As part of a $20 million investment in Jacksonville, the Cologix data center company is preparing to launch a $6.6 million power upgrade to its Southside facility along Spring Park Road.
“It reflects that Jacksonville is experiencing a growth in its importance on the overall map of the Internet,” said Graham Williams, COO of Denver-based Cologix.
Cologix is a network-neutral interconnection and data center company. It came to the Jacksonville market by acquiring Jax Meet Me Room, a carrier hotel Downtown at 421 W. Church St.
Williams said the Downtown Cologix Jax 1 upgrade should be completed soon. It will add utility capacity and square footage for networks and content providers who want to connect with the two new subsea cable systems landing in Jacksonville from Central and South America.
Cologix acquired the 4800 Spring Park Road facility when it bought the Colo5 colocation and disaster recovery provider in September. That center is a little more than 120,000 square feet in size and also is a hurricane-rated data center.
“The combination creates something that we think is pretty compelling,” Williams said.
Plans show Perry-McCall Construction Inc. will handle the upgrades for the Cologix Jax II facility.
Williams said the Downtown project began four to five months ago and should be ready within two months. At the same time, it is kicking off the Spring Road project. That should take five to six months, he said.
The Spring Park Road facility is a live data center. “We are bringing in more power so we can serve more customers,” he said.
Williams said Cologix will benefit both from the new submarine cables that connect North and South America and the trend of larger companies that are turning to Cologix for data center needs.
Cologix reports the two subsea cables connect directly to the Jax 1 facility. One is in operation and the other is expected to light up in the second quarter. The systems connect the facility to 19 cable landing point across 10 countries.
Cologix provides interconnection services and colocation services in facilities in Jacksonville, Columbus, Dallas, Lakeland, Minneapolis, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
It says that with more than 350 network choices and 21 prime interconnection locations, it serves more than 850 carrier, managed services, cloud, media, content, financial services and enterprise customers.
The company has 20-30 employees in Jacksonville, according to Williams.
He said the subsea cables coming into Jacksonville present opportunities to customers. “All of them are looking at Jacksonville in a new light,” he said.
Williams said the investment is based on a notion that the company will see demand.
“We are clearly making a big bet on Jacksonville,” he said.
Spain joins Lynchburg’s ABC affiliate
Former Action News anchor Mark Spain began anchor duties last week at WSET TV-13, the ABC affiliate in Lynchburg-Danville-Roanoke, Va.
He anchors the 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
Spain posted on Facebook that he looked forward to three important happenings by the end of May: moving his family to the area; beating the competition during May sweeps; and selling his house in Jacksonville.
Spain was one of four anchors whose contracts weren’t renewed last year at Action News and he left at the end of August. He joined Action News as an anchor in August 2007.
Retail roundup
• Burrito Gallery is working toward interior renovations for its Brooklyn Station on Riverside restaurant. No contractor is specified on a permit application for a $500,000 interior build-out at 90 Riverside Ave. The two-story project comprises 3,846 square feet of interior space and 2,000 square feet of unenclosed space.
• The former Bennigan’s at 8440 Blanding Blvd. is being razed for construction of a two-tenant building for Mission BBQ and Aspen Dental. It will be the area’s first Mission BBQ, a Maryland-based company formed a decade to the day after 9/11. It was founded by former Under Armour executive Bill Kraus and former Outback Steakhouse executive Steve “Newt” Newton.
• An Ulta store is opening in the South Beach Regional Shopping Center in Jacksonville Beach. Ulta advertised in March for a general manager opportunity there. Equityone.net, the landlord’s website, says it will be in units 26-30, not far from the Ross store.
• A gas station, convenience store and car wash are planned in East Arlington at southeast McCormick Road and Kernan Boulevard. The 8,300-square-foot project would be developed on 2.56 acres. The planned unit development is known as McCormick Station. City Council is considering Ordinance 2015-207 to adopt a small-scale amendment to change the land-use designation from low density residential to community/general commercial and Ordinance 2015-208 to rezone the property from rural residential-acre to a planned unit development district. The land is owned by City National Bank of Florida as trustee. The bills are in the Land Use & Zoning Committee.
• Flash Foods wants to demolish its existing convenience store and gas station at 1145 Airport Road and rebuild a larger one with more fueling positions. The 2,450-square-foot store with 12 fueling stations would be removed and replaced with a 4,072-square-foot store and gas station with 14 fueling positions.
• Lakewood Promenade will gain a Hallmark store and Lucy’s Boutique. The shopping center, anchored by Winn-Dixie and Stein Mart, changed hands in December 2013 when Kite Realty Group of Indianapolis bought it for almost $19.2 million. The 195,339-square-foot center is at 1500-1670 University Blvd. W.
• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is well under construction at 14026 Beach Blvd., east of Hodges Boulevard. The freddysusa.com says it is coming soon. Franchisee Kyle Gerstner previously said he might build up to 15 Freddy’s locations in the metro area over 10 years.
• Dollar Tree wants to open at 7310 New Kings Road in a former Family Dollar store. The city is reviewing a permit application for a $90,000 renovation for interior remodeling for a 9,180-square-foot Dollar Tree. The site is at New Kings Road and Soutel Drive.
• Concept Development LLC of Gainesville, which has developed Dollar General Stores throughout Northeast Florida, applied for mobility fee calculation certificates for free-standing discount stores at Kings Road and Flag Street and at 3801 N. Main St. The plans do not specify Dollar General. The stores are 7,500 square feet each and would be developed on more than an acre at each site.
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