Daily Record Financial News &
THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017
Vol. 104, No. 083 • oNe SectioN
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
CSX cut 500 jobs in Jacksonville Company says management layoffs concluded
CSX said it concluded its management layoffs, cutting 800 jobs.
Special to the Daily Record
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor CSX said Wednesday it concluded its involuntary separation program on Monday. Spokesman Gary Sease said about 800 management positions were eliminated, including about 500 in Jacksonville across multiple locations and subsidiaries. He said about half of the 500 employees in Jacksonville were eligible for retirement and elected to take the enhanced severance package provided under the program.
Sease said all management employees who are leaving under the program are receiving the enhanced benefits, which include outplacement services. “These were all difficult decisions. Each of the employees made important contributions and we are grateful for their service and dedication,” Sease said. The layoffs came as new CEO Hunter Harrison took the job Monday. He is known as a railroad cost-cutter and a turnaround expert. Harrison will work from Jacksonville-based CSX’s Downtown
Pancheros Mexican expanding into area
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s Iguana Investments Florida LLC was one of three companies to submit proposal to redevelop a riverfront stretch of Downtown from Metropolitan Park to the dormant Berkman Tower II. The rendering above is a view from the Shipyards toward Downtown.
Another try at shipyards plan
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan had been there before — pitching a plan to bring life to the dormant shipyards property. Just over two years ago, Khan’s Iguana Investments LLC Florida development company proposed a project that included office space, residential, practice fields for the team and a place for the USS Adams. The proposal stalled amid environmental cleanup issues for the site. On Wednesday, Khan talked about a new project for Downtown, one that stretched along the St. Johns River from Metropolitan Park and the shipyards down Bay Street next to the unfinished Berkman Plaza II. This proposal includes a high-end hotel connected by a pedestrian bridge to EverBank
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Field, exhibition space, lowrise office buildings, an entertainment district, a park and the USS Adams. It also would feature an elevated park for pedestrians and bicyclists, described as “Jacksonville’s mini version of the High Line in New York.” Iguana Investments was one of three companies to respond to a call for proposals for the redevelopment project. The city opened the submissions Wednesday, which also included proposals from two Texas-based companies: Presidium Group and Wess Holdings. Details of the projects are confidential until a company is selected to begin negotiations on a development agreement. Neither Presidium Group or Wess Holdings returned calls Wednesday. SHIPYARDS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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Texas-based Presidium Group is partnering with Killashee Investments for a proposal that includes a 1,000-foot Seaglass Tower and a convention center, according to WOKV.
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Special to the Daily Record
Three firms submit proposals for Met Park to just before Berkman II
By Marilyn Young, Editor
headquarters, Sease said. “While the company has been making significant improvements in efficiency, we have to accelerate our progress to meet stakeholder expectations,” Sease said. He said the majority of the management employee reductions are completed, “but we always work to match” resources with business demand. CSX announced Feb. 21 it would cut 1,000 management jobs, primarily in Jacksonville, by late March. CSX CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Pancheros Mexican Grill, an Iowa-based chain, is entering the Jacksonville market with a location at Beach and Hodges boulevards. It will be the first of at least three planned by franchisee Joe Logan. “I have been here 18 months finding my first location,” he said. “My first location has to be a home run.” The Beach and Hodges location is a busy corner of an active shopping area on the way to the Beaches. He hasn’t chosen the next two sites, which he wants to open within five years. He hopes to open the first one in May, pending permits. Ticon Inc. will renovate almost 2,800 square feet of space for Pancheros at 13423 Beach Blvd., Unit 104. The fast-casual restaurant will seat 90, Logan said. He also will share patio seating with neighbor Jersey Mike’s Subs. Pancheros features freshly made tortillas it says are “structurally sound” and mixes the customer’s chosen ingredients before building and sealing the burrito, avoiding what the company says is “re-routing a big glob of guac to your chinos.” Logan said there is a Pancheros in Jupiter and the Jacksonville location will be the second in the state. At Beach and Hodges, it will join at least three other restaurants at the site where GFS Marketplace intended to develop a store: Jersey Mike’s Subs, Pita Pit and Your Pie. The GFS store wasn’t built and the developer sold the property to AD Development LLC of Jacksonville Beach. AD Development has put up two structures, totaling 14,400 square feet on the roughly 2-acre site. MATHIS
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