FRIDAY July 30, 2021
Council votes to keep property tax millage rate steady PAGE 3
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
HIGHER EDUCATION
Ambassador Hotel project issued $4M in permits
JU Healthcare Simulation Center Daily Record expansion is nearing completion Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
JACKSONVILLE
AXIS Hotels LLC says the 100-room TRYP by Wyndham will start construction by July 31.
BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Special to the Daily Record
Nurses from local hospitals train with medical manikins at Jacksonville University’s Healthcare Simulation Center.
The facility at Beach and University boulevards will train about 800 nurses and other professionals this year.
BY MAX MARBUT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jacksonville University is nearing completion of the expansion of its Healthcare Simulation Center, a $500,000 construction project, according to the city building permit. JU opened the center in a former Albertsons grocery store at Beach and University boulevards in October 2019 with 18,450 square feet of space for simulation rooms, classrooms and offices. The expansion will increase the size to 31,443 square feet to add more offices, an executive SEE JU, PAGE 3
“We are saving lives. People are allowed to make mistakes so it doesn’t happen at the bedside with a live patient.” KATHLEEN KAVANAGH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE JU HEALTHCARE SIMULATION CENTER
The city issued a permit July 27 to AXIS Hotels LLC for $4 million in renovations and repairs to the historic Ambassador Hotel in Downtown Jacksonville’s North Core. The permit is for framing, slab work, fire safety and other improvements for what the Augustine Development Group LLC subsidiary expects to be a $17.6 million project that will transform the building into a 100room TRYP by Wyndham hotel with a restaurant and speakeasy lounge. AXIS originally planned a La Quinta Inn & Suites for the Ambassador when the project was announced in July 2018. That hotel flag is shown on the building permit. Work on the Ambassador will begin less than two weeks after the Downtown Development Review Board awarded AXIS final exterior design approval to restore the 98-year-old building at 420 N. Julia St. City Council President Sam Newby introduced legislation July 27 at the request of the Downtown Investment Authority to amend the AXIS development agreement with the city to give the developer until July 31 to start construction. The DIA board approved the extension in June but needs Council approval. The bill was filed in a one-cycle emergency and could be approved by Aug. 10. DIA Real Estate Development Director Steve Kelley said July 9 that AXIS secured financing for the project by June 30, meeting SEE AMBASSADOR, PAGE 2
Council OKs $425K grant for Boeing expansion The Jacksonville City Council awarded The Boeing Co. a $425,000 city infrastructure grant July 27 to support the company’s $116.5 million plan to expand its maintenance, repair and operations hangar at Cecil Airport. The Council voted 16-0 to approve the grant to assist Boeing with its estimated $3 million in infrastructure expenditures for the project over three years. Boeing reached a 25-year lease agreement Dec. 17 with the Jacksonville Aviation Authority to expand its 400,000-square-foot operation at Cecil in West Jacksonville. Boeing says the expansion will create 334 jobs.
VOLUME 108, NO. 180 • ONE SECTION