by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
More than 50 years ago, the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce (now the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce) began establishing local councils to serve specific geographic areas.
The first such organization was the Downtown Council, since more than a half-century ago, business in Duval and surrounding counties was primarily located in Downtown Jacksonville.
The current Downtown Council meets twice each month to network and learn about business issues affecting the region through guest speakers.
At its Friday meeting before Labor Day, the Downtown Council welcomed Steve Grossman, executive director and CEO of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. In his half-hour presentation, Grossman covered two main topics: running the authority as a business and developments at Cecil Field, the JAA’s portion of the former Naval Air Station along 103rd Street at Normandy Boulevard. Another portion of the property, Cecil Commerce Center, is managed by the City through the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
“I’m a businessman,” said Grossman. “My business is airplanes coming and going.”
He said that the JAA is in many ways like any other business. “Cash flow is everything. We receive no money from the taxpayers and we survive on money we take in from our users.”
It’s also one of the most heavily regulated businesses in the country.
“There is some federal regulation that governs everything we do. We’re also governed by state law, including the (Florida) Government-in-the-Sunshine Law,” said Grossman.
Tenants at Cecil Field include Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs, among others. Grossman said more than 1.3 million square feet of hangar and office space is occupied at Cecil Field. “It’s 100 percent leased,” he said.
Grossman also said there were more than 3,000 employees at Cecil Field. “It’s a thriving operation and turns a small profit,” he said.
“When companies come to Cecil Field, they see a great place to live, an excellent work force and a business-friendly environment.”
In addition to Cecil Field, the authority also manages Jacksonville International Airport and two smaller airports, Craig Airport and Herlong Airport. Grossman described Herlong as a “recreational airport” and home to general aviation users, gliders and a parachute club.
“It’s loved by the aviation community,” he said.
One of the things in the future for Cecil Field is making use of the federal commercial spaceport license that was granted in February. Since the government is pulling out of the space business, the private sector is entering the business. Cecil Field is one of just eight spaceports in the country and the only one in an urban area.
“The rest of them are out in the middle of the desert,” said Grossman.
At first, private passenger space travel will be limited to “space tourism,” suborbital flights that will cost about $250,000 a ticket and provide a few minutes of time in space before landing back at Cecil Field.
Eventually, Grossman said, the vehicles will become larger, to accommodate about 20 passengers, and will provide commercial service to Europe in an hour and to Asia in about 90 minutes. That would save a traveler about nine hours for a European flight and more than 18 hours to an Asian destination.
As for the possibility of attracting more international service at JIA, in order for a carrier to justify using the airport as a hub, there would have to be at least 1,000 passengers a week going to one overseas destination.
“We have about 309 people a day traveling to 102 international destinations. I think our future is the Caribbean and South America,” said Grossman. The first step will be to establish a direct flight to Puerto Rico. “If we can prove Puerto Rico works, Costa Rica is our next target.”
The Downtown Council meets the first and third Fridays of each month at Currents Riverview Bistro on the second floor of the Aetna Building on the Southbank. Guests are welcome. For more information, visit www.downtowncouncil.org.
356-2466