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Edythe Abdullah oversees continuing education at UNF
Northeast Florida Roundup
UNF has partnered with Fullstack Academy to launch coding program
SPOTLIGHT
Code Makers
Among the job openings in Jacksonville today are 950 that require the ability to write computer code. To help meet that demand, the University of North Florida has partnered with Fullstack Academy to launch a six-month, 500-hour coding program this fall.
“Even the manufacturing industry needs people with coding skills,” says Edythe Abdullah, who oversees continuing education at UNF. “It’s amazing what coding skills can do for a person’s career.”
The UNF Coding Bootcamp costs $12,000 and includes lessons in web development and HTML, JavaScript, Redux and SQL. Classes are held two nights a week and on Saturdays at UNF’s Herbert University Center. Enrollment is capped at 30 participants.
Abdullah says the certificate program aims to place at least 90% of participants in tech jobs within six months of graduation. She notes that the median starting salary for a software developer in Jacksonville is $70,000.
Fullstack, a for-profit coding school operator based in New York, also offers coding programs at California Polytechnic State University and the University of San Diego. Fullstack plans to add a cyber-security program at UNF next year, Abdullah says.
REAL ESTATE
- First Baptist Church Jacksonville plans to reduce its real estate holdings downtown from 10 city blocks to one. The church, struggling with debt and declining attendance, will consolidate into a single building and spend about $30 million to renovate and retrofit the 182,000-sq.-ft. facility. Church leaders expect to recover the cost by selling the other properties downtown.
- The State Attorney’s Office dropped misdemeanor charges against RLR Investments over the destruction of gopher tortoise burrows after the developer completed the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement. RLR, which is developing the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, agreed to donate $500 to the Wildlife Alert Fund and another $500 to the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida.
- Jacksonville’s industrial warehouse sector is growing, with three new projects to begin construction. Atlanta-based Pattillo Industrial Real Estate plans to build the 486,000-sq.-ft. Westlake Tradecenter in northwest Jacksonville. Indianapolis-based Scanell Properties will build two warehouses at Freebird Commerce Center, and VanTrust Real Estate will build a 1.1-million-sq.-ft. warehouse at its Imeson Park development in Northside.
- VanTrust also will build a four-story, 125,000-sq.-ft. office tower called Park Place One in Nocatee.
- Dallas-based Presidium will develop a 370-unit apartment complex in Jacksonville’s Southside area. Presidium bought the 17.5-acre site for $6.7 million from the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
- The Jacksonville Housing Authority will redevelop an affordable housing complex in Jacksonville Beach. The $30-million project, called The Waves at Jacksonville Beach, involves the construction of 127 units for people who earn between 22% and 60% of the local median income.
HEALTH CARE
- Mayo Clinic opened a building in Jacksonville where lung transplant experts will use a process called ex vivo lung perfusion to repair and restore damaged lungs for transplantation. The 75,000-sq.-ft. building also has a life sciences incubator for biotech entrepreneurs.
- Orange Park Medical Center opened a cardiac treatment center with 14 patient rooms and two electrophysiology labs that specialize in abnormal heart rhythm conditions.
RETAIL
- Transform Holdco, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, will close a Sears at The Avenues mall in Jacksonville. Sears was one of four original anchor tenants when the mall opened in 1990.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
- Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial dropped its proposed $1.2-billion purchase of Stewart Information Services after the Federal Trade Commission opposed the deal over antitrust concerns. If the merger had gone through, Fidelity would have controlled 43% of the U.S. title insurance market.
EDUCATION
- Scott DeVito, dean of Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, resigned after learning that the American Bar Association had denied the school’s application to become a non-profit. Jennifer Reiber, the school’s dean of academics, was named interim dean.
SPORTS BUSINESS
- The Jacksonville Jaguars launched a mobile app designed to improve ticketing security at TIAA Bank Field. Each mobile ticket comes with a bar code that refreshes every 15 seconds, eliminating the ability to use a screenshot to gain entry. The app also provides live game streaming for fans in North Florida and south Georgia.
TECHNOLOGY
- Emtec, an IT consulting firm, moved its headquarters from Pennsylvania to Jacksonville, where it had an office. Emtec, whose clients include Duval County public schools and Jacksonville city government, plans to launch a cyber-security division and double its local workforce to 150 in the next two years.
HOSPITALITY
- Tennessee-based developer 3H Group received regulatory approval to build a 136-room Springhill Suites Marriott hotel next to the Jacksonville Beach Pier. The hotel will be about two stories taller than the 35-foot maximum established by city codes and will include a second-floor pool and 123 valet parking spaces. The hotel is to open in early 2021.
Read more in Florida Trend's November issue.
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