• Kent & Crawford, P.A., a local law firm focusing on real estate, business, tax and estate planning, is merging with Marks Gray, P.A., effective Aug. 1. The new law firm will continue as Marks Gray, P.A., with 23 attorneys and over 40 other employees. Marks Gray will also acquire offices in Ponte Vedra Beach and in the Wachovia Building. “This new union will expand and strengthen Marks Gray’s transactional practice and provide Kent & Crawford’s clients with litigation services,” said Gerald W. Weedon, president of Marks Gray.
• A popular local restaurant is closing its doors July 30. Wilifried Hausy, owner of 24 Miramar, says the restaurant lease expired July 1 and he has a “seven-year itch” to do something different. There’ll be a private party Aug. 5 to help send the restaurant out in style.
• Back in town: journalist Michael Dillin, who worked for the T-U and both Ch. 4 and Ch. 12, as well as being a speechwriter for various politicians. He’s been downstate and he’s now at PRC Digital Media, owned by old Ch. 4 pal Ray Hays.
• Former Jacksonville mag staffer Linda Crofton (yes, ex-wife of radio disc jockey Arthur Crofton) is now raising money for the zoo.
• The Downtown Council’s Skyway party wasn’t all bad (they ran out of food, among other things): it raised $6,000 for scholarships.
• You’ve read about other cities having painted objects around town (Orlando had lizards, Atlanta has cows) as a charity fundraiser? Yes, we’re finally getting into the big time and an organization will make an announcement soon. Manatees, of course.
• Following some “monetary concerns” a few months back, wine boutique Crush has resumed plans to open a French-style bistro in Avondale. The doors should open in three or four months.
• Edwards, Cohen, Sanders and Dawson law firm is hoping to relocate its offices to the Dyal-Upchurch Building on Bay Street by late fall. They’re in the Greenleaf Building now.
• The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission has nominated South Jacksonville Grammar School to be included in the Florida National Register of Historic Places. The historic preservation commission will begin a 60-day review of the school to see if it merits inclusion in the register.