by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Slowly but surely, LaVilla is getting booked solid.
The once-blighted area just west of downtown Jacksonville and east of I-95 has been targeted by Mayor John Delaney and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission as the one area of town they would most like to see developed.
So far, that’s exactly what’s happening. Monday afternoon, the Downtown Development Authority board gave the LaVilla area another boost when it approved two health-based projects.
Both Harmony Dental Laboratory and Dialysis Clinic, Inc. plan to relocate to the LaVilla area and build brand new facilities.
DDA board member Denise Watson said both projects are exactly what the City and the DDA want for the area. HDL will create a significant number of new jobs and DCI plans to include plenty of excess parking at their facility that the Ritz Theatre will be able to use, day or night.
“I think these projects are exciting, interesting and work well within the Master Plan,” said Watson. “Harmony will retain their 42 employees and when they open they will employ another 50 immediately and another 100 down the road. That’s 150 new jobs in the downtown area.
“The Dialysis Clinic is an interesting proposal that will dovetail with the Ritz parking.”
Both proposals are the result of request for proposals that were put out in August and, outside of minor long-term tax breaks, both require very little in economic incentives from the JEDC.
Harmony will purchase its 18,600 square feet from the City for $4.20 per square-foot or $250,000. That figure is about the average for the LaVilla area.
“That’s kind of in the middle of the other LaVilla projects we’ve done. That’s a little more than Lee & Cates and less than Educational Community Credit Union,” said Al Battle, a senior project manager for the DDA. ECCU paid $5.50 per square-foot for its property in LaVilla.
The Harmony project will require a $1.875 million capital investment on their part.
Tom Gildersleeve of Harmony said if the project is eventually approved by all the necessary entities, they plan to open the new facility in June or July.
“It’s an interesting business. We are a custom manufacturer of crowns, bridges and dentures,” said Gildersleeve. “That’s what we do. Most people think their dentist does that.”
Gildersleeve said his company chose to open an office in Jacksonville because they liked the work force and management potential .
DCI plans to build and 18,000 square-foot facility just east of the Ritz Theatre. Currently, they employ 36 people and have 100 patients. The new building will house 45 employees and be capable of handling 132 patients and they’ll spend $3.8 million of their own funds to build the facility.
“This project will be a tremendous benefit in that it will create more parking spaces that current codes call for,” said Battle. “They need 50-60 spaces during their hours of operation. There will be 128 spaces on site, which is a tremendous amount of surplus parking.”
Another benefit of the DCI project is that the City has the first right of refusal on their old Park Street location.
Both projects were unanimously approved by the DDA, but must now receive the go-ahead from the JEDC and City Council before construction can begin.