FEBRUARY 1 TO FEBRUARY 7, 2024 | JAXDAILYRECORD.COM
BUSINESS & LEGAL NEWS IN BAKER, CLAY, DUVAL, NASSAU AND ST. JOHNS COUNTIES
DOWNTOWN’S DARK DAY
JPMorgan Chase to add 10 area branches Two will be in low-tomoderate income areas in Jacksonville and St. Augustine. BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A decade after Chase Bank entered the Jacksonville market with plans to build a branch network, parent company JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced an expansion of its presence in Northeast Florida. The New York City-based company said Jan. 31 its Chase Bank subsidiary will open 10 more branches in North Florida and hire more than 100 people over the next three years for those offices and other needs. JPMorgan Chase has about 1,700 employees in the Jacksonville area, many of them in a large mortgage operations center. The company’s bank had 20 branches in the market as of June 30, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. “The recent growth of the region has spurred us to invest in North Florida to meet the financial needs of the region’s growing base of residents and businesses,” said George Acevedo, South Divisional director for Chase’s Consumer Bank, in a news release. “We know our customers can do transactions digitally, but they need people to meet their finan-
RISE DORO’S DESTRUCTION Flames rise from Rise Doro apartments over the weekend in this Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department photo. Left behind is a ruined structure, shown in a Jan. 30 WJXT TV-4 drone image.
SEE CHASE, PAGE 11
Rise Doro is destroyed by fire, but the developer intends to rebuild. BY RIC ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
A
s Mayor Donna Deegan and City Council President Ron Salem viewed the fire-ravaged Rise Doro apartment building Jan. 29, it was possible to imagine them coming to the site under different circumstances. If the $65 million project at 960 E. Adams St. had been completed, elected officials like Deegan and Salem would no doubt have taken part in the ribbon-cutting.
City leaders had hoped that Rise Doro, the first major residential development in the Sports and Entertainment District, would jump-start similar projects and help propel Jacksonville’s yearslong Downtown revitalization effort. But Deegan and Salem weren’t at the site for a celebration. Instead, they were there for a status report on the fire that ripped through the eight-story building overnight and kept burning for days after, turning the nearly completed structure into a fragile shell of ashes and soot.
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INSIDE
Years in making: A timeline of the Rise Doro apartment development. Page 6
‘Electric’ pizza plans for San Marco Theatre space
More Rise: A look at the company’s properties in Northeast Florida. Page 7
RESTAURANTS
MORE DORO INSIDE
Collateral damage: Fire also indefinitely shuts down nearby businesses. Page 7
SEE DORO, PAGE 6
PAGE 4 Ida Claire will be transformed The owner of the Town Center restaurant will convert it into a sister concept, Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar. PAGE 3
THE BASCH REPORT
LAW & THE COURTS
Khan’s franchise moving up the chart
Courts moving ‘Full speed ahead’
Shad Khan’s other football team — the one that play with a round ball — is named one of the 30 most valuable soccer franchises in the world. PAGE 10
Chief U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida presents his annual State of the District report. PAGE 14
VOLUME 111, NO. 12 | TWO SECTIONS | PUBLISHED SINCE 1912