcommittee suggested building three fire stations, a move that would lower response times throughout the region. Curry’s capital improvement plan calls for that
Published
for
26,718
in the next three years. Additional funding for the Jacksonville Journey, suggested by the Prevention, Intervention and At-Risk Youth group, is proposed for this year — an extra $3 million added to the $2.9 million it received last year. All the recommendations can’t be fixed with funding, though. For instance, the Economic Development group was asked to establish an “accountability matrix” for companies that receive public funding. Curry campaigned on that point, calling for a “scorecard” to determine how much return on investment taxpayers are receiving. Transition continued on Page A-3
consecutive weekdays