Jacksonville still suffers growing pains; its traffic nightmares continue; some estimate it will take nearly $2 billion in roadwork to get relief. Despite efforts by the city to steer new development north and west, 88% of 1.25 million square feet of office space under construction at year-end involved 13 new buildings on the south side.
Until recently, the city's only real response was a Jacksonville Economic Development Commission decision to end incentives for projects south or east of the St. Johns River. That proposal has languished: The Jacksonville City Council had yet to vote on it by early March.
Meanwhile, Mayor John Delaney has stepped into the breach with a massive green initiative he sees as an antidote to sprawl. Delaney proposes spending some $312.8 million to buy up at least 10% of the city's developable land. The five-year Preservation Project, he believes, would conserve huge tracts of environmentally sensitive lands and provide sprinklings of green buffers amid Jacksonville's sprawl.
Another goal of Delaney's initiative is to increase the number of downtown workers from 60,000 to 100,000. "There are only two good growth management tools, public purchase of land and your downtown," he says. If more workers can be drawn to the city core, there would be less sprawl and congestion elsewhere, he figures. Talk of downtown housing is not new, but city officials say this time they've got commitments from several developers. Delaney, a Republican and avid outdoorsman, is the first city official in Florida to launch such a massive green initiative. He also is locked into a second term after no one qualified to oppose him in the recent election.
Funding to buy the 10 to 20 square miles of land would come from a combination of sources. The mayor is counting on $75 million from the state, $60 million from the regional water management district, $32.9 million from a city bond issue and general funds, $25 million from the JEA (Jacksonville Electric Authority) along with $5 million in federal dollars, and local Department of Transportation funds and private contributions. An additional $72.8 million from a variety of sources would go toward park enhancements and river access improvements.
Outgoing city councilman Howard Dale is among the skeptics. He doubts the plan will affect the high-growth area of the city. When Delaney was asked which properties he envisioned buying on the congested southside, he mentioned only a 1,400-acre tract. Dale also wants to see detailed plans for how the city will provide parks in congested areas. (Delaney is naming a commission to hash out the details.) And Dale may be correct when he says the plan generally will help ecologically sensitive lands that couldn't have been developed anyway.
That's nothing to sneeze at, according to conservationists, who have lauded the plan. And Brian Teeple, executive director of the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council weighed in positively. "I applaud the mayor. When is the last time we had the chief elected official do that?"
Businesses to Watch
Jacksonville's CSX Transportation is on everyone's radar screen following parent company Virginia-based CSX Corp.'s Conrail purchase. So far, it looks as though the merger will be good for the city, with an additional 500 jobs to be added to CSXT's current 5,000-employee Jacksonville workforce.
Aetna Inc. took over Prudential HealthCare's Jacksonville operation in a buyout announced at the end of the year. The consolidation isn't expected to undermine the Jacksonville operations -- the 2,900 workers here mostly man a customer service center -- but business leaders are watching cautiously.
People to Watch
Adelaide "Alex" Sink, NationsBank Florida president, is still shuttling between her Tampa home and her new Jacksonville workplace, but she's scouting public magnet schools here for her children, who are to move up later this year along with husband Bill McBride, managing partner at Holland & Knight.
Leerie T. Jenkins Jr., chairman of Reynolds, Smith and Hills engineering firm, has a rising profile in the state. He's chairman of Leadership Florida and was named chairman of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission after finishing his post as head of the city's chamber of commerce.
Self-Image
As growth has put the city's population over 750,000 -- and landed the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise -- Jacksonville has begun to shed its traditional civic inferiority complex. Nevertheless, the River City's leadership is still sometimes fixated on external measures of success like national rankings and best-places-to-live surveys.
St. Augustine: New Additions
St. Augustine appears poised to begin growing after hovering at around 12,000 residents since the 1940s. Despite the flat population trend, the city has remained St. Johns County's most visible due to its name recognition as the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the nation Just over 10% of the county's 110,000 people live here, and St. Augustine had been content with its size and its slow growth, but that has been changing. Since 1996, the city has been expanding its borders, adding 350 acres with 80 more in the wings. Two sections, about 100 acres, are to the northwest, the rest to the south. With 141 homes and 1,120 apartments and condominiums proposed or under construction, the city's population should edge up.
St. Augustine's business activity centers on new hotels, mostly massive renovations, including the old courthouse, now the upscale Casa Monica Hotel, and a string of bayfront motels undergoing remodeling. The city, in coordination with a local developer, is creating a new tourist complex at its gateway.
Business to Watch
Real estate development firm Thompson Bailey Baker Realty, a St. Augustine company going back three generations, is developing a waterfront community on Anastasia Island with upscale homes and businesses -- one of the largest projects in that area in a long time.
People to Watch
Hank Whetstone Jr., 41, chairman of Whetstone Candy Co., which was founded by his parents in 1966, runs the company along with his sister, Virginia. The two have put it on a fast-track for growth and are set to launch a national brand. On the side, he's producing an independent film (he's a graduate of New York University film school) that in large part is being filmed in St. Augustine.
Self-Image
St. Augustine has long wavered between two personae: On one hand, it's a charming, historic city with gorgeous magnolia-lined streets; on the other, it's a tacky sideshow symbolized by the Fountain of Youth, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and Potter's Wax Museum. The city has largely shed its carnival tourist atmosphere for a more stylized version. The new World Golf Village eight miles north has solidified the move to higher ground. Nonetheless, St. Augustine remains delightfully quirky. Many residents claim to cavort with the city's famous ghosts.
County Prospects
St. Johns
Growth in St. Johns County remains driven by developers creating housing for residents working in nearby Jacksonville -- nearly a third of the county's residents commute into Duval County, and thousands of new homes are planned for the northwest corner of St. Johns. Even more housing will go up as the massive Saint Johns development and the World Golf Village take hold. "The county is under a lot of growth pressure," says Brian Teeple, executive director of the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council. Indeed, tensions with environmental groups are mounting, and sentiments toward setting aside more pristine land appear to be gaining momentum. County officials are feverishly attempting to create a blueprint for good growth before rapid development overcomes the region. While economic development officials long to attract more firms, the county already suffers from a shortage of workers: Unemployment at the end of last year stood at 2.3%, the lowest in the four-county region.
Business to Watch
The St. Joe Co.'s largest contiguous tract of timberland outside the Panhandle is its 4,320 acres in northwest St. Johns County. The company resurrected plans to develop a large, town-like community here, including 7,500 homes and a mix of businesses and retail shops.
Person to Watch
Ponte Vedra Beach resident Mary Kohnke, a longtime conservation advocate who agitated developers, is now a county commissioner. Observers say she's more grounded than they expected -- she's a retired nursing professor from New York University -- but is expected to continue to stir things up.
Clay
More than half of Clay County's labor force of 66,000 get up each day and jump in their cars to drive to work in Jacksonville. Some want Clay to become more than a bedroom community, but momentum is working against them: Large new residential projects are under way, and plans for commercial elements have been scaled back. Hopes for job growth closer to home hinge on private industry at nearby Cecil Field, the former Navy base. The soon-to-be-constructed Branan Field-Chaffee Road, a corridor between Clay and Duval counties, could also create an employment zone rather than becoming just another route into Jacksonville. If Cecil Field attracts a large manufacturer, Clay County could become the base for suppliers and subcontractors.
Business to Watch
Tape Technologies, which manufactures vinyl film and reflective sheets later used in lettering for large-scale signs on building exteriors, vehicles and roadways, often competes head to head with 3M around the world. The company, which started operations in unincorporated Clay County in 1984 and moved to Green Cove Springs four years ago, has grown from sales of $1.2 million to just under $10 million this year.
Nassau
With 54,000-plus residents, Nassau County is growing rapidly along both the A1A corridor between Interstate 95 and the Intracoastal Waterway and on Amelia Island, which forms its eastern edge. The southern end of Amelia Island with its string of resorts is nearly built out. Half-a-dozen condominium projects and a large housing development are under way. Retail stores and offices to service the growing upscale community also are under construction. Development projects on the north end of the island leave little room leftover, pushing some new development across the Intracoastal Waterway into rural parts of the county. Depressed prices for paper and industry scaledowns in other areas have actually brought jobs into the county. But as the consolidation process continues, officials are keeping a wary eye on the local paper industry. At Port Fernandina, the number of customers has grown, and an expansion is planned.
Business to Watch
Zassi Medical Evolutions, a young start-up medical device company that is creating innovative gastrointestinal implants, has been a darling among local venture capitalists and is expected to boom when its technology hits the market in two years.