Daily Record FINANCIAL NEWS &
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
' We’ re full speed ahead
'
Vol. 103, No. 228 • Two SecTioNS
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Journey funding delay denied
Carey went from fear he made mistake to full speed ahead
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor Whitehall Realty Partners founder G. John Carey, a Jacksonville-based developer with decades of projects to his credit, learned the real estate business from the ground up. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and five years with what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers as a certified public accountant in Tampa, Carey joined Trammell Crow Co. by happenstance. A friend worked there and Carey had always viewed working at an accounting firm as a stepping stone into sales and marketing. Dallas-based Trammell Crow was growing quickly in Florida and offered him an opportunity to learn the business. Before he was hired, he interviewed in Dallas with the actual Trammell Crow, a man who looked for drive and work ethic. At the development, leasing and management company, everyone started out in leasing and was expected to cold call his or her way up to more responsibility. “They handed you a brochure and said go find a tenant,” Carey said. He wasn’t an immediate success. “A couple of times I called my wife and said I think I made a terrible mistake,” he said. Ann Carey’s response: “Just keep going.” Carey has been going for 35 years now. He said those early days were a “rude awakening,” but he knocked on doors and learned the market, which was Trammell Crow’s intent. “You got smarter and you were cultivating relationships with brokers in the market,” he said. Carey, the oldest of four children and the son of an Air Force major general, was at college earning a business administration and accounting degree when his parents transferred to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. That was one reason he launched his career there. Ann was an interior designer in Sarasota. By 1998, Carey had moved on from Trammell Crow to work as a developer and consultant when, again through a friend, he called The St. Joe Co. in Jacksonville and met with its leader, Peter Rummell. WORKSPACE CONTINUED ON PAGE A-7
35¢
Wilson upset over lack of information
Photos by Karen Brune Mathis
By David Chapman, Staff Writer
After an early professional career as a certified public accountant, G. John Carey parlayed his knowledge into decades of real estate experience in sales, marketing and development. Family photos near Carey’s computer. He and his wife, Ann, have two sons and a daughter. His parents live in Fleet Landing.
City Council member Scott Wilson began his Tuesday planning to talk about his frustration in not receiving crime statistics related to the Jacksonville Journey. Since March, Wilson said he sought more detail from Mayor Lenny Curry’s office and Journey officials about the anti-crime initiative’s data for 10 targeted ZIP codes. Parts of his Southside district have been hit with crime and are in need of improvement, too, but aren’t covered. He believes there is a better way to determine needs and wants to see the data for himself. Reinvesting in the program started by former Mayor John Peyton has been a priority for Curry, who considers it part of his pledge to make Jacksonville safer. As of Tuesday evening, the evening council was finalizing the 2016-17 budget, Wilson had not seen Wilson those crime statistics. So he went a step further than just asking. As budget talks reached their conclusion, Wilson offered a floor amendment, the only one of the evening at the end of the nearly five-hour meeting. He sought to withhold $2.1 million from the Journey — six months’ of funding — until his Neighborhoods, Community Investments and Services Committee received the information he’d sought for months. It was an abrupt change in tone for the meeting, coming on the heels of a lengthy positive discussion on funding programs to help children learn to swim. Council member Bill Gulliford said Wilson’s reaction to the issue was “draconian,” COUNCIL
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Light boat parade moved to December
By Max Marbut Staff Writer If you’ve already marked the 2016 Community First Jacksonville Light Boat parade on your calendar for Friday evening after Thanksgiving, you’re going to have to move that back by five weeks. Gator Bowl Sports and the title sponsor announced Tuesday the annual procession of boats and the accompanying fireworks display will begin at 7 p.m. Dec. 30, the evening before the 72nd annual
Public
TaxSlayer Bowl college football game. Rick Catlett, CEO of Gator Bowl Sports, said moving the event to coincide with the bowl game activities will allow visiting fans to enjoy the parade of decorated and illuminated vessels. It also will allow ESPN to document the event and hopefully feature it as part of the TaxSlayer Bowl's national telecast Dec. 31. “It’s our No. 1 water show and our No. 1 fireworks show,” Catlett said. The parade was established in
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1984 by the Gator Bowl Association as an adjunct to the game festivities. The parade later moved to the day after Thanksgiving, which also is the day before the lighting of the Christmas tree at the Jacksonville Landing. When the recession took its toll on the city’s special events budget, the boating community and the Landing’s owner pledged to keep the event alive. In 2014, Community First Credit Union signed on as title sponsor PARADE CONTINUED ON PAGE A-3
Photo by Max Marbut
Will be New Year’s Eve-Eve prelude to TaxSlayer Bowl
Gator Bowl Sports CEO Rick Catlett, at podium, was joined Tuesday by Community First Credit Union CEO John Hirabayashi to announce a change in schedule for the Community First Jacksonville Light Boat Parade.
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