Daily Record FINANCIAL NEWS &
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
Vol. 104, No. 089 • oNe SectioN
35¢
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Village to complement Town Center
$75M project will include apartments, hotel, office and medical space By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor Developers hope to break ground by the start of summer on Gateway Village at Town Center, launching a $75 million project meant to be complementary to — not competitive with — St. Johns Town Center. City Council enacted Ordinance 2017-40 for the Gate Parkway Mixed-Use Village Planned Unit Development on Tuesday, paving the way for the 18.5-acre project.
The land, long the subject of speculation about potential uses, is at the southwest intersection of Gate Parkway and Deerwood Park Boulevard, next to the main campus for Deutsche Bank. It is south of Butler Boulevard from Town Center. Developer Chris Morgan said Thursday the mixed-use village is designed as a neighborhood service. “It’s not just a cookie-cutter development with shop space. It’s meant to be something the community can be proud of and can be a part of,”
said Morgan, CEO of Cantrell & Morgan. Sidlyd Investments LLC, managed by Morgan and Cantrell & Morgan President Jim Loftin, is listed as the developer and owner of the project. England, Thims & Miller Inc. is the planning and civil engineer. Members of the Skinner family own the land, which Sidlyd would buy before breaking ground. Gateway Village is designed to comprise up to 300 apartments,
25,000 square feet of office and medical space, 50,000 square feet of commercial space and 110 hotel rooms. There also will be a gas station and convenience store. Morgan said the apartment property would be sold to another developer, but his group will retain ownership of the rest of the land and build-to-suit and ground-lease it. He said he was speaking with a hotel group, but no deal has been completed. GATE CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Morgan
Mathis fueled by ‘God touches’
Support appreciated after gambling arrest By Marilyn Young Editor
treasure hunt
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‘ What I love about this place is it’ sa
Mike Danhour, the new owner of J&W Discount in Murray Hill, displays merchandise that’s temporarily kept in the store’s 5,000-square-foot warehouse.
New owner of J&W Discount investing in Murray Hill store
Mike Danhour walks to a glass display case at J&W Discount Store in Murray Hill and proudly points to Beats Solo3 wireless headphones. “This retails for $220 — I just saw it at that price at the airport — and we sell it here for $150,” said Danhour, the store’s new owner. With its peeling floors, dark corners and dusty shelves, the store at 4045 Post St. has seen better days. But that’s about to change. The 12,000-square-foot business off Edgewood Avenue, west of the Murray Hill Theatre, sells discounted clothing, furniture, electronics, packaged groceries and household goods. “What I love about this place is it’s a treasure hunt,” said Danhour as he pulled a men’s Calvin Klein shirt off the rack to show the label and $9.99 price tag. This is the first retail venture for Danhour, president of a housing rehabilitation, land development and brokerage service known as the Danhour Group. “There’s a lot of moving parts, that’s for sure,” he said. Danhour said he’s keeping the store’s knowledeagable staff, about 11 employees, to help the project succeed. “I’m joining their family,” Danhour said. “They know the customers and products a lot better than I do.” WORKSPACE
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Susan Snipes was sold on this three-piece outfit for her 4-yearold grandson, noting the shorts and two shirts only came to $9.99.
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Photos by Caren Burmeister
By Caren Burmeister, Contributing Writer
Kelly Mathis was in line at a fast food restaurant when he noticed a man kept looking at him. As they were both leaving, the man stopped Mathis in the parking lot and surprised him with words of encouragement. “Hey man, I just want you to know I know who you are and everything’s going to be OK,” he told Mathis. “I think everything’s going to be OK.” It was one of the many times Mathis received an unexpected pep talk during the four years he spent living under the dark cloud of his arrest and conviction in the Allied Veterans of the World $300 million gambling case. One of the many “God touches,” as he called them. Little pieces of encouragement and strength when Mathis most needed them. Strangers sent him Christmas cards. A former banker in Colorado reached out to him. People from all over Mathis the country he had dealt with in the past shared words of support. Just a few weeks ago, Mathis was in the grocery store when someone recognized him from the news coverage of the highprofile case and told him, “It’s going to be OK.” Mathis was the lawyer for Allied Veterans, which Attorney General Pam Bondi declared in March 2013 was operating illegal internet cafes. Mathis contended the businesses were legal under Florida’s sweepstakes law. The other 56 defendants either reached a deal with prosecutors or had their charges dropped, leaving Mathis as the lone man standing. The former Jacksonville Bar Association president faced six years in prison after
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