Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 203 • Two Sections
Company planning to add 152 jobs
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New YMCA getting close to opening day
Safariland will seek $876,400 in incentives By David Chapman Staff Writer
Safariland
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For the first time in more than six decades, Riverside will soon be home to a new YMCA. The Winston Family YMCA’s grand opening is Friday, though there’s still some work to do, as is evident above with the outside view from the aquatic center. At left, YMCA Vice President Tom Campbell, left, and Bob Conklin discuss final details before the opening. Below, Jim Burge of Taylor Doors lays out the locking mechanism on an interior door. See more photos on Page A-6.
Photos by Bobby King
One of Jacksonville’s leading manufacturers will seek to expand its local operations in the coming weeks by asking City Council to approve an $876,400 package of taxpayer incentives. Safariland, which has its headquarters in Jacksonville, in return would add 152 jobs and invest up to $2.5 million in improvements to its North Jacksonville facility by the end of 2018. The company manufactures law enforcement, military and public-safety equipment like body armor, gun holsters, forensic equipment and body cameras. Safariland employs 350 people, who would be retained as part of the deal. The company is within the Jacksonville International Airport Community Redevelopment Area in North Jacksonville, which earmarked $432,000 of its current year budget for next year to help facilitate the upcoming deal. Legislation is expected to be filed in the coming weeks. The city’s share of the deal would max out at $432,000. That comprises $52,000 for its share of a Qualified Targeted Industry grant for higher-wage jobs being created, $200,000 in a local training grant and $180,000 for a transportation infrastructure grant. The 52 higher-wage jobs come in at an average of $45,420, with the remaining 100 averaging $33,000. Page A-3
Lowe has grown up with the Landing
Bento considering Five Points location
From intern to general manager By Max Marbut Staff Writer Other than a few breaks for career detours — and another to get married and move back home to West Virginia — Janice Lowe has worked at The Jacksonville Landing since nearly the beginning. “I’ve been here a long time,” she said. “I have worked so many hours and so many days, but when the band is playing and the people are having fun, it gives me joy. It gives me life.” Her first job at the Landing, which opened in 1987, was a
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paid summer internship while she was attending Florida State University. It was supposed to last from May-August 1989, but Lowe agreed to stay on through Labor Day. “I went home Monday and then got a call on Tuesday and they hired me to be the special events coordinator,” she said. Later that year, she was in Tallahassee for an FSU football game and ran into her fifth-grade sweetheart. The couple married and moved to her home state, West Virginia, where they lived until 1995, when the family returned to Jacksonville and Lowe went
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Janice Lowe, general manager at The Jacksonville Landing, started working there as an intern in May 1989. to work for the American Cancer Society. It wasn’t long before her phone rang again. “In 1996, I got another call from the Landing and they offered me the marketing manager job,” said Lowe. Workspace continued on Page A-7
Zoning applications show Bento Café Asian Kitchen & Sushi is interested in leasing the Fans and Stove Antiques Mall site in Five Points. It would be the third Bento restaurant in the area. The first opened in The Markets at Town Center and the second in the Tinseltown area. Bento Group Senior Executive Jimmy Tung said Tuesday his group was not sure yet about the Five Points location, but would know in a couple of weeks. Applications for a zoning exception and an administrative deviation show Bento would occupy a 6,000-square-foot building at Park and Lomax streets owned by Miami investor Jeff
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Morr. The exception seeks approval for the retail sale and service of all alcoholic beverages and the deviation is to reduce the minimum number of required off-street parking spaces from 32 off-street spaces to 11 on-street spaces. Bento would be a 160-seat restaurant. The application shows the restaurant and 20 peak-hour employees would generate a requirement Mathis continued on Page A-2
consecutive weekdays