March 29, 2024

Northeast Florida Business Briefs - March 2006

Bob Snell | 3/1/2006
BAKER COUNTY --
? Hanson Roof Tile
broke ground on a $24-million manufacturing plant in Sanderson that will employ 70 when it opens in mid-2006.

CLAY COUNTY --
? The Goddard School, a national preschool franchise, will open its second area school at OakLeaf Plantation.

? Longtime Clay County Commissioner Patrick McGovern announced he will not seek re-election.

FERNANDINA BEACH --
? As the city searched for its ninth manager in a decade, commissioners approved an April referendum that would delete provisions in the city charter that restrict the city manager's terms of employment. Proponents say the change, which eliminates the charter's one-year term limit on the manager's contract and language prohibiting severance pay, would allow the city to attract better candidates.

GAINESVILLE --
? Plans by the University of Florida to offer benefits to domestic partners came under fire when officials circulated an affidavit mandating that non-married partners be "in a non-platonic relationship for the preceding 12 months" to qualify.

JACKSONVILLE --
? For the second year in a row, a customer satisfaction survey of Carnival Cruise Lines passengers ranked Jacksonville as the most appealing place to embark on a cruise.

? Kuhn Cos. purchased the historic Dyal-Upchurch building on downtown's East Bay Street for $4.5 million. The six-story, 70,000-sq.-ft. building was the city's first high-rise when it opened in 1902.

? Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida has established a $2.5-million endowment to award scholarships to students seeking degrees in nursing and allied health professions. The state will match the company's contribution.

? Duval County School Board members say they are willing to sell the board's riverfront headquarters to municipal utility JEA for about $13 million.

? Florida Community College at Jacksonville won a $1-million Department of Defense grant to provide distance learning to deployed service members. The grant will allow FCCJ to expand its Mobilizing Educational Technology to Support Combat Deployment initiative, which uses personal digital assistants, CDs and emerging technologies to reach soldiers and sailors with limited access to the internet.

? Winn-Dixie Stores (OTC-WNDXQ) asked a federal bankruptcy court judge to approve a $2-million retention bonus for CEO Peter Lynch. To collect, Lynch would have to remain with the company until December.

? Mayor John Peyton has challenged plans to locate a shelter that would cater to mental health, HIV/AIDS and substance abuse clients in the city's Springfield neighborhood. River Region Human Services wants to occupy a former Jewish center that's owned by the federal government. But Peyton and other opponents say the project could slow efforts to revitalize and attract new residents to the inner-city neighborhood.

NASSAU COUNTY --
? Osprey Village at Amelia Island Plantation,
a retirement community with 90 homes and a 44-room assisted-living facility, was sold to Charlotte, N.C.-based Maxwell Group and Toledo, Ohio's Health Care REIT for $29 million.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY --
? Hastings farmer Tommy Lee plans to sell 360 acres of his Bulls-Hit farm. The move could lead to construction of a residential/commercial project that would include 750 homes and apartments.

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