Daily Record Financial News &
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 237 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Council to hear of mountain of a project Local logistics company seeks $4.3M in incentives, will make $196M investment
By David Chapman Staff Writer An unnamed Northwest Jacksonville company wants to expand locally, but not through a typical jobs-creation package. Instead, a global logistics solutions company is evaluating investing $196 million to expand and upgrade its facilities in exchange for $4.3 million in taxpayer incentives from the city. The investment would mainly be $150 million in equipment, with the remaining
$46 million in land and real estate improvements. The deal, called Project Mountain, will be introduced to City Council at its Oct. 25 meeting. It also includes the creation of 10 fulltime jobs at an average wage of just more than $50,000 by the end of 2020. The project will provide full-time job opportunities within North and Northwest Jacksonville, which city leaders have aimed to do with recent reconfigurations of the economic development policy.
For the company’s investment, the city would pay $4.3 million through a Recapture Enhanced Value grant for the increase in real and personal property taxes generated at the site. It’s capped at 50 percent of the value over five years, provided the investment is not less than $100 million. The company is looking at four other cities across the U.S. for expansion, according to city documents. Project Mountain is the latest in a string of economic development deals on track
for approval. Tonight, council is slated to OK three other deals totaling 1,374 new jobs in exchange for $9.3 million in city and state incentives. The largest is Project Velo, an unnamed company that wants to build a 1 millionsquare-foot distribution center at Cecil Commerce Center and create 1,200 jobs. dchapman@jaxdailyrecord.com @writerchapman (904) 356-2466
Downtown was ‘really lucky’ 1st Duval Wawa to begin building
Some guests had to hunker in hotels Downtown was very lucky in terms of impact from Hurricane Matthew. That was the consensus Monday as people began returning after the storm. The predicted storm surge in the St. Johns River of up to 9 feet didn’t happen, but that didn’t mean there was no impact in the urban core. Businesses closed (some for two days), the convention hotels evacuated as many guests as possible and an annual signature event had to be canceled. “We couldn’t put people out on the street,” said Shawn Frisbee, general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront. About 100 guests were able to find other accommodations but another 75 had nowhere to go, including some staff members who live at the Beaches and were under a mandatory evacuation. “We did the best we could to evacuate our guests, and then we hunkered down in the ballroom,” said Frisbee. “We took care of our customers.” With 960 rooms, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront was near capacity when the evacuation order was given, said General Manager Gino Caliendo. The hotel provided transportation to shelters, along with bottled water and box lunches. For those guests and staff who had no
Photo by Max Marbut
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
The floating dock Downtown adjacent to the Jacksonville Landing was slightly damaged in September by Hurricane Hermine and further damaged Friday when Hurricane Matthew passed by Northeast Florida. It is closed until further notice. place to go, Caliendo said, “We set up a safe area in the hotel for everyone to weather the storm and provided full buffets and entertainment for families, children and pets. Thankfully, everyone was safe.” The evacuees came back to the Hyatt on Saturday afternoon after the storm passed. “Our focus then shifted to supporting the guests who returned as well as the
utility workers we are housing who are in town to help get Jacksonville back on its feet,” said Caliendo. While there was no storm surge, he said the building had “major leaks” from wind and rain that are being mitigated this week. Art Casey, general manager of the Lexington Hotel & Conference Center JackMatthew continued on Page A-4
Tom Wills’ plea to viewers went viral Shortly after veteran Channel 4 news anchor Tom Wills arrived at work Thursday, a producer shared a devastating bulletin on the approaching Hurricane Matthew. “If a direct landfall occurs, this will be unlike any hurricane in modern era,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Wills asked the producer to email him the bulletin so he could forward it to his wife, Gina, who was planning to ride out the storm at the couple’s Mandarin home. News director Kathryn Bon-
Public
field had seen the update, as well. She immediately knew Wills needed to share it with viewers who had been watching him for 41 years. People with whom he had a strong relationship built on trust. For days, public officials had been warning Northeast Florida residents about the hurricane’s potentially devastating impacts. Imploring everyone to take precautions, ordering thousands to evacuate. Bonfield wanted that extra voice — Wills’ voice — to also relay the message. “I thought the situation had gotten to a point where Tom Wills could appeal to our viewers Wills continued on Page A-4
legal notices begin on page
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Nero’s Café being demolished
WJXT TV-4 news anchor Mary Baer pats colleague Tom Wills on the arm as he begins his emotional plea for viewers to take the warnings of Hurricane Matthew seriously.
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Photo from wjxt.com
By Marilyn Young Editor
Soon, the area’s first Wawa store will move from expectation to brick-and-mortar. Wawa applied to the city Wednesday for permits to build its first Jacksonville gas station and convenience store at 4866 Town Center Parkway. Applications show an almost $1.13 million construction cost for the 6,119-squarefoot store, canopy and dumpster enclosure. The store will be built in The Crossing at Town Center, a development by Preferred Growth Properties at Gate and Town Center parkways. Wawa, based in Pennsylvania, said in June it would enter the Northeast Florida market by the end of 2017 with at least five stores. The other four identified sites, all in different stages of review, are in EastPark, East Arlington, West Jacksonville and Clay County. In June, Wawa said it had six locations under contract and more under review. Another potential site is in the Oakleaf Corner shopping center, whose preliminary site plan showed space for a store like Wawa. Oakleaf Corner is in Southwest Jacksonville. Wawa Inc. said it wanted to open 30-40 stores in Northeast Florida over time. At a cost of at least $5 million in each location and 40 jobs per store, the company is looking at an investment of $150 million and a job base of 1,200 in Northeast Florida for the first 30. The closed Nero’s Café restaurant in Arlington will be demolished. The city issued a permit Wednesday for Realco Recycling Co. Inc. to take down the 5,600-square-foot, single-story building at 3607 University Blvd. N. The property, built in 1977, is owned by Cono D’Alto of Ponte Vedra Beach. The 0.86-acre site is at northeast University Boulevard North and Fort CaroMathis continued on Page A-2
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