Daily Record Financial News &
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 242 • oNe SectioN
‘Updated’ concept at Mandarin Earth Fare
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Photo by Jamie Swann
Homebuilding permits up, worker availability down
A crew works on a Dream Finders Homes site in Durbin Crossing in Northwest St. Johns County. Builders are struggling to keep pace with the need for new homes due to a manpower shortage.
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Until the demand comes down or we get more labor, we will see prices increase and longer construction schedules.
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Earth Fare Inc. wants to develop its Mandarin South store as a “modern and more updated operation” of its organic and natural foods grocery chain. That description was included in a request for a zoning exception to sell beer and wine for off-premises consumption or by the glass in the store. Earth Fare did not respond to questions Monday about the elements of the updated operation or whether it is one of the company’s new designs. The Shelby Report trade publication reported last year the 24,000-square-foot Emory Point store in Atlanta was the first of the grocery chain’s locations to use the urban concept design. It said the layout places a greater emphasis on freshly prepared food items, including sandwiches and wraps, juices, smoothies and coffees, plus made-in-house sushi, salads and other entrees and sides. That store also features a 50-seat, indoor/ outdoor cafe with free Wi-Fi. The company announced then that the Emory Point store was the first of its locations to use the new design and wanted to encourage residents to make Earth Fare a preferred location for a coffee break or study session. Preferred Growth Properties, through PGP Jacksonville LLC, is redeveloping the Mandarin South shopping center at 11700 San Jose Blvd. The proposed 27,550-squarefoot Earth Fare location formerly was used as a Winn-Dixie, Wood You Furniture and Ollie Koala’s BackYard, an indoor playground. Plans show the store will have an indoor 62-seat cafe and outdoor cafe seating for 16. Earth Fare opened its first Jacksonville store in August 2014 in the Atlantic North shopping center at Kernan and Atlantic boulevards. Earth Fare’s chief financial officer said then it wanted to open two to three more area stores, including in Mandarin. The company was founded in 1975 and MATHIS CONTINUED ON PAGE A-2
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Doug Moran Jacksonville division president of Dream Finders Homes
Boom in need exceeds skilled labor pool By Jamie Swann, Contributing Writer When driving around Northeast Florida, it’s hard to ignore the changing landscape. New houses are springing up daily and builders are steadily buying more land for new subdivisions. The desire for new homes in Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties is climbing so rapidly that contractors can’t get them built fast enough. “Mortgage rates are still low and the job market is good, which brings out buyers,” said Corey Deal, executive officer of the Northeast Florida Builders Association. According to NEFBA, 5,690 new home permits were issued from January through August in the four-county area. That’s up nearly 24 percent from last year’s end-of-August total of 4,330. “The municipalities are doing a great job keeping up with the market,” said Brad Muston, head of
construction for the Jacksonville division of Dream Finders Homes. “They are pumping out the permits as fast as they can.” But with a boom, also comes problems. Some homebuilders say they continue to have trouble finding construction workers for their job sites — and the demand is expected to grow. “It’s a huge challenge, no question about it,” said Muston. “And it’s not only a quantity issue, it’s a quality issue as well. The skilled trades labor market is really tight.” According to data from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the state’s construction industry this year added 22,000 jobs, of which 4,300 were in Northeast Florida. Even with the increase in workers, many companies are still seeing labor shortages. Some are resorting to creative methods to tackle the workforce PERMITS CONTINUED ON PAGE A-3
New rule may impact millions of retirement plans
U.S. Chamber of Commerce to challenge regulation that starts in April
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Labor has enacted a set of regulations that will go into effect in April and likely impact retirement plans owned by millions of Americans. The “Fiduciary Rule” was the subject of a panel discussion hosted Monday by the Rotary Club of Jacksonville. “It’s 56 pages and it’s not in large print,” said attorney
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Andrew Fawbush, a partner at Smith, Gambrell & Russell and chair of the firm’s executive compensation and employee benefits practice. The rule will require those who administer — or even give advice concerning — retirement plans to take only actions that are for the benefit of their clients and that do not create conflicts of interest that might cause financial gain for the adviser at the expense of the client. In legal terms, a fiduciary is
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a person or a business — like a bank or stock brokerage — that has the power and obligation to act for another under circumstances that require total trust, good faith and honesty. The most common is a trustee of a trust, but fiduciaries can include business advisers, attorneys, guardians, administrators of estates, real estate agents, stockbrokers or anyone with whom someone places complete confidence and trust. Fawbush said the labor depart-
ment is increasing the regulation of retirement plans because it’s estimated Americans have about $24 trillion in assets in such plans. That’s about equal to the national debt, he said. About $7.3 trillion of the total is invested in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), which are regulated by the U.S. Treasury through the IRS. He said at least $95 million, and possibly as much as $159 million, is lost from retirement plans annually due to “conflict-
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ed” financial advice. “Some people lose as much as 25 percent of the value of their retirement plan,” Fawbush said. Another reason for the new rule, he said, is that when Congress enacted in 1974 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), IRAs and 401(k) plans didn’t exist. Alice Joe, managing director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, said the rule is PENSION CONTINUED ON PAGE A-3
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