Aundra Wallace Named President of JAXUSA Partnership

August 8, 2018     0    42

Longtime JAXUSA President Jerry Mallot announced earlier this year his retirement effective Sept. 1.   Shortly after the announcement, JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis met individually with top JAXUSA and Chamber investors to discuss what qualities they would want to see in the next JAXUSA leader. Overwhelmingly, the top priority was to find someone who understands Jacksonville and knows how to get deals done here.   “Through a very competitive process, Aundra emerged as the right person at the right time to lead our economic development at JAXUSA Partnership,” Davis said. “We have incredible momentum right now and Aundra will use his skills and relationships, both within Jacksonville and around the globe, to keep the momentum going and attract jobs to our region.”   Wallace moved to Jacksonville in 2013 for the DIA position and has helped finalize and move forward deals which had struggled to take off over the years, such as the Barnett Building and the Laura Street Trio and the former JEA Southside Generating Station on the Southbank, which will be a mixed-use development known as The District. Wallace also ...

Solar Farm Set for South of the City of Green Cove Springs

August 2, 2018     0    178

FPL has plans to incorporate 2,300 megawatts of solar power into its system by 2023, which would put the Juno Beach-based power company at about 10 million total solar panels in service. To reach that level they would need about 31 solar energy centers, and they’ve built, or at least started building, just over 20. Heiman estimates that the eight brought online this year will save customers $100,000,000 even after the cost of construction is factored out. Though the project won’t bring much power to Clay County residents who don’t receive FPL power, Heiman said that once construction gets going they will offer about 200-300 jobs to local people for the 7-to 9-month construction period. Two years ago, when constructing the solar center in the Melrose area, FPL hired some contractors for as much as $18 per hour, which at the time, were jobs that proved to be in-demand. “We ask contractors to look and hire locally,” Heiman said. “We’ve seen that in two recent North Florida projects, in Putnam and Alachua Counties, where 90 percent of the labor came from ...

Rep. Ted Yoho Announces New VA Clinic in Clay County

August 1, 2018     0    466

Congressman Yoho has worked since 2015 to deliver the clinic and issued the following statement upon the clinic’s announcement: “I am absolutely thrilled to be able to share today that Clay County is getting their clinic. This project has been a priority for our team and I want to commend all our stakeholders who helped make this happen. There has been such a demand and a need for this project and I want to thank the VA for their efforts on this project. We cannot do enough for our veterans and look forward to the increased care and service that will be provided out of this clinic. While today we celebrate this milestone, we still have work to do and will be working closely with the awardee and the VA in design and planning meetings to make sure we get this to the finish line as quickly as possible. This is a major win for Clay County but also for all Veterans in the region. This is a project that we were not willing to give up on and we ...

St. Vincent's Plans $23M Expansion

July 26, 2018     0    93

“This additional space will enable us to provide our community with an even greater level of compassionate, personalized care close to home,” said James Machado, president of St. Vincent’s Clay County. “In the nearly five years we’ve been open, Clay County has continued to grow, and we are committed to growing along with it, in turn providing additional job opportunities for the area, as well.”  St. Vincent’s Clay County opened in 2013 and an expansion project that doubled the hospital’s size was completed in 2016.  “We are committed to increasing access to care for everyone in the communities we are blessed to serve, and the time is right to ensure we’re keeping pace with the tremendous growth we’re experiencing in service to our friends and neighbors in Clay County,” said Tom VanOsdol, president and CEO of Ascension Florida, which owns the hospital. “By expanding the hospital’s capacity by nearly 30 percent and adding an additional procedure room for our cardiologists, we will be even better equipped to provide our patients with the best care possible without having to leave their home ...

Challenger Center Receives Road Paving Funds

July 24, 2018     0    96

“The county wanted jobs but they didn’t want congestion, we think that for them to allow this kind of mixed use that it’ll be a winner,” he said. “We’ve had the property for about 20 years but everybody says, ‘We need a road.’ We were never able to develop it ourselves, we’re just a bunch of people that bought the land. We’re waiting on someone to come along and put in that road.” According to Smallwood, the $2 million grant will solve that problem on the road which he called a “shovel-ready” project that can begin as soon as they get bids back – about 90-120 days he estimates. Smallwood said they had committed to the state that they would add about 1,000 jobs in the first 10 years once development begins, but he is hopeful to add even more than that. “The road is going to make it all possible,” he said. There has been some interest from businesses, including a potential 189,000 square foot office building that would house an insurance company and bring 2,500 jobs all at once. He ...