• Orlando developer Cameron Kuhn almost added to his Jacksonville portfolio last week. Kuhn was supposed to close on the Life of the South building at the corner of Bay and Laura but, according to Life of the South partner Tom Jones, Kuhn “dropped his option.” Jones said the building wasn’t for sale, but Kuhn made a good offer initially. He said the building is currently 100 percent leased.
• For those basketball fans out there with connections to the JEDC, now’s the time to start lobbying for a spot in the commission’s box when the NCAA basketball tournament comes to town. The City is putting together an invite list for its 60-seat box for the slew of first and second-round games coming to the Veteran’s Memorial Arena March 16-19. The JEDC wants to use the seats to woo organizers of other big-time sporting events and to reward sponsors of past events. Expect the Outback Steakhouse to be well represented. The restaurant has donated about $50,000 worth of food to other City sporting events.
• The Bacardi Bottling Corp. on the Northside produces a lot of rum annually, but you probably don’t realize how much. How about 9 million cases a year that are shipped all over the world.
• Jacksonville rocker Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit isn’t the only musician in his family. His mom plays the organ at a Lutheran church.
• The commercial real estate firm of Colliers Dickinson has added Jeff Evans and Paul Parsons. Evans was with Patillo Construction; Parsons has been a Realtor at the beach and a recently-defeated incumbent on the Atlantic Beach city commission.
• Organizers for the Bausch & Lomb tennis tournament raised quite a racket when they asked the City for $25,000 to help put on this year’s event. To City Hall and the JEDC, that seemed like a lot of Duval County money to serve to a Nassau County event. But the City will part with $2,500 since the tournament pays for a lot of advertising in Duval and brings national recognition to Jacksonville.
• If you believe the legend, the fate of winter will be determined in a little over two weeks and one law firm — Tritt & Franson, P.A. — is celebrating Groundhog Day with the First Annual Groundhog Day Extravaganza Feb. 2.
• The Gator Bowl Association is thanking its volunteers for all their hard work with a volunteer appreciation party at Adventure Landing at the beach. Buffet, cocktails and free games. The volunteers had twice the workload this year thanks to the inaugural ACC Championship game.
• The Historic Jacksonville Downtown Resident & Business Association Pioneers -4-Jax will hold a meeting Thursday at 6:32 p.m. in the clubhouse at 11 E. All downtown residents and business owners are invited to discuss ways to increase the vitality of downtown Jacksonville. For information, call 710-7016.