• The Great American Jazz Piano Competition is April 7 at the Florida Theatre and the contestants will need at least five hotel rooms. None of the five pianists are from Jacksonville. Two are from Brooklyn, one from New York City, one from Washington, D.C. and one is from Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania.
• The owners of the Aetna Building are trying to convince its signature tenant to consolidate its Southeast operations in Jacksonville. Hal Dodt, the managing partner with South Shore Group, said he wants to sign Aetna to a lease extension and said he’s talked to the insurance company about moving operations from other cities in the region to Jacksonville.
• The latest buzz word in downtown development is the “icon” project. LandMar CEO Ed Burr talked two weeks ago about turning a Shipyards pier into an “icon” public park. Then Hines vice president Walter O’Shea told the Downtown Development Authority Wednesday that the Riverpointe development planned to go next to the Aetna Building would be “an icon building.”
• The DDA was obviously pleased to have Hines entering the downtown development market. The company has developed highrises across the U.S., Europe and Asia. DDA board member David Auchter said the company’s interest in the Southbank was “a real strong indicator that we’ve made a mark on the Southbank.” The DDA was also impressed with Hines’ choice of Miami architecture firm Arquitectonica to design the building. Hines V.P. O’Shea called Jacksonville a “rising star” and said the city would “really come into prominence in the region,” over the next 20 years.
• Riverfront development projects will no longer get credit from the JEDC for building in “distressed areas.” That designation makes it easier to get incentives and its attachment to projects on the water has produced some eye rolling from advocates of Jacksonville’s Northside and Westside neighborhoods. Those projects can still get credit for building downtown, another plus, but they won’t be labeled distressed.
• There’s a new exhibit at the J. Johnson Gallery in Jacksonville Beach. Artist Jan Fish’s paintings are on display and April 1 is the official opening bash.