TUESDAY September 24, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 3
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE MATHIS REPORT
Jacksonville jobless rate stable at 3.4% in August
Springfield building still seeking a fit Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
Area labor market “had a solid performance,” UNF economist says.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
Plans for an ice cream shop at a former service station on North Main Street fall through.
Restaurateur and neighborhood resident Andy Zarka opted against opening an ice cream shop along North Main Street in Historic Springfield. The 89-year-old building, a former service station, is back on the market for sale or lease. Owner Michael Trautmann says he has prospects for the 1401 N. Main St. structure at Main and Fourth streets. He wants more. “There’s plenty of demand,” he said. Trautmann, as president of the Springfield Improvement Association and Archives, wants a good fit for the neighborhood. Springfield, established in 1869 and the city’s oldest neighborhood, has been adding restaurants, retail stores and breweries on the main corridor leading north from Downtown. Original, restored and some new homes fill in the streets on both sides of Main Street. Some structures continue to deteriorate while buyers continue to seek properties to renovate. Residents have been asking for services and stores that don’t require drives to other neighborhoods or suburbs.
JACKSONVILLE
Photos by Karen Brune Mathis
Michael Trautmann wants to determine the best use for the building he owns at 1401 N. Main St. in Historic Springfield. Costs came in too high for a previously proposed ice cream shop.
The 89-yearold former service station at Main and Fourth streets in Springfield remains available for sale or lease.
Jacksonville’s unemployment rate was stable in August as the summer job season wound down. The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties fell from 3.5% in July to 3.4% in August, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday. The state agency does not adjust its data for seasonal factors, such as students leaving summer jobs and new hiring at schools in August. However, the University of Loh North Florida’s Local Economic Indicators Project reported when seasonally adjusted, the unemployment rate in the Jacksonville area ticked up from 3.47% in July to 3.48% in August. “A stable seasonally adjusted unemployment rate combined with a rising average hourly earnings in the private sector indicate that the labor market in Jacksonville had a solid performance in August,” UNF economist Albert Loh said. Duval County’s unemployment rate, without adjustment, fell by 0.1 point to 3.6% last month, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported. Loh said when it is seasonally adjusted, the rate dipped from 3.63% in July to 3.62% in August. Nonfarm businesses in the Jacksonville area reported their payrolls grew by 15,600 jobs from August 2018 to August 2019, a 2.2% growth rate, the Department of Economic Opportunity said.
SEE MATHIS, PAGE 2
SEE JOBS, PAGE 2
Vestcor buys land for Murray Hill apartments Jacksonville-based apartment developer Vestcor Inc. paid $2.1 million Wednesday for 3.69 acres in Murray Hill at 840 Edgewood Ave. S., anchored by a two-story, multitenant former Bank of America building. Vestcor proposes a $25 million mixed-use project at the site. Plans call for the demolition of two existing bank buildings and construction of a four-story structure with 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 117 apartment units. The apartments are workforce housing, reserved for people earning less than $69,600 a year.
VOLUME 106, NO. 218 • ONE SECTION