• Construction of the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines container terminal at Dames Point is more than 50 percent complete, according to David Smolder, director of the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Terminal Development Program. He said the facility should be open for operations in January and the first Mitsui cargo ships could arrive in July, 2009. Next month, work will begin on the $11.8 million road project near Heckscher Drive, New Berlin Road and State Road 9A that will improve intermodal freight access to the terminal.
• Speaking of the road improvements, Council member Ray Holt told Vice President Ronnie Fussell he was fine with proposed zone changes of properties near New Berlin Road from residential to light industrial, although he wanted properties to remain residential along Alta Drive. The discussion followed their meeting about the City’s groundwater resources ordinance on Tuesday, and Jason Teal of the Office of General Counsel advised “very light discussion,” as the topic of zone changes wasn’t advertised on the meeting notice. However, Fussell said his assistant had cleared the discussion topic with Deputy General Counsel Steve Rohan.
• Direct to Beantown and back: Beginning Saturday, JetBlue will operate daily non-stop flights between Jacksonville International Airport (JIA) and Logan International Airport in Boston. Additional service at JIA is scheduled in May, when Southwest Airlines plans to add a daily non-stop flight to Las Vegas.
• The Spring Lake Business Center was recently named Jacksonville’s Suburban Office Park of the Year by the Building Owners and Managers Association. The honor, known as the TOBY Award, recognizes excellence in the office building industry. The center, owned by BPG Properties, is a 230,276-square-foot property off Salisbury Road and went through a capital improvement campaign that upgraded parking lots, exterior signage and light fixtures as well as overall renovations to the campus common areas.
• The Intermezzo Free Sunday concerts at the Main Library continue this weekend with Jacksonville University music professors Robert W. Tudor (baritone) and Scott Watkins (piano) performing a recital entitled “Echoes of Empire — Music and Poetry of Great Britain,” featuring works by George Butterworth, Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Greer, plus arrangements of “The Last Rose of Summer” and “Danny Boy.” All concerts are held in the Hicks Auditorium on the conference level near the Main Street entrances. Reservations are not required, and a post-concert reception will be held. For concert details and updates, visit jaxpubliclibrary.org.
• CB Richard Ellis has been named the 2008 Energy Star Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The commercial real estate company was selected for its outstanding energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
“It has become the custom in our country to expect all Chief Executives, from the President down, to conduct activities analogous to an entertainment bureau. No occasion is too trivial for its promoters to invite them to attend and deliver an address.”
– Calvin Coolidge, U.S. president