• The Omni is planning a $4 million renovation, which includes improvements to its rooms, corridors, fitness center and lobby. The project is scheduled to begin in June and conclude by October. Dallas-based AKA Design, Inc. is handling the project.
• There’ll be some relief soon for visitors to the Sports Complex. Site preparation is underway to pave the site of the old Coliseum, adding some much needed parking to the area.
• The City’s new chief operating officer is settling into his job. Dan Kleman looked up from his stacks of paperwork long enough Wednesday to realize he was still wearing a lapel pin from Hillsborough County — his former employer. Kleman took it off and said he’d replace it with a Super Bowl pin.
• The general manager for the local Fox and CBS affiliates told Mayor John Peyton in a letter that she would “do everything in my power” to prevent another Super Bowl halftime show disaster when the game comes to Jacksonville next year. Susan Adams Lloyd said the show’s broadcast on Ch. 47 was “unavoidable from a local perspective.” Lloyd told Peyton that she spoke with Fox president Tony Vinciquerra moments after watching the performance live, telling him Jacksonville had loftier expectations for next year’s entertainment. Fox will broadcast next year’s game.
• General Counsel Rick Mullaney is the speaker at Friday’s Christian Legal Society of Jacksonville luncheon. It begins at 12:15 p.m. at Sterlings of Downtown. For reservations, contact Jane Arnold at [email protected]
• The bankruptcy clerk’s office in the U.S. Courthouse at Jacksonville will be closed today from noon-1 p.m.
• The Elks Building on Laura Street may have a new tenant soon. Legal Art Works has been looking at the space next to La Cena.
• The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department will welcome 15 new firefighters during a ceremony tonight at the Alden Road training academy. The graduating class includes 14 men and one woman. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m.
• Ponte Vedra Travel in Ponte Vedra Beach has merged with Valerie Wilson Travel, Inc. and is now known as Valerie Wilson Travel — Ponte Vedra.
• The Landing is making downtown the cool place to be after work by launching High Tide from 5-7:30 p.m., beginning Tuesday. The entertainment happy hour will be held three evenings a week. Tuesday will feature island sounds. Jazz and reggae will be on Wednesday. The River Rally Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival will be each Thursday. The Landing will also continue to have live music every Friday and Saturday night.