Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 193 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Church of Eleven22 expanding Closed Sneakers restaurant will be site for second campus
The Church of Eleven22, which has repurposed at least two retail buildings already, purchased the closed Sneakers Sports Grille in Baymeadows last week for a second campus. Leadership issued a statement late Tuesday through spokeswoman Carol Gilham that it plans to launch The Church of Eleven22 at Baymeadows early next year. The church, based at 14286 Beach Blvd. in a former Walmart, will remain as one church worshipping in two locations.
“We are excited about the future and the opportunities we will have to serve our neighbors and the area surrounding this new location,” it said. The church recently was named No. 57 in the Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in the nation by Outreach Magazine in its latest ranking for 2014. Its weekly attendance now is 6,000. The Baymeadows property hasn’t been on the market for long. Sneakers closed after CenterState Bank of Florida acquired
the property in April in a foreclosure sale. The foreclosure suit against Sneakers in Baymeadows did not impact the Sneakers Sports Grill restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, which remains open. The Church of Eleven22 Inc.
bought the Baymeadows property for $2.48 million from CenterState Bank on Aug. 5. Compass Bank issued a $1.615 million mortgage to the church the same day. The 2.61-acre site is at 8133 Point Meadows Drive, off of Baymeadows Road and the Interstate 295 East Beltway. It is assessed for tax purposes at nearly $2.95 million. The restaurant was built in 2006. Construction plans filed Tuesday show details of the second campus.
Building plans show the church wants to renovate the 19,105-square-foot building into a worship center that can accommodate 769 occupants as well as eight classrooms, a nursery, a community room and other areas. A mezzanine will provide additional office space. The 17,490 square feet on the ground level will include the 5,380-square-foot worship seating area and 680-square-foot platform. Mathis continued on Page A-2
Friends 1 yes, 2 no’ s, 14 pending will get $150,000 payment
Next discussion to be about viability
Friends of Hemming Park will receive the latest installment of its city funding, but the nonprofit revitalizing Downtown’s “front porch” has a looming battle over its long-term viability. City Council voted 18-1 Tuesday that revenue the group receives from events and concessions should count toward its fundraising goal. Supporters say that always was the intent, with the amendment now allowing the city to disburse $150,000 that the group was eligible to receive June 1. Council member John Crescimbeni last week voted against the idea. However, after watching several videos from last year, he said somehow language relating to concession sales was dropped from one contract draft to another. Given that, he said he couldn’t in good conscience vote against the idea — he thought that’s what he was voting for last year, so he did Tuesday. That made it awfully lonely for Matt Schellenberg on the issue. The sole negative vote, Schellenberg said he thought the Friends’ budget was misleading and “didn’t see a big difference” in what’s happening in the park. Not counting the June payment, the city has contributed $600,000. The contract calls for the nonprofit to receive a total of $1 million in taxpayer assistance. The group is required to raise $250,000 in its first year, with $200,000 coming by the ninth month — a mark that was the focal point of the latest amendment. Schellenberg said he hoped that money would have provided “a little bit better” results and suggested maybe grassing the venue and turning it into a passive park. Talks turned toward the overall performance of the nonprofit and its future. Council continued on Page A-4
Public
File photo by Max Marbut
By David Chapman Staff Writer
The ambassadors in their bright orange shirts are a familiar sight in Downtown. They are part of Downtown Vision Inc.’s effort to make the urban core clean, safe and a better place to live, work and invest.
Slow start to DVI’s request for payments By Max Marbut Staff Writer Ask and you shall receive. At least sometimes. That’s been the experience for Downtown Vision Inc. after letters were sent to 17 owners of property exempt from a 1.1 mill additional ad valorem tax that was approved by commercial property owners in 2000. In the letter, Jake Gordon, DVI CEO, asked the property owners to make a voluntary contribution equal to 1.1 mills of the assessed value of their property. The total value of the exempt property is $134.2 million. If all of the owners remitted the donation, it would yield nearly $148,000 for the nonprofit Downtown organization.
legal notices begin on page
B-1
“We have to demonstrate our value. It’s a standing ask.” Jake Gordon DVI CEO “If we have more, we can do more. And we need to do more,” Gordon said. When he presented the letter and list to DVI’s board of directors July 22, Gordon made it clear he wasn’t expecting checks to start showing up in the mailbox. The letter would serve as a “conversa-
Published
for
tion starter” with the owners, he said. As of Tuesday, only one property owner responded to the request with a donation. The Diocese of St. Augustine sent DVI $248.59, equal to 1.1 mills of the assessed value of a parking lot the diocese owns along Ocean Street. “We didn’t even call them,” Gordon said. “They just sent us the check.” Diocese spokeswoman Kathleen Bagg said the church has been a mainstay in what would become North Florida since 1565. Beginning in 1829, three years before Jacksonville was chartered as a town, priests on horseback visited the area to celebrate Mass. In 1854, a small wooden church building was constructed at Duval and Ocean DVI continued on Page A-2
26,725
consecutive weekdays