• Mayor John Peyton has been asked to throw out the first pitch at the Jacksonville Suns season opener April 8. Peyton has yet to accept the offer and Suns General Manager Peter Bragan Jr. was unsure if it would happen. “I really don’t know,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to see if he can fit it into his schedule.”
• Smith, Hulsey & Busey law firm has been selected to represent the City as outside counsel in a pending lawsuit. The suit claims that the City reneged on a deal to allow developers to build a Marriott hotel near the Osborn Center.
• The Jacksonville Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) will hold its monthly meeting April 13 at Holland & Knight, 50 N. Laura St., Suite 3900. The guest speaker will be Melissa Copley of Jones, Lang, LaSalle’s Chicago office on Top Trends in Law Firms. Those who are interested in learning more about ALA should call Angie Coker at 353-2000.
• A new associate has joined Holland & Knight. Nicole H. Fried, formerly with Wicker Smith O’Hara McCoy Graham & Ford, is in the Litigation division.
• City Council member Faye Rustin has introduced legislation appropriating $300,000 to the First Coast Black Business Investment Corporation. The money, which would come from Jacksonville Economic Development Commission reserves, would be used to fund a BBIC incubator and loan program. In August, the BBIC received a $300,000 general services grant from the City Council.
• According to Dan McCarthy, the City’s director of military affairs, the U.S. Department of Labor could be offering employment assistance to military spouses and veterans entering civilian life. The department ran a pilot program in San Diego and is now looking into bringing it to Jacksonville.
• Dennis Pate, executive director of the Jacksonville Zoo, is the new board member for the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau. He takes over the seat left vacant when Landing GM John Kiddy resigned.
• Foley & Lardner’s move to Independent Square may happen sooner than expected. Renovations to the new office space are progressing quicker than expected, putting the move ahead of schedule.
• Speaking of Foley & Lardner, once they are out of the Greenleaf Building on Laura Street, it will be completely vacant. Edwards, Cohen, Sanders & Dawson moved out late last year. There’s no word on any definite plans, but there has been some talk of adapting the building for residential use. There’s one problem, however. The cost to replace both of the notoriously slow elevators would hover somewhere around $1 million.
• Danny’s Southern Paradise recently hosted a grand opening in Jacksonville Beach for its new location. The restaurant moved from its downtown location on West Forsyth Street.