• City Council President Elaine Brown is reserving judgment on the City’s pending deal with Toney Sleiman to let the developer take over ownership of the Landing and an adjacent parking lot. She said she wants to see what Sleiman’s development plans are and wants City Council auditors to take a look at the final deal when both the developer and the mayor’s office give their final approval. Details of the deal are still sketchy, but it looks like the deal calls for the City to hand over the deed for the land, which is valued at around $13 million. In return, Sleiman would pay to build a parking garage. That means the City won’t have to pay about $10 million to build the garage.
• The Jacksonville Suns are getting help from the transportation authority for their daytime Businessperson’s Special games this year. The trolley drivers will wear Suns’ t-shirts and caps on game day and there will be more gametime runs from the business district to the baseball park.
• As expected, Randy Evans resigned as the chairman of the Jacksonville Housing Commission. He’s joining FreshMinistries USA as its president of Domestic Ministries and a ruling from City attorneys decreed that serving in both capacities is prohibited by state ethics laws.
• JEDC Chairman Ceree Harden said the City is very close to hiring a recruiter to find the next executive director. Harden said the ideal candidate will combine bureaucratic economic development know-how with private-sector executive experience. The JEDC will search nationally, but Harden isn’t ruling out a local candidate.
• JEDC Commissioner Brad Glass did such a good job defending the City’s side of its negotiations with LandMar to develop The Shipyards that he almost scared off the developer. Glass, president of the Auchter Company, said the City should be grateful that LandMar wanted to take over the huge stretch of riverfront land at the foot of the Sports Complex. Glass said the land was “not particularly clean, it’s broken up, it’s hard to develop.” As he spoke, LandMar CEO Ed Burr jokingly ran for the exit of the JEDC chambers. “I don’t mean to scare you, Ed,” said Glass.
• A couple of issues to watch as the City Council considers The Shipyards deal. First, the price of the land. Nobody really knows what it’s worth, but the City and LandMar figure the value at around $30 million. If an independent appraisal due in the next two weeks finds the land to be worth from $45 to $60 million, some of the JEDC commissioners think the City should consider keeping it. Second is the so-called use-it-or-lose-it portion of the contract. The provision gives LandMar a deadline of 2015 to begin substantial development or else give up the property. Commissioner Bob Rhodes says it’s too soft. Burr said any strengthening of the clause would be unacceptable and unfair.
• A familiar byline will be on these pages starting next week when reporter Mike Sharkey returns after a try at the public relations world.
• The Springfield homebuilding company SRG Homes & Neighborhoods has hired Tony Simon to be vice president of estimating. He’s a Springfield resident.