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| New post-Panamax cranes arriving at JAXPORT. Photo courtesy of JAXPORT. |
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The Scoop
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• The JEDC’s Downtown Action Plan was awarded the 2008 First Coast APA Outstanding Master Plan Award in June. The award recognizes an outstanding master plan that will greatly contribute to its field of planning upon completion. Click here to download a copy.
• Jacksonville gained 10,500 jobs from April 2007 to April 2008, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The rest of Florida lost 74,700 jobs during that same time period.
• First Baptist Church of Jacksonville plans to start a religious private elementary school in Downtown in the fall of 2009. The school, to be called First Baptist Academy of Jacksonville, will begin with kindergarten through third grade, with plans to add a grade each year up to grade six.
• Flightstar Aircraft Services Inc, based at Cecil Commerce Center, landed a contract to do scheduled airplane maintenance for FedEx Corp and began performing maintenance packages on Fed Ex airplanes in February. Flightstar currently has one production line dedicated to FedEx with the possibility of adding a second line in the future. Flightstar specializes in heavy aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul providers. Click here to visit their Web site.
• The City of Jacksonville won an award for its budget from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada, a nonprofit group serving government financial professionals. The city’s 2007-2008 budget excelled as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide and communications tool.
• Oshkosh Corporation, headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is opening a new business unit in Jacksonville that will bring 86 new jobs to the area. The company services and armors military vehicles used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The JEDC and Cornerstone assisted with their location decision, helped them identify a building and expedited the permitting process to meet the needs of their defense contract.
• Looking for qualified summer interns? Post your available internships for free at www.internjax.com and learn more about the benefits of starting an internship program for your business. This new service was created by the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and is promoted at local career fairs and on college campuses across the Southeast.
• Over 500 leading cancer researchers from all over the world met in Jacksonville for a conference in May to share and discuss clinical and basic research presentations. UF Proton Therapy Institute staff presented results from 12 clinical research efforts conducted at the facility in Jacksonville. One of the keynote speakers was the founder of IBA, Yves Jongen. The JEDC and Cornerstone were instrumental in assisting IBA with their decision to relocate their corporate headquarters to Downtown Jacksonville.
• The University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute is treating more than 100 patients a day after only 19 months in operation, quicker than any other proton therapy treatment center. When the Institute opened in 2006, it had only one treatment room in operation and now there are three rooms in operation with one more scheduled to open at the end of 2008. The JEDC assisted the UF Proton Therapy Institute through the issuance of Industrial Revenue Bonds.
• The Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) is organizing workshops intended to bring together architects, planning professionals and the public to explore opportunities for specific architectural/urban planning challenges in Jacksonville. The focus of the first meeting will be the A. Philip Randolph corridor. The meeting will be held Saturday, July 12, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jacksonville Historic Society. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Lane Manis, lane.manis@iaiajacksonville.org or 904.389.8421.
• A study by the Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives at UNF found in 2007 that Jacksonville’s nonprofit arts and culture industry contributed more than $105.6 million to the local economy. The research study measured the economic contributions of 38 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Duval County. The report was commissioned by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville.
• Florida State University and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville will work together to develop new treatments for cancer and other diseases. Researchers at FSU's College of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic will exchange research and data and establish joint projects in areas such as neuroscience, genomics and transitional medicine.
• Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) has been given Federal Aviation Administration approval to train students to become air traffic controllers. FCCJ’s Aviation Center of Excellence at Cecil Commerce Center will be one of 23 training centers nationwide. The program will start this fall and a $2 million federal grant will help make courses free for students. Jacksonville University (JU) hopes to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration this July.
• According to Colliers International's first quarter industrial report, Jacksonville fared better in the first quarter than other metro areas in Florida and around the nation. Although the local vacancy rate did rise from 5.1 percent in the first quarter 2007 to 6.1 percent, that increase was less than the 1.4 percentage point increase in Miami/Dade County and 1.5 percentage point increases in Orlando and Tampa.
• Beaver Street Enterprise Center welcomes two new tenants to its incubator: Powerhouse Anchor Management Consulting, Inc., a management consulting firm that provides high-class services to clients and UNIVERSAL UNDERSTANDING, LLC, a Cisco Technologies partner focused on advanced unified communications. The Enterprise Center is approaching its 5th anniversary as Florida’s only core-city business incubator. For more information, visit their website at www.bsecenter.net.
• For the third consecutive year, JEDC Chairman Robert “Bob” Rhodes, an attorney with Foley and Lardner, LLC, was selected to Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
• The Northbank Riverwalk Park on Riverside Avenue is now open and the public can gain access to the Riverwalk and utilize the new parking area that consists of 28 parking spaces. The new park was created as a result of a unique private/public partnership between the City of Jacksonville and Fidelity National Financial.
• According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Duval County’s overall personal income increased a total of 6.8% from 2005 to 2006. Jacksonville had more of an increase than Tampa, Orlando and Miami.
• The EverBank Arena Club, located in the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, recently completed a new expansion. The expansion included an additional 10,247 sq. ft. of club space and an additional 636 club seats.
• People from all over the country attended the Progressive Energy & Environment Congress, a three-day event held in Jacksonville focusing on energy reduction and environmental sustainability. Hosted by the FMA Congress, keynote speakers included representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, Subaru, Toyota, Michelin, Textron, Cascades, InterfaceRAISE, SCA America, Constellation Energy, Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure and Advanced Green Technologies.
• The Main Street Park and Streetscape Project was recently unveiled. The project included creating a pocket park from a surface parking lot, landscaping and resurfacing the sidewalks with brick pavers along both sides of Main Street in Downtown. The completion of this project signifies the continued revitalization of Downtown and is an example of the Downtown Action Plan in progress. This is the first of many more downtown initiatives to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment and to encourage greater street level activity.
• Volkswagen of America is leasing a 260,000 square foot distribution center for $24.9 million at Perimeter West Industrial Park. Volkswagen has outgrown its current parts-distribution center due to its growth and expansion throughout the Southeast.
• Downtown’s only full-service grocery store and pharmacy gets a facelift - the Winn-Dixie store located at 777 Market Street has been completely remodeled. The JEDC’s Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) reviewed and approved the project’s design and aesthetic relationship with surrounding uses.
• Pending the approval of incentives by the state, Fidelity National Information Services Inc. will add another 260 jobs to its Riverside campus, partially as a result of an acquisition. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fidelity is a financial data-processing company serving more than 9,000 financial institutions in over 80 countries worldwide. The JEDC worked together with Cornerstone to bring this expansion project to fruition.
• The JEDC Sports & Entertainment office, the city’s Veteran Affairs office, Channel 4 and ACC Properties made it possible for more than a thousand Jacksonville area U.S. military personnel to receive free tickets to the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship for Military Appreciation Day on May 25. The ACC Championship was held at the Baseball Grounds from May 21 to May 25.
• Baptist Medical Center Downtown is adding a new 12-story, 350,000 sq. ft. tower. The new tower, named Wolfson Children’s Hospital Adult Tower, will replace the existing multi-story east wing of the original hospital, as well as the Southeast Annex Building and the MRI addition. The Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) granted conceptual approval for the project in May. Once construction begins, the project will take about two years to complete.
• Jacksonville City Council approved funding for the new $350-million county courthouse facility. Groundbreaking is expected early 2009, with substantial completion anticipated in the summer of 2011. The development of the new courthouse will enable government functions to move out of valuable riverfront property and be a catalyst for redevelopment of the area, connecting LaVilla to the Downtown core.
• Downtown Jacksonville was selected as Downtown of the month by the International Downtown Association (IDA) that recognizes a Downtown organization that has demonstrated success. Downtown Vision, Inc.’s (DVI) significant contributions in creating four new events for Downtown led to Jacksonville’s selection as IDA’s Downtown of the Month.
• The 16th Annual Small Business Week Celebration was held in May. The luncheon was presented by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UNF and the Jacksonville Business Journal and featured guest speaker Bo Burlington, author of Small Giants. Several awards recognizing small and emerging businesses were given. The JEDC supports the SBDC at UNF in their efforts to assist small businesses by providing services such as business counseling, workshops and outreach programs.
• The HBO movie Recount, which was filmed in Jacksonville, premiered on HBO in May. In the movie, Jacksonville doubles for Miami, Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Austin, Nashville, the U.S. Supreme Court and the State Cabinet Room. The movie starred Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern and Dennis Leary. JEDC Commissioner Craig Gibbs also had a role as a Florida Supreme Court judge.
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Deutsche Bank to Create 1,000 New High-Wage Jobs in Jacksonville
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| Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany |
Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s largest global financial services firms based in Frankfurt, Germany, selected Jacksonville for a new operations hub that will create 1,000 full-time jobs in the area. The JEDC, Cornerstone and the State of Florida have been working with Deutsche Bank since December to bring this project to fruition. Deloitte, a top site consulting firm, assisted the company with its analysis of Jacksonville and several other cities in the Southeast and saw the value and opportunity that exists in Jacksonville.
The new center will be the company’s Southeast “nearshore” operations hub and will diversify the company’s operations by supporting the U.S. hub in New York and New Jersey. The new jobs will be in the Corporate, Investment Banking and Asset Management and Wealth Management business. About 950 positions will be local hires and the 50 others will be relocations from the bank’s New Jersey and New York operations. The new jobs should be created by the end of 2011.
Deutsche Bank utilized the state’s Qualified Target Industry (QTI) Tax Refund Program and in return will invest about $49.2 million in annual payroll and $12.1 million in tenant leasehold improvements and infrastructure. In addition to their financial contributions, Deutsche Bank made commitments to the Jacksonville community in three areas:
1. Community Development – develop affordable housing and support low to moderate income neighborhoods
2. Education - promote opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers in business and finance
3. Arts - support arts and community organizations focused on low and moderate-income neighborhoods
Deutsche Bank’s selection of Jacksonville is another success story and bolsters the city’s reputation as one of the nation’s leading hubs for financial services firms.
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Film Festival a Huge Success
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| A crowd lines up outside The Florida Theatre during the film festival |
For the sixth year in a row, the Jacksonville Film Festival was a huge success. The event, which took place in May, expanded from a weekend to a week-long festival with more films screened than ever before. Approximately 11,500 people attended, about 20% more than last year. Films from over 20 countries were represented with most of the directors of those films in attendance including those from Brazil, India, England, Puerto Rico, Canada and Iran. This year’s venues included the Terry Theatre at the Times Union Performing Arts Center, The Jacksonville Public Library, FUEL at Five Points and special presentations at The Florida Theatre.
The festival opened with the premiere of Crazy, an independent film about the rise and fall of Nashville guitarist and long-time Orange Park resident, Hank Garland. Other events at the festival included a Hollywood Night Gala, held at the Jacksonville Public Library, nightly after-hours parties at different venues and the screening of a movie filmed in Jacksonville: The Year of Getting to Know Us, formerly titled Rocket, starring Sharon Stone, Jimmy Fallon, Tom Arnold and Lucy Liu.
This year the festival evolved from a focus on American independent films to a festival that also included many international films. All of the visiting film directors praised the festival and the City of Jacksonville and expressed interest in filming in Jacksonville.
To view coverage of the film festival, photos and video highlights, click here.
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Jacksonville Economic Development Commission
Ron Barton, Executive Director
1 West Adams Street, Suite 200
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1858
Fax: (904) 630-2919
www.jaxdevelopment.org
***PLEASE NOTE THAT UNDER FLORIDA'S VERY BROAD PUBLIC RECORDS LAW,
COMMUNICATIONS TO AND FROM CITY OFFICIALS ARE SUBJECT TO PUBLIC DISCLOSURE***
© Copyright 2008 Jacksonville Economic Development Commission
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