• The Barnett Bank building on the corner of Laura and West Adams streets may be sold by the end of next week. The potential owners confirmed negotiations are in the “legal stage,” but declined to say anything further or reveal any designs they have for the property.
• Love in City Hall. The City’s Washington lobbyist, Brad Thoburn, and Special Events worker Dearing Setzer are engaged with a Feb. 28 wedding planned. How did they meet? He saw her picture in the Daily Record and went downstairs to meet her.
• A national real estate survey indicates our prime housing is taking a tumble. The survey compared big-house (4,000 square feet and up) sales in the first six months of this year compared to the same time last year, and we’re off 12.4 percent.
• No, the attorney named Alison Miller who’s moving to Texas isn’t the Chamber lobbyist. Same spelling.
• Christina Langston, senior communications manager of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission is returning to the private sector with a position at Northrop Grumman. She’ll handle internal communications at the company’s site in St. Augustine.
• The City’s real estate chief, Patricia Brown, will retire at the end of the year. Mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy said interim Chief Operating Officer Lynn Westbrook would interview six candidates to replace Brown. Murphy said Brown would have input into the process.
• Football fans watching the late NFL games on television Sunday in the Bud Zone at Alltel Stadium following the Jags-Bills game, weren’t able to see the end of the games. The Bud Zone closed during the fourth quarter of the late games, sending irate fans on their way.
• Reminder: reservations are required for Bill Belleville’s free presentation about his upcoming documentary on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the St. Johns River. The talk, which is open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m., Sept. 23, at Epping Forest Yacht Club. To make reservations, call Host Committee chair Teri Sopp at 350-6677.
• Hurricane Isabel has postponed Mayor John Peyton’s planned visit to the Enterprise Battle Group, now conducting training exercises off the coast of Florida. The mayor was to have gone out Tuesday and returned Wednesday. The new schedule calls for a Saturday visit.
• The American Symphony Orchestra League, a national service organization for over 900 orchestras in the United States, has a new conducting fellowship. In December, ASOL conductors will lead the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra through the selection process.