The Diocese of St. Augustine is working on an agreement with the Dallas-based Newman Student Housing Fund to build a two-phase housing center along Alumni Way, at St. Johns Bluff Road, near the University of North Florida.
The Newman fund builds housing where students can live their faith on secular college campuses across the country, according to its website, newmanstudenthousing.com.
It says it builds the faith-based living communities either attached to or near Catholic Campus Ministries and Newman Centers established on campuses. It has three projects open and says a few are yet to be announced.
A mobility fee certificate application and a sketch site plan filed with the city’s Concurrency and Mobility Management System Office show a potential three-phase Jacksonville project that would start with 72 apartments, comprising 204 beds, and a second phase of 158 beds. Phase III is an 8,240-square-foot Newman Center and Chapel.
The diocese says the concurrency reviews and any possible development are preliminary.
“Newman Housing will be meeting with the Diocese of St. Augustine this month to take a look at plans for Phase I of their projected project,” said Kathleen Bagg, spokeswoman for the diocese.
“A number of issues need to be discussed and resolved before an agreement can be reached,” she said.
She said the prospective housing would be open to those students interested in living in a faith-based environment. Bagg said UNF is discussions allowing freshmen to live there as part of their freshmen residency requirements at UNF, although no details have been completed this early in the process.
Sharon Ashton, vice president for public relations at UNF, said university President John Delaney has been involved in discussions about the project.
“At this point, no decisions about freshman have been made. Talks are continuing with the Diocese of St. Augustine,” she said.
The Newman Student Housing Fund centers open so far are:
• Mary Star of the Sea Newman Hall at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. The 43-unit, 148- bed, two-story apartment complex is about 50,000 square feet. It features a four-by-two floor plan that provides students with a private bedroom with a shared bathroom. The facility features on-site parking and is across from the university.
• St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Hall at Texas A&M University in Kingsville, Texas. The 92-unit, 278-bed facility features one-, two- and four-bedroom units. A Newman Center and Chapel is adjacent. Amenities include on-site laundry, Wi-Fi, Internet, programmable key locks, computer labs, meeting and breakout rooms, a 300-seat chapel featuring a small adoration chapel accessible 24/7, and a 170-seat multipurpose room with a full kitchen.
• Troy Newman Hall at Troy University in Troy, Ala. The three-story, 376-bed housing facility features the four-by-one floor plan in which each student shares a bedroom with another student. The facility features on-site parking as well as common area space on the second floor including a small classroom/chapel intended to promote community and the faith.
The address for the Jacksonville housing is 14277 Alumni Way, near UNF but not on campus. It is shown on 6.3 acres.
SRC Development L.P., for NSH Jacksonville LLC of Dallas, is listed on the preliminary sketch site plan as the owner and developer. Bowman Consulting of Melbourne is the civil engineer.
Bagg said the property is very close to UNF and transportation is being discussed.
Chase continues growing
Chase Bank says it has nine ranches in the Jacksonville area and will open six more this year, including one in Clay County expected to open in November at 2293 Kingsley Ave. in Orange Park.
It also has 24 ATMs in the area, including four in Clay County, with plans to add more.
There’s no word yet about Chase’s intentions for Downtown.
The Daily Record has reported that Chase might be interested in putting a branch and possibly other office functions in the old Barnett Bank Building at 112 W. Adams St. Chase says only it has no news to share.
More than double the shipping
Nordstrom Inc., which said Wednesday it ships to 44 countries, updated that Thursday to 98 countries.
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