Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, July 22, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 175 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Hines preps for mixed-use center
Dirt continues moving around St. Johns Town Center and next up could be the Hines group on property south of the premier shopping area. A “mass grading” plan for about 100 acres was filed last week with the city. Separately, Hines is talking to city reviewers about a six-building, 306-unit apartment community on 10 acres within the property. Hines, a seasoned area commercial and residential developer, has a contract for about 116 acres along Gate Parkway at southwest Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295. It expects to buy the land late this summer. It proposes a mix of residences, stores, restaurants, services, a hotel, offices, parks and green space on the site, which stretches from the FBI Building to the Shoppes at Village Walk. City Council rezoned the property in the spring. About 75 acres can be developed and would be completed in phases over six to eight years. “Hines hopes to start construction on the primary infrastructure for the community soon after closing this summer in order to bring the community to life immediately,” said Carrie Martin, a corporate communications manager with Hines. Hines, a privately owned Houston-based real estate firm, has developed several area properties, including the 2,200-acre Palencia community north of St. Augustine and The Markets at Town Center at St. Johns Town Center, north of Butler Boulevard. Now referred to as “Mill Dam Branch,” the property is owned by the Charles Brightman Skinner Jr. Trust and He Otter LLC, another Skinner family property owner. Martin said Hines will take the project through an internal branding process to create a name and marketing package. Mathis continued on Page A-2
Ron Chamblin
Forty years, millions of books, $3.5M in real estate
Start of Chamblin’s next 40 years in business includes expansion at Roosevelt store
Photos and story by Max Marbut, Staff Writer
His first day in business, all Ron Chamblin wanted to do was make enough money to pay the $150 rent on a small bookstore on Herschel Street in Riverside and have enough left over each month for living expenses. Now, 40 years later, he has 24 employees, plus two stores comprising 54,000 square feet and a warehouse that represent a $3.5 million portfolio of commercial real estate holdings. Chamblin’s career as Jacksonville’s most well-known used book dealer will be celebrated Saturday from 7-10 p.m. at Chamblin’s Uptown, the bookstore and café he opened Downtown in 2008. “At first, I just wanted to make a living with me alone and I did make a living with me alone,” he said. After 11 years drawing the store’s only full-time paycheck
and watching the business steadily grow, Chamblin needed to expand. So he leased his second store, also in Riverside and now the Museum of Southern History. By 1991, the business had again outgrown its home, so Chamblin purchased a building along Roosevelt Boulevard near San Juan Avenue. Chamblin’s Bookmine continued to gain popularity with Chamblin continued on Page A-3
Criticized city loan program back on track
By David Chapman Staff Writer A beleaguered city program that provides loans to small and minority businesses is getting a fresh start. Just over a year ago, an Office of Inspector General report detailed how the Access to Capital program wasn’t being utilized because of mismanagement. The program that had provided more than $2.7 million in capital since being created in 2005 had not granted a loan since 2012, leaving $932,000 sitting on the shelf. There had been no loan requests
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and the financial caretaker of the program backed out. Oversight fell through the cracks and the program remained dormant. A bill filed this week would reboot it with a new program manager and recommitment from several of the city’s independent authorities, which provide a share of capital for the venture. Additionally, the bill reallocates the $932,000 that sat unused. Kirk Wendland, the city’s office of economic development director, said the program basically restarting is a step in the right direction. Small businesses, he said, often have trouble getting big banks to
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do microloans for their pursuits and a program like Access to Capital can help fill that need. The city in recent months Wendland issued a request for proposals for the new program manager, but Wendland said not many responded. However, the company awarded oversight is a well-respected leader in the field, he said. Accion is a global nonprofit with a mission to make affordable financial services worldwide through offering microfinancing
institutions. It’s the leading microlender in Florida with more than $18 million invested in local small businesses since 2003, according to a legislative fact sheet. The company also works with 65 businesses in Duval County. Last year, some independent authorities sought their money back from the program because it wasn’t being used. For example a loan pool for the program had $75,000 from both JEA and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and $50,000 from the Jacksonville Port Authority. Much of the remaining $1.2 million loan pool the inspector
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general report highlighted came from the former program manager’s nonprofit entity. The bill filed this week includes agreements between the city and the three authorities to continue using the funds for the small business program. “We’re excited about it,” said Wendland of getting the program back on track. “The whole goal is to get more small business activities out there.” A reboot could end up doing just that. dchapman@jaxdailyrecord.com @writerchapman (904) 356-2466
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