Daily Record Financial News &
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017
Vol. 104, No. 053 • oNe SectioN
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
‘Hub of the wheel project planned
An investment group seeks rezoning at Deerwood Park Boulevard and Gate Parkway for apartments, offices, commercial space and a hotel.
Patriot overcomes a ‘pretty tough year’
Special to the Daily Record
Apartments, offices, hotel envisioned
A vacant site next to Deutsche Bank’s Gate Parkway main campus is in review for more of what already is planned or prevalent in the St. Johns Town Center area. Up to 300 apartments, 25,000 square feet of office and medical space, 50,000 square feet of commercial space and 110 hotel rooms are envisioned. “If you look at all of the activity around this location, there is no question in Jacksonville, Florida, that it is the area to live, work and play,” said developer Chris Morgan with the Cantrell & Morgan real estate company. The almost 19-acre site is at southwest Gate Parkway and Deerwood Park Boulevard. It is south of St. Johns Town
Center, on the other side of Butler Boulevard. Ordinance 2017-40 for the Gate Parkway Mixed-Use Village Planned Unit Development was introduced Tuesday. The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear it Feb. 23, followed by its first hearing at City Council on Feb. 28 and the council Land Use and Zoning Committee on March 7. Nine members of the Skinner family own the land, which is
zoned Commercial Office and Industrial Business Park. Sidlyd Investments LLC, managed by Cantrell & Morgan CEO Morgan and President Jim Loftin, is listed as the developer and owner of the project. England, Thims & Miller Inc. is the planning and civil engineer, and the architect is Wakefield Beasley & Associates and others. A conceptual site plan shows the square site lined with the Merchant and Medical Village office-commercial area at the north. The apartments take up the southwest side of the site, with two Lakeside Village office-commercial developments to the east. MATHIS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
By Mark Basch Contributing Writer
PATRIOT
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Florida children learn about being a frog
Child care centers throughout Florida took part in a simultaneous reading activity as part of Children’s Literacy Week. Students ages 3 to 5 were entertained as their teachers read “I Don’t Want to Be a Frog” to them, including at Chappell’s Learning Center at Florida State College at Jacksonville South, shown above. “From Head to Toe” was read to infants and toddlers. Locally, the Early Learning Coalition of Duval provided at least 400 books to area centers.
Part 2 of hearing mirrors Part 1 Council sets up email for HRO comments
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Dozens of people spoke during the second part of a City Council public hearing on the proposed expansion of the equal rights law.
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Photo from news4jax.com
You would think a sharp drop in fuel prices would be a boon for a trucking company like Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. because fuel is a significant part of its expense. However, because of fuel surcharges included in customer contracts, Patriot’s margins actually got squeezed early in fiscal 2016 when fuel prices dropped sharply. “That was something that really impacted us in the first two quarters of the year,” Patriot Chairman and CEO Tom Baker told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting Wednesday at The River Club Downtown. It was one of several challenges that made 2016 “a pretty tough year,” he said. Baker Patriot’s business largely consists of transporting petroleum products in six Southeastern states. The company faced unexpected challenges when a couple of major oil pipeline breaks and Hurricane Matthew shutdowns disrupted the business. “When these things happen they really throw the normal supply arrangements out of whack,” Baker said. Patriot also is dealing with the ongoing challenge of hiring and retaining drivers, an issue that has been affecting the trucking industry for several years and isn’t going away. “The tightening driver market just gets worse and worse,” Baker said. Patriot’s revenue fell 2.2 percent in fiscal 2016 to $120.2 million, due to the reduction in fuel surcharge revenue as prices dropped.
Photo courtesy of Early Learning Coalition
Fuel price drop, driver shortage among issues
It took more than two hours Wednesday morning, but City Council wrapped up the public hearing that began Tuesday night on a proposed expansion of the city’s equal rights laws to include protection for the LGBTQ community. The special session was made imperative at midnight Tuesday when more than 100 people who filled out speaker cards before council’s regular meeting had not been heard after more than four hours of public comments. Under council rules, meetings must
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end by midnight but may be recessed and reconvened the next day. The morning mood mirrored the evening one among speakers for and against Ordinance 2017-15, which would prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations. Enacting the bill “is the right thing to do,” said Arlington resident Laura Bennett. She said her daughter, who is a lesbian and at college in another state, might not come home to Jacksonville after she graduates because she COUNCIL CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
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