Daily Record Financial News &
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Vol. 104, No. 031 • One Section
Grad rates continue to climb in Duval
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Hawley Smith had the
VISION PATIENCE TIMING to see emerging areas and
Officials cite increase for black students
to wait for just the right
By Max Marbut Staff Writer Companies that rented caps and gowns to students who graduated from Duval County public high schools this year should report very good business in 2016. That’s because for the fourth consecutive year, Duval County Public Schools earned its highest graduation rate in history. More than 78.8 percent of high school seniors received a diploma, an increase of 2.2 percentage points over 2015 and more than 11 percentage points’ improvement since the school year that ended in 2012. (See chart on Page 2.) The numbers, released Dec. 16 by the Florida Department of Education, indicate Duval County is the state’s leader in graduation rate improvement among the seven largest school districts — better than Broward, Dade, HillsborVitti ough, Orange, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties. The statewide graduation rate compared to 2015 increased by 2.8 percentage points to 80.7 percent and up from 74.5 percent in 2012. In addition, the African-American graduation rate in Duval County also continued to go up, rising to 75.2 percent — an increase of more than 4.1 percentage points compared to 2015 and 12.9 percentage points higher compared to 2012. Duval County’s African-American graduation rate this year also is the highest among the seven largest school districts, as it was in 2015. The graduation rate for Hispanic students this year was 79 percent, a 15.2 percentage point increase since 2012. Three traditional high schools achieved a graduation rate increase of more than 8 percentage points: Terry Parker at 8.4 points, Grad rates continued on Page 2
35¢
to develop neighborhoods By Maggie FitzRoy Contributing Writer As a young man in the spring of 1973, Hawley Smith experienced a huge shock on the first day of his first job in the real estate industry. He had just moved from Georgia to Jacksonville to work at a development firm. But the man who hired him resigned without warning, taking about 30 key employees with him. Smith, who majored in chemical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was a complete novice to real estate. But the crisis in which he found himself soon proved to be an outstanding opportunity. “I went from not knowing anything about real estate to being vice president because I was one of the very few people left,” Smith said. That, he said, meant “at someone else’s financial risk, I learned a lot about what has been a very lucrative business for me.” That kind of luck, timing and the willingness to recognize opportunity and grab onto it has served Smith well during his 43-year career as a developer of neighborhoods throughout Northeast Florida. Smith
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Developer Hawley Smith on a dock at River Story in Mandarin.
Smith and his
sister, Mary Lo
uise.
A rendering of The Bread & Board planned at 1030 Oak St.
Public
legal notices begin on page
9
Special to the Daily Record
Bread & Board renovating in Five Points The city approved a permit Thursday for renovations to the former Richard’s Sandwich Shoppe in Riverside for conversion into The Bread & Board. FLC Contracting LLC will make the $100,000 renovations to the 2,366-square-foot space at 1030 Oak St. Moderncities.com reported Portland bistro owners relocated to open The Bread & Board, expanding the rejuvenation of the Five Points area. It is expected to open in the summer. It will operate for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch and offer
“dining lawn” and green space where the parking lot had been with an outdoor overhead screening and shade system.
beer and wine. The site described it as a “modern, artisanal sandwich shop” and with other specials. Developer Steve Williams bought the property and will lease it. In an interview with Moderncities.com, the operators said the architecture will include a patio
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More food notes
• Yogurt Mountain, a BooksA-Million subsidiary, will open at the Mandarin South Shopping Center. The city is reviewing a permit for Hoar Construction to build-out 1,541 square feet of space there at a cost of $165,000. Preferred Growth Properties, also part of Books-A-Million, owns Mathis
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consecutive weekdays