Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 233 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
IKEA coming to Gate and 295
Shad Khan’s Kismet II back in town
New store near Town Center set to open in fall 2017
Jacksonville’s most-photographed floating object –– Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s yacht –– is back in town. The 308foot Kismet II is moored along the Northbank Riverwalk near the CSX Building. With seven staterooms and an owner’s suite, the vessel is outfitted for 12 guests served by a 28-member crew. It’s available for charter for $1.4 million per week. Usually tied up near the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, the new berth was required because it no longer can be docked near the hotel. That’s because the bow lines would have to be secured inside the area where the Riverwalk is closed due to the Liberty Street parking deck collapse.
Photo by Max Marbut
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
Audit shows city finances need help Report highlights need for additional revenue streams By David Chapman Staff Writer The city’s financial health at the moment isn’t dire. A $1 billion budget just went into effect without much angst from City Hall leaders. There’s been a modest surplus built from several years of cost-cutting and increased revenue. Like a routine annual physical, a muchanticipated 90-day review promised by Mayor Lenny Curry shows a current financial situation that is relatively healthy. Yet, like anyone who ages, there are major warning signs. Without proper
maintenance, diet and intake, the healthy situation today turns south within five years. The causes have been widely discussed in recent months and years, but are highlighted in a draft report of Curry’s 90-day audit conducted by Ernst & Young. Unfunded pension liabilities of $2.7 billion could cripple future budgets. A possible $35 million declining annual JEA contribution. The loss of more than 1,000 city positions in recent years. Overall, the general fund deficit could hit $24 million by fiscal 2019 and the report suggests that “additional revenue or cost saving initiatives should be explored.”
Remedies could come in the form of increased revenue options, but that could be a bitter pill for some. It could be tax increases, for which Jacksonville has capacity compared to its peers. The report shows the city’s total millage rate is below Florida’s other five largest cities and property taxes are the lowest among the top six. Curry said his first pension funding solution won’t include a tax increase and he campaigned on not raising them. Bringing it up to the average would generate close to $40 million more in revenue. A doubling of JEA’s franchise fee could Audit continued on Page A-4
In what City Council President Greg Anderson says is a “really wonderful and very fun announcement,” the popular IKEA Home Furnishings Co. detailed plans this morning to open one of its trendy superstores in Jacksonville. Those plans are for a 294,000-square-foot store on 25 acres at northwest Gate Parkway and Interstate 295. Pending approvals, construction could begin in summer 2016 with an opening in fall 2017. In addition to the 500 jobs expected for construction, the store would employ about 250 people. It will be the fifth IKEA in Florida. Anderson said there would be minimum zoning changes needed, but no taxpayer incentives. “It’s a major investment for building and infrastructure,” Anderson said. IKEA President Lars Petersson said the location is within an emerging retail corridor that would provide the 110,000 Jacksonville-area IKEA customers a store of their own. The store will feature nearly 10,000 exclusively design items, 50 room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area and a restaurant serving the store’s specialties. Anderson referred to it as a destination retailer. “People will drive to shop at IKEA and spend a couple of hours to shop,” he said. Spokesman Joseph Roth said last year that IKEA buys its sites, which average 20-30 acres, and builds its stores, which are 350,000 to 450,000 square feet in size. Sites are along interstates for the greatest visibility and access. IKEA
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UF Health expects to open its 92-bed hospital, left, by early 2017 next to the existing medical building in North Jacksonville.
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Rendering from UF Health
UF Health laying Northside foundation The foundation should be laid before year-end for the $85 million UF Health North tower that will bring 92 hospital beds to North Jacksonville by early 2017. The five-story tower will tie into the medical office that opened in February. That center has operating suites and ancillary services that will serve as the core of the new hospital. Danis and Batson-Cook Construction will build the tower in a joint venture, said UF Health Jacksonville spokesman Dan Leveton. The city is reviewing site plans for the tower, which is planned
on the almost 70-acre site at 15255 Max Leggett Parkway. UF Health North opened the six-story medical facility in February. Features include a fullservice, 28-bed emergency room; five operating rooms; 16 preoperative and 16 postoperative rooms; and 12 recovery rooms. It provides more than 20 specialty services, a sleep center,
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rehabilitation services and the UF Health Birth Center, which opened in March. UF Health said the North Jacksonville hospital campus will serve the area’s fastest-growing area. From 2000-13, North Jacksonville’s population rose by 30 percent, more than double the growth rate of the rest of Duval and Nassau counties, according to UF Health.
Sleiman adds Kernan land
Sleiman Enterprises bought Mathis continued on Page A-2
consecutive weekdays