Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, September 4, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 210 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Jaguar mural gets new home Panels will move to Weaver center at FreshMinistries
The jaguar mural that was removed from the Bostwick Building will be hung at FreshMinistries on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard.
File photo by David Chapman
By Carole Hawkins Staff Writer
When the Bostwick Building was sold to Jacques Klempf last year it saved a historic building from ruin. But, it put another piece of Downtown Jacksonville’s identity in jeopardy. What would happen to the jaguar? The mural painted on the plywood-covered windows had in 20 years become its own piece of city history. On Thursday, the announcement came — the jaguar panels would stay Downtown. The mural’s artist, Jim Draper,
asked that they be donated to FreshMinistries’ J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Center for Community Outreach, located at 616 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. FreshMinistries is a Jacksonville nonprofit that seeks to eradicate poverty with programs to help people and communities develop economic independence. The mural, ironically, will be reinstalled on a building that was funded in part through a grant from the Weavers, former owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars. “We’re absolutely delighted,” FreshMinistries spokeswoman Theresa Johnson said. “Jim Draper has been a longtime friend of this organization and is a legend-
Merchants OK with streamlined One Spark
Frank Gatlin didn’t just move his company’s headquarters to Jacksonville. He wants to
Help shape his new city
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Frank Gatlin (seated) and his son, Frankie, are the principals of Gatlin Development Co.
Wilson Square Shopping Center is owned by Gatlin Development Co.
Public
legal notices begin on page
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Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
Frank and Frankie Gatlin moved their development headquarters, families and futures to Jacksonville three months ago, quietly settling in while setting their sights on significant growth. Father and son see the potential for a Downtown grocery store, redeveloped community centers that now struggle with vacancies and new shopping plazas. Their focus ranges from Fernandina Beach south to St. Augustine and from the Beaches west to OakLeaf. “I see a very bright future for Jacksonville,” said Frank Gatlin, a New Orleans native who spent the past almost 40 years developing residential, hotel and commercial projects from headquarters in New Orleans; Del Mar,
California; Tennessee; and, most recently, Fort Lauderdale. Frank III and Frank IV are the principals of Gatlin Development Co., a nationwide developer with a commercial portfolio of 2.5 million square feet of retail space under ownership or development. Since 1984, the company has developed more than 15 million square feet of retail shopping centers. The Gatlins are new to Jacksonville, but Gatlin Development isn’t. Its portfolio includes six Jacksonville area properties comprising five shopping centers redeveloped with Walmart Neighborhood Markets and a new Walmart Supercenter project Gatlin continued on Page A-3
Six-day festival was grueling experience
Special to the Daily Record
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
ary Jacksonville artist.” With the move, the jaguar will remain close to the stadium that inspired its creation. The building is so close to EverBank Field, it was used for tailgating parties before FreshMinistries bought it. The mural could have easily met with a different fate. Klempf purchased the Bostwick at a tax sale in July 2014. But earlier, he at had it under contract with the Bostwick family. “They wanted those paintings,” Klempf said. “I could buy the building, but they wanted to keep the paintings of the jaguar.” When Klempf ultimately came to possess both, he reached out Mural continued on Page A-2
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It won’t be known until April what effect streamlining One Spark will have on the exhibitors, but some Downtown businesses think festival organizers are on the right track. When the change from six days to three was announced Monday, One Spark board Chair Peter Rummell described taking a day to set up a booth or display and then presenting their product 10 or more hours a day for five days was “a killer experience.” Merchants say less One Spark could turn out to be an improvement. “I’m glad they are cutting it to three days. It was exhausting last year,” said Jennifer O’Donnell, manager of Chamblin’s Uptown Café and Bookstore. “Three days of One Spark is like six Art Walks,” she said, referring to the four-hour art festival staged Downtown the first Wednesday O’Donnell of each month. Chamblin’s was a venue for the first three years of One Spark and will be back on the list for 2016. The crowd grew each year and so did food and beverage sales at the vegetarian and vegan café. But the schedule last year was grueling. “We worked 70 hours in five days,” O’Donnell said. “We were exhausted.” At the other end of Laura Street, the Jacksonville Landing and many of its merchants provided venue space for the festival’s first three years and will again in 2016.
26,740
One Spark
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consecutive weekdays