THURSDAY
September 17, 2020
European Street owner opens the area’s first pickleball store PAGE 6
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ELECTION 2020
Rooms To Go seeking space at Town Center
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Michael Binder, director of the UNF Public Opinion Research Lab, is working to build the gold standard for polling in Florida – and to help the voice of the people be heard.
BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
JACKSONVILLE
BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
ichael Binder, faculty director at the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Laboratory, turned down the job when former director Matthew Corrigan made an offer in 2011. UNF had hired Binder as an associate professor 30 days earlier. When the phone rang with a 904 area code, Binder said his mind went straight to a struggling university budget and the Great Recession’s job market volatility. He was terrified. “It was Matt Corrigan, who started the lab back in 2001,” Binder said Aug. 25. “He was like, ‘Hey, do you want to run the lab?’ I’m like, ‘Run the lab? You just hired me to be an assistant professor a month ago. I haven’t even started here. What are you talking about, run the lab? I don’t know anything about running a lab.’” Binder said he spoke with colleagues who cautioned that managing a public opinion polling operation, with its nonstop data collection and resulting reports to media organizations and private companies, would “totally ruin your research SEE BINDER, PAGE 4
The furniture retailer wants to renovate the former Toys R Us at a cost of $3.7 million.
Special to the Daily Record
Michael Binder, University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab faculty director, began running the lab in 2011. Binder, who is from New Jersey, said the beach helped bring him to UNF. “I do not do well when I’m far from the ocean,” he says.
Rooms To Go wants to move into the former Toys R Us space at The Markets at Town Center. The city is reviewing plans and a permit application for a $3.7 million renovation of 84,880 square feet of space at 4875 Town Center Parkway. That size likely is smaller because the space has been marketed as 74,018 square feet. It was not immediately clear why the size on the permit application is larger than the marketed square footage. That cost also could change as the project proceeds. The application describes the project as “renovation of retail space previously utilized as Toys R Us to be converted to Rooms to Go retail furniture sales.” It says there also will be minor exterior facade upgrades with complete interior tenant improvement and a minor civil and landscape scope. It’s not clear if Rooms To Go will buy or lease the space. Rooms To Go’s CEO could not be reached for comment by the afternoon of Sept. 16. The Markets at Town Center is owned by Hines Global REIT. News - j o u r n a l o n l i n e .c o m reported in September 2019 that Rooms To Go would build a prototype store in Daytona by 2021 that comprised separate storefronts for its Rooms To Go, Rooms To Go Kids and Rooms To Go (outdoor furniture) Patio SEE ROOMS TO GO, PAGE 4
THE BASCH REPORT
Freight traffic jumped in July, Landstar CEO says CSX also reports a boost in activity. PAGE 10 VOLUME 107, NO. 214 • TWO SECTIONS