Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, January 1, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 035 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Six-week break likely for ferry $6M in planned repairs for vessel and slip wall
Gains for ferry The St. Johns Ferry has seen increased ridership and revenue the previous two fiscal years, 2013-14 (below left) and 2014-15.
Passengers
372,085 480,382
Vehicles
212,888 251,337
Revenue
$1.2M $1.7M Source: St. Johns River Ferry Commission
By David Chapman Staff Writer The St. Johns River Ferry will be taking an extended hiatus starting Tuesday. The link between Mayport and Heckscher Drive will be out of commission until mid-February for a planned inspection and repairs costing about $1.4 million. That cost is split between the city, which operates the service, and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, which is expected to take over operations by April 1, if details can
‘We restore lives’ after difficult situations
be hammered out. The ferry typically has been out of the water in December — generally the slowest ridership month — for inspection and work but timing didn’t allow it this year, Crescimbeni said City Council member John Crescimbeni, chair of the St. Johns River Ferry Commission. The delay, he said, was to ensure
contractors repairing the ferry’s slip wall had the materials and were ready to go when the boat wasn’t in use. The slip wall repair is a separate $4.5 million project being handled by JTA. Construction has begun on areas of the wall that don’t affect the ferry’s back-and-forth route across the river, said authority spokeswoman Leigh Ann Rassler. Crescimbeni said the expectation is the inspection and repair will mean just six weeks without ferry service, “but you never know with
a haul-out.” “It’s like taking an old car to the service department,” he said of drydocking the vessel. If the Coast Guard were to find additional needed repairs, it could delay the ferry’s return. Crescimbeni said additional costs above the contracted $1.4 million or so would be shared by the city and JTA. The two had many meetings in 2015 on the logistics behind transferring the service from the city, which accepted it from the Jacksonville Port Authority in 2012, and JTA. Ferry continued on Page A-3
Paul Davis franchise owners enjoy being support for customers Karin Tucker said seeing her business ravaged by fire and smoke was surreal and demoralizing. “You just don’t realize the damage a fire can have on your psyche,” Tucker said of the January 2014 blaze at Biscottis, the landmark Avondale eatery she co-owns with Barbara Bredehoeft. But, Tucker said, within 45 minutes of calling Paul Davis Restoration of North Florida, co-owner Marguerite Mumford was there with coffee, doughnuts and assurances that Biscottis would quickly rebound from the $500,000 blaze. Marguerite and Mike Mumford own the local restoration company, which had an emergency crew there by daybreak. The 260 Paul Davis franchisees in the United States and Canada provide restoration and remodeling services, including construction, mold remediation, water extraction, smoke containment and cleanup. The Paul Davis team initially figured it would take about a month to get to the restaurant fully operational. But, Tucker told them, “That’s not going to work.” The restaurant was up and running again in 10 days. How? With long work hours, lots of expertise and some ingenuity, Tucker said. The Paul Davis team developed a plan to open the restaurant in stages and to use Biscottis’ workers to help with the cleanup, inventory documentation and contents restoration. “It was a round-the-clock operation and we were going to have temporary workers. Why not hire temps who knew the environment and equipment they’d be working with?” Mike Mumford said. The Biscottis project was higher-profile than most of the company’s work, about Restoration
Public
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Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
By Kevin Hogencamp Contributing Writer
Brothers Paul and Louis Sleiman, sons of developer Peter Sleiman, created Triforce Development LLC. They are standing on the site of their first project, Galleria Marketplace, at Butler Point and Bonneval roads.
The newest generation By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor A third generation of Jacksonville’s Sleiman family is continuing the tradition of turning dirt into deals. Brothers Paul and Louis Sleiman bought about 2 acres at Butler Boulevard and Interstate 95 to launch their first retail center, the Galleria Marketplace. It should open by early fall. It’s another branch of the family’s profession. “We’ve been around it all of our lives,” said Louis Sleiman, 23. He and Paul Sleiman, 24, are the middle two of four broth-
legal notices begin on page
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Sleiman brothers join development business like their father and grandfather before them
ers. Their father, Peter, heads Peter Sleiman Development Group and related entities. Their uncles are Toney, Eli and Joseph Sleiman, also well-known powerhouse names in retail and commercial development. Their grandfather, Eli Sleiman Sr., created the now widely known Sleiman Enterprises in 1955. Born in Lebanon, he moved to the United States in 1949. He died in 2001. Paul and Louis Sleiman launched Triforce Development LLC in September. Their first project is the Galleria Marketplace, a 9,000-square-foot retail center at 6025 Butler Point Road, which is at Butler
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Point and Bonneval roads. Tenants include Chicken Salad Chick, Smoothie King and Kazu Sushi Burrito, with another 3,900 square feet available for lease. That space, also targeted to restaurants, will include covered outdoor patio seating. The location is in the commercially developed Southpoint area, filled with businesses, hotels, medical and professional offices, and residences. They bought the land for $400,000 and took out a $2 million loan for development from IberiaBank. The city issued the permit Nov. 25 for Suncoast Industrial
26,830
Sleiman
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consecutive weekdays