Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, October 26, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 246 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
$1M historic makeover Funding issues plague clerks
Meeks calls Elena Flats project ‘civic philanthropy” By Max Marbut Staff Writer
There is quite a bit of damage in some parts of the interior of the Elena Flats building at 122 E. Duval St. From left, architects Bill and Melody Bishop with JoAnn Tredennick and Jack Meeks, developers of the Elena Flats historic restoration project, outside the Downtown property.
Photos by Max Marbut
In about 14 months, there will be four more market-rate units available in the Downtown apartment market. But it will be much longer — likely years — before the project shows a profit for the developers. Jack Meeks and his wife, JoAnn Tredennick, purchased the Elena Flats building at 122 E. Duval St. and have begun the historic restoration of the site. While the couple paid just the lot value to secure the property — $45,000 — they plan to invest more than $1 million to restore the interior and exterior and install new plumbing, electrical service and HVAC. Meeks, a member of the Downtown Investment Authority board of directors, said other than a federal historic preservation grant, they will not seek any financial or tax incentives for the project. “This is going to cost us more than it’s worth, but there’s not enough city money to do all the Downtown projects that need to be done,” Meeks said. “It will take some civic philanthropy.” Architects Bill and Melody Bishop are designing the restoration. Bill Bishop is a former City Council member and Melody Bishop is a former member of the Downtown Investment Authority board. Meeks said the finished product will appeal to “niche market” renters who are looking for historic architecture in Downtown’s Cathedral District and are willing to pay market-rate rent. By comparison, a 1,204-square-foot, twobedroom, two-bath apartment at 220 Riverside in Brooklyn is listed for as much as $2,389 per month. A similar unit at 11 E. Forsyth St. is listed at $1,238-$1,388. The two-story building is across Duval Street from the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and near St. Johns Cathedral and other churches. “The street has a lot of potential,” said Bill Bishop. Elena Flats is one of the few remaining Downtown apartment buildings constructed in the 20 years after the Great Fire of 1901 virtually destroyed the city, according to the historic landmark designation application approved by council. Elena flats continued on Page A-6
By David Chapman Staff Writer
A quick click on the Orange County Clerk of Courts website brings one to a standard-looking home page with a greeting that talks budget shortfalls for clerks offices across the state. In Broward County, there’s a welcome message but no mention of cuts. Instead, it comes just below — reduced hours, 8 a.m.3:30 p.m. for most court-related services. Again, “As a result of the Clerks of Court not being adequately funded.” Lee County’s website links to an editorial discussing the cuts and possible consequences at the office. Clerks offices in the 4th Judicial Circuit, comprising Clay, Duval and Nassau counties, don’t have similar messages on their websites — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t feeling the pinch. Overall, clerks’ offices across the state have a $448 million approved budget. They need about $475 million. Duval County ranks among the highest funded, but it still isn’t enough. It should be about $20 million, according to a state weighted-workload formula. Instead, it was budgeted $16.8 million last year Like all clerks across the state, though, it had to take a 5 percent cut in the last quarter. More than $800,000 was trimmed, mostly through vacancies that couldn’t be filled. No layoffs, furloughs or reduced hours, though. “Thus far, we have been able to make adjustments that have not had a direct impact on day to day operations,” Duval County Clerk Ronnie Fussell said. “Further budget reductions would require us to make some difficult operational decisions.” Duval’s office is one of 20 that break even or bring in more than it’s budgeted through judicial filing fees, service charges and costs from court-related functions. But Clerks
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Hedge fund manager drops bet against St. Joe
Einhorn
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Five years after igniting a firestorm by publicly trashing The St. Joe Co., prominent hedge fund manager David Einhorn has dropped his short position — basically a bet against the stock — in the company. “After being short for almost 10 years, we decided to declare victory and move on, even though the shares remain somewhat overvalued,” Einhorn said last week in a letter to shareholders of his fund, according to a copy of the letter posted on ValueWalk. com.
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Although he said he’s been shorting St. Joe for 10 years, it was in October 2010 that Einhorn announced his short position at an investor conference, saying the real estate developer’s land holdings were overvalued. Those comments, several months after St. Joe moved its headquarters from Jacksonville to WaterSound in the Florida Panhandle, started a chain of events that led to an upheaval in St. Joe’s management. The company’s largest shareholder, Bruce Berkowitz, sup-
ported the stock in response to Einhorn’s bets against it. Berkowitz eventually became chairman of St. Joe’s board and brought in new management to run the company. The feud over St. Joe between Berkowitz and Einhorn, both well-known fund managers on
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Wall Street, was dubbed “the clash of the financial titans” by the New York Post. Einhorn’s letter last week, which detailed the current state of his Greenlight Capital hedge fund, said he shorted St. Joe at $36.90 a share and covered at $17.17. When investors short a stock, they borrow shares of the stock and then sell them, expecting the price to fall. When the price does drop, they cover, or buy shares at the lower price to pay off the Basch continued on Page A-7
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