by Brad Parsons
Staff Writer
GrayRobinson welcomed Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton as the speaker at the law firm’s inaugural Community Leader Forum in Jacksonville.
The forums bring together community leaders in law, politics and business to discuss issues important to Jacksonville. GrayRobinson convenes the forums quarterly in legal markets like Miami, Tampa and Orlando. Thursday’s luncheon at the River Club was the first in Jacksonville.
GrayRobinson opened its Jacksonville office in November 2004. The firm has more than 190 attorneys throughout 10 offices in Florida.
Barton took attendees on a wide-ranging tour of Jacksonville’s pressing economic development issues. He detailed prospects for developing Cecil Field, West Jacksonville’s Navy base turned aerospace industrial park, and called for a revamped approach to funding the City’s infrastructure needs.
The City would have to pay less in incentives if it invested adequately in infrastructure, he said.
Barton also addressed the City’s meandering negotiations with the Jacksonville Landing. The City recently scrapped a deal that could have sold the land under the downtown mall to developer and Landing owner Toney Sleiman.
Barton said the City made the right move in pulling out of the deal, which resulted from parking negotiations gone wrong. The City started out trying to fix parking problems at the Landing and wound up almost selling valuable riverfront land, he said.
How many turns have the negotiations with Sleiman taken? Barton summed them up by quoting the Grateful Dead, sort of.
“It’s a wild, strange trip we’ve been on,” said Barton.
But Barton said the City made the right call in keeping the land. Selling it would have worked against the City’s master plan for downtown, he said.
“Sometimes it’s better to sit on land and wait for the chance to do it right,” he said.
Barton also defended the use of development incentives, although he said the City should be more selective with them.
“It’s Utopia to think we can abolish the use of incentives because our competitor will not,” said Barton. “But what we will do is make sure we get a return on the taxpayers’ investment.”
GrayRobinson plans to hold the forums quarterly, said Keith James, the firm’s marketing director. The firm’s focus is in business law, with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies and governments to entrepreneurs and small businesses.