Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 204 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Quicker, cheaper Liberty Street fix Proposal saves $28M, cuts three years
By David Chapman Staff Writer Terrence Rodda isn’t the least bit happy about Liberty Street being fixed in a little over two years. The longtime homeowners’ association president of Riverwalk Townhomes at the Plaza thinks it should have been done sooner. Or the Downtown street collapse that’s caused more than just an eyesore should never have happened in the first place. But, despite that feeling, he knows two years is better than the originally proposed five years. And if the courthouse parking
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lot is demolished, he believes it eventually will be a massive boost for him and his neighbors’ property values. “I’d love that,” he said. “It would make the 20 townhomes almost a peninsula … it’d be very unique.” The ramped-up timeline and scope of the project could be headed for a change — and at a cheaper cost, too. Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration pitched a way Wednesday to expedite repairing sections of the Downtown street that fell into the St. Johns River in February, while demolishing other parts. Curry’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan submitted in July had a total of $65
million to repair Liberty Street, Coastline Drive and the old courthouse parking lot. But, as proposed Wednesday — and quickly adopted by the City Council Finance Committee — that five-year fix was slashed to two years. And the price tag drops from $65 million to $37 million, spending $17 million in fiscal 2015-16 and $20 million in fiscal 2016-17. The area won’t look like it did before, though. The section of Coastline Drive between Newnan and Market streets — effectively in front of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront — would be replaced. So, too, Liberty continued on Page A-3
Healthy Town gets Welcome to Cecil, FedEx Ground development rights to Southbank site Seven months after a developer came to terms on the purchase of the former Southside Generating Station site Downtown along the Southbank, the Downtown Investment Authority board Wednesday approved a resolution allocating development rights. That sets the stage for the city and Elements Development of Jacksonville to negotiate a development agreement for Healthy Town, a project proposed to combine residential, retail and office space on the 26.8-acre site. Authority CEO Aundra Wallace described the approval as “one of the steps in the process.” Elements released new renderings Wednesday of the project’s initial phase, including 500 apartments and condominiums, 200 hotel rooms, 200,000 square feet of office space and more than
Photos by Karen Brune Mathis
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Wallace 94,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. “All we’ve seen is some nice pictures and a nice concept,” said DIA board member Jack Meeks. DIA
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FedEx Ground cut the ribbon Wednesday at its new 300,000-square-foot automated distribution center in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville. Above, Darrell Ramsey, assistant senior manager in Jacksonville, told tour guests the center can process 15,000 packages an hour. About 300 employees relocated there from a smaller Jacksonville center. FedEx presented a $5,000 donation to Patriot Service Dogs, whose CEO, Susan Bolton, brought Sam. The golden doodle will soon be placed. The nonprofit trains and places service dogs with disabled military to assist those with PTSD, mobility disabilities, loss of limbs and traumatic brain injuries. FedEx Chairman, President and CEO Fred Smith is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Vietnam.
New program brings 60,000 library patrons By Max Marbut Staff Writer When school bells rang Monday morning, it signaled 60,000 public school students having unprecedented access to knowledge and learning. Through a partnership between Duval County Public Schools and the Jacksonville Public Library, every student enrolled in grades K-5 will be authorized to check out books and other materials at the Main Library and at neighborhood libraries. Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the program is intended to build cultural awareness and make more resources available to the
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youngest students in the system. “They will have access to reading materials they don’t have at home and they don’t have in the classroom,” he said. With just their school identification card, the students will be able to check out up to three print or audio materials. Also included is access to all of the library’s electronic and digital collections and use of library computers. No application or signature from a parent or guardian is required and no late fees or fines for lost materials will be assessed. “It’s important to make using the library as easy as possible. Our focus is to get books into children’s hands with as few barriLibrary continued on Page A-2
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