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Northeast Florida Business Briefs - July 2007
FERNANDINA BEACH —
» The city and the Army Corps of Engineers have agreed to a $188.8-million plan to maintain sand on the beachfront from Fort Clinch to Sadler Road for the next 50 years. The city will pay $45.9 million of the cost.
JACKSONVILLE —
» Fortress Investment Group, the first U.S. manager of private equity and hedge funds to go public, agreed to buy Jacksonville-based real estate developer and railroad operator Florida East Coast Industries for $3.5 billion. New York-based Fortress got into railroads earlier this year with the $1-billion acquisition of regional operator RailAmerica, based in Boca Raton. Florida East Coast operates the 351-mile rail corridor between Jacksonville and Miami initially assembled by Henry Flagler in the 19th century. It also operates Flagler Development Group, with 8.8 million square feet of office and industrial space across Florida and 1.8 million more under construction.
» EverBank, a privately held financial services firm, acquired NetBank’s direct banking and small business financing divisions and mortgage servicing portfolio. The purchase increases EverBank’s assets to approximately $7 billion, its deposits to approximately $6 billion and its customer base to more than 550,000, making it the third-largest bank headquartered in Florida.
» Former state Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby was sentenced to eight years in prison for a $130,000 kickback scheme. Allen Clark, a former regional director for the DOC, was sentenced to a little more than 2½ years. Both men pleaded guilty to accepting up to $12,000 a month from American Institutional Services in exchange for the company’s contract to sell canteen items in the state’s prisons.
» Global Insight, an international economic, financial and political forecasting organization, named Jacksonville the fastest-growing export gateway in the nation. The export value of Jacksonville’s seaport has more than tripled since 2001 based on revenue, tonnage and high-value shipments. Global Insight says the gains made by Jacksonville and other eastern ports are due, in part, to changes in shipping traffic from the West Coast and overflow traffic from larger seaports that have already reached capacity.
» The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission approved up to $100,000 in tax rebates for Brussels-based Ion Beam Applications, a $230-million radiotherapy company that wants to open a North American headquarters in Jacksonville and employ up to 40 with an average wage of $85,000. IBA manufactures, installs and operates particle-therapy machines used to treat cancer.
- To see a video explaining how particle therapy works, click here.
OCALA —
» Emergency One, one of the largest fire-rescue truck manufacturers in the nation, decided to keep its plants and all 1,300 employees in Ocala after persuading officials to offer $26.7 million in incentives for new facilities that its parent company has decided not to build.
SUWANNEE COUNTY —
» The Legislature approved funding for a new state prison on 320 acres seven miles east of Live Oak. Suwannee Correctional Institute, set to open in 2009, will eventually house 4,000 inmates and will bring an estimated 600 to 700 jobs to the rural county. Construction will cost more than $70 million.
