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Northeast Florida Business Briefs - May 2006
ALACHUA COUNTY --
» The county commission approved $15 million in bonds to repair and improve the county's deteriorating road network. Engineers say nearly half of the county's 650 miles of roads need structural repair or reconstruction, while some work is needed on most of the rest. Only 30 miles are considered in good condition.
FLAGER COUNTY --
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The historic Marineland oceanarium reopened to large crowds. Atlanta-based developer Jim Jacoby, who acquired the bankrupt park in 2001, unveiled the centerpiece of the new facility -- a 1.3 million-gallon Dolphin Conservation Center.
GAINESVILLE --
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Gainesville city commissioners authorized staff to negotiate with Windsor/Aughtry Co. for a proposed seven-story, 140-room Hampton Inn and Suites at S.E. 1st Street and S.E. 2nd Avenue, the site of a city parking lot. The company was the only one to respond to a request for hotel proposals for the downtown site.
HAWTHORNE --
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In hopes of creating a stronger city executive, commissioners are debating whether voters should directly elect the mayor. Currently, commissioners select one of their own to serve a one-year term as mayor, making the position largely ceremonial. Officials say a strong mayor would better position the city to deal with development pressures. Hawthorne, population 1,400, could see more than 2,000 homes built in the next several years.
JACKSONVILLE --
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Mayo Clinic will spend $22 million to expand its clinical laboratory program over the next nine years.
» Diversified Therapy will provide wound-care management services to nine more hospitals, raising its client list to 80 hospitals in 27 states.
» A city council committee scolded the Jacksonville Aviation Authority for negotiating in secret with a developer who wants to build an industrial complex on more than 300 acres near Jacksonville International Airport. Members of the council's Government Operations Oversight and Human Services Committee questioned aspects of the deal with Majestic Realty Co. and wondered whether the airport authority should be in the land-development business at all.
» Smartphones Technologies has signed deals with an additional 30 colleges and universities that will allow it to develop sports-themed content to be offered to fans of those schools via their cell phones. Last October, the company announced it had signed exclusive licensing agreements with 34 universities, including Florida State, Notre Dame and Miami.
» Jet Blue Airways will fly three times a day between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Jacksonville International Airport beginning June 15. Regular one-way fares will range from $109 to $299.
» Hudson Capital Group, a Miami Beach-based real estate investment and development firm, and another private investment group plan a development along the east bank of the St. Johns River on the Jacksonville University campus that includes 980 residential units, 40,000 square feet of retail space and a 130-slip marina. Initial financing totaled $27 million.
OCALA --
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The Green Monkey, a thoroughbred born in Florida and owned by Ocala-based Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds, sold for a record $16 million at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale in Miami. The figure broke a 21-year-old record price for any thoroughbred at auction by almost $3 million, as well as surpassing by nearly $11 million the top bid ever for a 2-year-old colt.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH --
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The Florida Department of Environmental Protection shot down the latest land swap deal floated by a community group that wants to build a high school on state park land. Under the proposal pitched by the Ponte Vedra High School Coalition, the state would give the county 50 acres in the Guana River Wildlife Management Area in exchange for 104 acres of nearby land owned by Herb Peyton, founder and owner of Gate Petroleum.
