MONDAY May 20, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 4
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE MATHIS REPORT
Northeast Florida unemployment
Daily Record
Historic Sweet Pete’s candy building is for sale
JACKSONVILLE
Northeast Florida counties reported unemployment rates of 3% or less in April: Baker County
2.8%
Clay County
2.8%
Duval County
3.0%
Nassau County
2.7%
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
JACKSONVILLE
Building owner Marcus Lemonis, host of “The Profit,” recently closed his restaurant inside.
BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Photo by Monty Zickuhr
Sweet Pete’s moved to 400 N. Hogan St. , the former Seminole Club, in 2014. The building is for sale.
UNF center a ‘front door’ for entrepreneurs North Florida Business Roundtable looks at how UNF and Mayo Clinic are offering incubators for innovation.
Jobless rate falls to 2.8% in April
It’s the lowest unemployment rate for the Jacksonville area since 2006.
Downtown’s historic Sweet Pete’s building at 400 N. Hogan St. is for sale. While the MLG restaurant inside recently closed, the candy business remains open. The three-story structure is designed as a candy-store wonderland and is anchored by the Jacksonville-based Sweet Pete’s candy company. Sweet Pete’s partner Allison Behringer said Friday the business would know more about its plans when a buyer emerges.
SEE MATHIS, PAGE 2
St. Johns County 2.4%
BY MAX MARBUT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Having an idea is great, but without the proper guidance and enough money, it can be impossible to turn an idea into a viable business. How those latter two elements of success are coming together in Jacksonville was the topic of the North Florida Busi-
ness Roundtable presented by the Holland & Knight law firm. The panel for “Harnessing Innovation 2.0” was Sean Barkman, principal of Ballast Point Ventures; Mark Dawkins, dean of the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida; Kevin Kennedy, principal of corporate development
Dawkins
Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell in April to its lowest level since the last recession, despite relatively slow job growth. The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area fell from 3.2% in March to 2.8% in April, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday. That’s the first time the jobless rate has been below 3% since 2006. The state agency previously reported Jacksonville’s unemployment rate below 3% for three straight months in late 2018 but after a revision of last year’s data, the agency said the rate bottomed out at 3.1% at the end of the year. While unemployment fell, the number of jobs on nonfarm business payrolls in the Jacksonville area grew by 11,600 from April 2018 to April 2019, a 1.6% growth
SEE INNOVATION, PAGE 3
SEE JOBS, PAGE 3
Corrigan to Jacksonville University Jacksonville University named Matthew Corrigan, a political scientist, author, commentator and researcher, as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Dr. Corrigan is a proven academic leader, energetic faculty advocate, and tireless mentor who can help instill in all of our students the critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills that are necessary for lifelong success no matter their field of study,” JU Provost Christine Sapienza said. Corrigan was a political science and public administration professor at UNF and chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
VOLUME 106, NO. 130 • ONE SECTION