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Daily Record ‘Indicators of a continued rebound’ Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
JACKSONVILLE
Hyatt, Sawgrass Marriott cut jobs
The permanent and temporary layoffs impact a total of 608 workers.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Photo provided by Boeing
From left, U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, JAX Chamber CEO Daniel Davis, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and U.S. Rep. John Rutherford take part in a roundtable discussion June 12 at Boeing’s facility at Cecil Commerce Center.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross tours Boeing’s Jacksonville facility and takes part in a roundtable with area business leaders. BY KATIE GARWOOD STAFF WRITER
As the country’s economy reopens, “there are indicators of a continued rebound,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross told a group of Jacksonville business leaders June 12. “Once the all-clear sounds on the coronavirus, I believe there will be an incredible pent-up demand release, especially in travel and hospitality sectors,” he said, which especially will benefit Florida. Ross visited Jacksonville to meet with 12 area business and government leaders to discuss reopening the economy and to tour Boeing’s facility at Cecil Commerce
Center. Boeing’s Jacksonville facility repairs and modifies F-18 fighter jets for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Ross expects consumers to begin reinvesting the money they saved during the pandemic back into local businesses, allowing firms to hire back employees and add jobs later. Jacksonville’s ability to attract talent won’t change because of the pandemic, he said, adding that it is one of the top tech cities in the country. “Those are very important distinctions,” he said. Business leaders shared how they’ve weathered the pandemic. JAX Chamber CEO Daniel Davis moderated the 40-minute discussion. Forcura CEO Craig Mandeville said his health care technology company has been “skyrocketing in growth” and thriving during the pandemic. Mandeville told Ross in recent months he considered moving his company to
Austin, Texas, but after securing local and state incentives, he chose to keep Forcura in Jacksonville. “The talent is here,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud to be in this city right now, and really driving everything forward. It’s been a crazy couple of months to say the least, but especially in Jacksonville, it feels like we’re almost back to normal.” Andrew Rush, CEO of Made In Space, which relocated its headquarters to Jacksonville this year, touted the city’s low operating costs. “That drove us to move the headquarters from California to Jacksonville,” he said. “This is a structurally sound economy, this is a structurally sound region of the nation.” The space manufacturing company employs about 100 at 8226 Philips Highway in Baymeadows Business Center. It plans to add more staff. KGARWOOD@JAXDAILYRECORD.COM (904) 356-2466
Days before the Republican National Convention was moved to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, the hotel closest to the site reported a mass layoff. In a June 3 letter to state officials, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront at 225 E. Coastline Drive said it is permanently cutting 120 jobs and temporarily laying off another 80 workers. Another major Jacksonville-area convention site, the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, also notified state officials Hindsley on June 3 that it temporarily laid off or reduced the hours of 408 of its 421 employees. The Hyatt’s notice filed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act said the “permanent separation” of 120 employees would take place on June 14. It also said 80 workers were temporarily laid off on June 3-4. The letter sent by Hyatt General Manager Joe Hindsley cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel’s business since the beginning of April. “We were hopeful that the restrictions and associated loss in revenue would be temporary. Since that time, it has recently become apparent that there will be longer-term revenue impacts,” he said. “With such a significant reduction in our business in a rapidly SEE LAYOFFS, PAGE 2
DDRB signs off on smaller JEA headquarters The Downtown Development Review Board approved JEA’s scaled-down, lower-cost design for the city-owned utility’s next Downtown headquarters. The board voted 7-0 on June 12 to approve Minneapolis-based developer Ryan Companies US Inc.’s latest 162,000-square-foot redesign for JEA’s new corporate office and adjacent 657-space parking garage at 325 W. Adams St. The JEA board approved plans for the six-story headquarters with 153,000 rentable square feet in May.
VOLUME 107, NO. 149 • ONE SECTION