Hertz is returning Downtown and intends to open in the Police and Fire Pension Fund building at 1 W. Adams St. early next year.
Fund Administrator John Keane said Monday that Hertz would lease space in the former Firehouse Subs location and use 10-15 spaces in the fund’s garage.
He said Hertz should start renting cars there by Valentine’s Day.
“We think it’s a good fit,” Keane said.
The city is reviewing a building-permit application for the Hertz car-rental location. Adams Interior Contractors is the contractor for the $35,744 build-out of 650 square feet.
Keane said it would take about 30 days for renovations after the permit is issued.
Hertz approached the fund, whose board approved the deal in November, according to Keane.
Keane said it has been at least 10 years since Hertz operated in Downtown. He said the agency operated at Monroe and Pearl streets before construction began for the Duval County Courthouse.
Keane said the deal begins with a three-year lease at $804.17 a month. Three five-year extensions with escalation rates would total about $200,000 over the 18 years.
Keane said the location at 1 W. Adams St. is convenient for hotels as well as businesses that include the nonprofits at the Jessie Ball duPont Center under renovation at Adams and Ocean streets.
He also said the lease will provide a “little income stream” to help pay down the unfunded liability for the fund.
Hertz won’t be the only car-rental agency on the Northbank Downtown. Enterprise Rent-A-Car recently opened at the library parking garage at 33 W. Duval St. It already operated at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel.
Gate files Beach Boulevard plans
Gate Petroleum Co. filed site plans with the city for its proposed gas station and convenience store south of Beach Boulevard, east of Hodges Boulevard.
The 5,800-square-foot convenience, store along with 20 fueling stations and a car wash, are planned on 2.18 acres. Prosser Inc. is the civil engineer.
Gate expects to open it by the second or third quarter of 2015.
Ecolab building in review
Site plans are under review for a proposed 126,948-square-foot office-warehouse for Ecolab Inc. at 13500 Tradeport Circle E. in Jacksonville International Tradeport.
Ecolab, a St. Paul, Minn.-based company, proposes to lease a build-to-suit facility in the Tradeport Industrial Park for its Microtek Medical division.
Site plans show Thackeray Partners of Dallas owns the 12.42-acre site. The building will comprise 10,000 square feet for offices and 116,948 square feet for warehouse space.
City Council adopted a resolution for Ecolab to receive $214,000 in tax breaks to add 35 jobs in moving to the Tradeport site from Southside.
Ecolab and the landlord committed to a $9 million investment at the site in the Jacksonville International Airport Community Redevelopment Area.
Ecolab committed to a private capital investment of $1.5 million, with a landlord private capital investment of $7.5 million for construction.
Ecolab is a water, hygiene and energy technologies and services company. It bought Microtek Medical, its medical device health care division, in 2007 and has been operating in an 88,000-square-foot facility on A.C. Skinner Parkway. It employs 55 people there.
No More Homeless Pets wants to start on clinic
First Coast No More Homeless Pets is taking the first steps toward developing the Westside property it bought in November to develop a clinic, warehouse and offices to serve as a second location to its Northwest Jacksonville headquarters.
The nonprofit, whose mission is to end the killing of dogs and cats in shelters, applied with the city to demolish the interior of a 10,412-square-foot building at 464 Cassat Ave. First Coast No More Homeless Pets bought three buildings at the site.
The complex will be redeveloped as The First Coast No More Homeless Pets Mary Lou Russell Animal Welfare Complex and one of the three buildings there will become the Joseph A. Strasser Veterinary Hospital. Russell and Strasser are major donors toward the project.
Arwood Waste Inc. is shown as the contractor for the interior demolition at a project cost of $43,400. That building is planned as the clinic.
The city is reviewing the nonprofit’s plans at the 1.23-acre site at Cassat and Highway avenues.
Founder and Executive Director Rick DuCharme said previously the project, estimated at a total investment of about $2.3 million, should be completed by July.
The nonprofit is based at 6817 Norwood Ave., where it offers spay/neuter services; a low-cost veterinary clinic; adoption information; and more. The site is called The Joseph A. Strasser Animal Health & Welfare Building.
The Cassat Avenue project will allow the nonprofit to expand its low-cost veterinary services, although all spay/neuter services will continue to be done at Norwood. Both locations would operate seven days a week.
Phenix Salon Suites to open in Five Points
Phenix 5 Points Salon is planned in Five Points Village at 1012 Margaret St.
A building-permit application shows a $320,000 build-out of 4,000 square feet.
Phenix Salon Suites, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., has 20 locations in Florida, according to its website. The concept allows hair stylists, nail technicians and other professionals to lease suites within the business.
GDP Design & Construction Inc. of Winter Park is the contractor for the project.
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