Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 144 • One Section
Occupancy
Revenue
Average daily rate
(per available room)
2016: $86.08 2015: $80.94
Rooms revenue
2016: $101,811,573 2015: $92,938,356 Source: Visit Jacksonville
Photo by: Fran Ruchalski
2016: $63.02 2015: $57.71
Rooms sold
2016: 1,182,771 2015: 1,148,236
More than 2,000 attendees booked nearly 8,000 hotel room nights for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Preliminary that wrapped up Saturday at the University of North Florida. Even more group business is on tap for this month, with more than 15,000 room nights booked for about 30 conventions and meetings.
June is big for conventions Visit Jacksonville marketing the city via social media
By Max Marbut Staff Writer In 1966, Mayor Lou Ritter proclaimed June “Convention Month” in Jacksonville. There’s been no such proclamation from the current administration — but it would be appropriate, with 15,615 hotel room nights booked this month by more than 30 groups. It’s the most convention business in Jacksonville in June in the past four years and follows the best convention month of 2016, when more than 16,600 room nights were
registered by groups. Groups arriving in Jacksonville this month range from small family and military reunions to much larger groups hosting national meetings. The Special Forces Association will check into the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront on June 12 for an eight-day national convention with 1,200 attendees who have booked 4,500 room nights. On June 30, the Christian Congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses will begin a four-day meeting. About 10,000 attendees are expected, with visitors reserving 2,825
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Hillwood courting 3 major centers
First-quarter comparison of Jacksonville hotel activity
2016: 73.2% 2015: 71.3%
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room nights at the Hyatt, the Omni Jacksonville and 10 suburban properties. Also on the list for June, the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Florida booked 2,175 room nights over its six-day stay in Jacksonville. The U.S. Green Building Council is bringing 500 delegates who have booked nearly 1,100 room nights for the organization’s 2016 Midyear Meeting. The 10th International Conference on Hypoparathyroidism is at the Hyatt through Sunday, with 300 attendees bookHotels continued on Page A-3
Hillwood Investment Properties reported fourth-quarter highlights of just three projects at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center, but they were large ones. Two distribution centers of up to 1 million square feet of space each and a prospect seeking 400,000 square feet of space were the highlighted projects for the October-December quarter. No projects were identified by name. Hillwood, the city’s master developer at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville, reported it: • Responded to an initial Request for Proposal from a broker representing a project looking for about 400,000 square feet of distribution space. In December, it received a second-round RFP that was due in the first quarter this year. Hillwood Senior Vice President Dan Tatsch said Wednesday the company responded. • Responded to an RFP from a broker representing a prospect looking for 500,000 to 1 million square feet of distribution space. It was waiting for a response to its RFP Tatsch at year-end. • Responded to information requests from a broker representing a prospect seeking about 1 million square feet of distribution space. Hillwood reported to the city it also continued to work with GE Oil & Gas, design consultants and The Conlan Co. construction services firm in the build-out of GE’s 510,000-square-foot manufacturing plant for valves and regulators. Hillwood said the facility should be completed in the second quarter. It said GE Oil & Gas worked toward construction Mathis continued on Page A-2
Bringing business to places in most need New incentives to attract companies to distressed areas By David Chapman Staff Writer
Dennis
Public
Jacksonville has seen its share of new and expanding businesses over the years. Whether it’s growth at Southside office parks or additions to the port and Cecil Commerce Center, the city hasn’t lacked gains since before the recession. Yet, not all areas have seen that progress, although more city help could be on the way. Northwest Jacksonville, the Eastside, parts
legal notices begin on page
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of the Northside and Westside — code-named projects are flocking to those areas. Even small- and mid-size companies look past the more downtrodden spots on the way to more desirable areas of town. It’s been an issue officials have wrestled with for decades: How can Jacksonville attract companies and business opportunities to areas that need those most? The latest update to the city’s economic incentives policy might be a way. A special City Council
committee for more than three years has been tweaking how and what the city offers to lure businesses. That guide to offering perks to new and growing businesses has a section dedicated to economically distressed zones. Those areas are defined as having an unemployed labor force equal to or greater than 125 percent of the county average or a median household income equal to or less than 60 percent of the county average. Or both in the
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worst scenarios. “These places need infrastructure,” said council member Reggie Brown, who represents District 10, which includes areas that fall under being worst off. “They need some help,” he said. Help can come in many ways, but from the public side it means money and opportunities not afforded to other areas. Outside of codifying a scoring matrix that determines value of all deals, the incentives for those Incentives continued on Page A-4
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