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Northeast Business Briefs - Oct. 2007
BAKER COUNTY —
» Local governments have signed off on a 94-acre commercial park, Baker County Commons, at I-10 and State Road 228. The proposal now goes to the Florida Department of Community Affairs.
CLAY COUNTY —
» 301 Land Investments proposed a major development called Highlands in northwest Clay County bordering U.S. 301. The project was submitted as a Development of Regional Impact with 5,000 residential units, industrial and commercial space, and three schools. The Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council is scheduled to review the project in December.
GAINESVILLE —
» For more than 100 years, freshmen moving into the University of Florida’s Buckman Hall and Thomas Hall dormitories have sweltered in the heat with no air conditioning. But this fall, for the first time, UF housing officials let students bring portable AC units. Officials said the century-old buildings had not been equipped for that sort of energy use but were recently rewired.
HAMILTON COUNTY —
» Voters approved by-the-drink liquor sales. Proponents argued the county’s no-drink-sales ordinance was keeping upscale restaurants and hotels from locating in the area.
JACKSONVILLE —
» Orlando developer Cameron Kuhn, who has several multimillion-dollar projects under way in downtown Jacksonville, is being sued by project investor Frank Vennes Jr., who says Kuhn is behind on loan agreements, including a promise to assume 99% ownership in Project Riverwatch for $8 million. Kuhn’s lawyer says his client needs more time as a result of slower-than-expected returns.
» A committee has concluded that the city does not have enough money to build a new convention center.
» Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire broke ground on its 1 million-sq.-ft., 1 million-tire-capacity distribution center at Cecil Commerce Center North.
» The University of North Florida launched a $12-million expansion of its College of Health.
» St. Johns Riverkeeper sued JEA in U.S. District Court claiming U.S. Clean Water Act violations for the utility’s water-quality violations at the Buckman and Arlington East wastewater treatment facilities.
OCALA —
» The City Council voted to sue Miami developer Jorge Gutman for defaulting on his $1.5-million loan to build City Shops & Walk project downtown.
» The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, which researches how technology can enhance human performance, has identified the former downtown library as a desirable location for an institute branch.
PALATKA —
» The Department of Environmental Protection denied plans by Seminole Electric Cooperative to build a third coal-fired generating unit in Palatka.
