Jacksonville Jaguars CFO Bill Prescott, also Visit Jacksonville treasurer, sent an email Thursday inviting folks to meet him and his wife, Kim, for dinner Aug. 4 at Café Nola. He said they have dinner reservations at 7 p.m. “I invite you to show your commitment to Downtown by making a reservation for any time from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Café Nola.” Prescott cites a Wall Street Journal report about actor Robert De Niro inviting friends and associates to dine at TriBeCa restaurants, “and how that simple action helped to save jobs and keep the lights on in that neighborhood as it recovered from 9/11.” Prescott’s goal is to bring 100 diners to dinner that night and he asks others to share his invitation.
• Update from Thursday: Former NAS Jacksonville Commanding Officer Capt. Jack Scorby returns to Jacksonville and assumes command of Navy Region Southeast Aug. 18. Scorby is a Rear Admiral select currently serving in Washington D.C. He served at NAS Jacksonville 2007-10.
• A half-hour into Thursday’s meeting of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission in the mayor’s large conference room at City Hall, the doors opened and without a word, staff from the audio-visual department walked in and removed the podium and the state and American flags. The removal took place during a presentation by JEDC Business Recruitment and Retention Coordinator Joe Whitaker, prompting a comment from JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton. “That’s not a reflection on your presentation, Joe.” The items were needed for Mayor Alvin Brown’s budget presentation this morning.
• One more from Whitaker: Before the meeting adjourned, JEDC Chair Zimmermann Boulos asked JEDC staff to stand. He thanked them for their service to the City, followed by a round of applause from the commissioners. “Can we have a raise?” asked Whitaker as he sat down. “Always the salesman,” said Barton.
• The McCormick Agency recently hired two vice presidents of business communications, former City Council member Glorious Johnson and Deon Downey. The McCormick Agency is a public relations agency specializing in the media, community and public relations, special events and corporate imaging.
• Qualifying for a new championship is heading to Jacksonville Aug. 23 at Kona Skatepark — fingerboarding. That’s skateboarding at your fingertips with miniature boards. Tech Deck, the global brand that replicates skateboarding, plans its inaugural U.S. Fingerboarding Championships in partnership with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and the Quiksilver Birdhouse Skateboards MIAtoNYC Tour. The last qualifying stops are Jacksonville, Tampa and Washington, D.C. The championships are Sept. 3 at Long Beach-Long Island. The winner competes for a top prize of $5,000. For more information, visit www.techdeck.com.
• The Main Street America Group was named to the 2011 Ward’s 50 group of top-performing property-casualty insurance companies in the United States. The ranking puts the Jacksonville-based company among the top 2 percent of all U.S. property-casualty carriers. Main Street America is the only Florida-based company to be cited. Since 1991, the Cincinnati-based Ward Group has annually analyzed the performance of more than 3,000 property-casualty insurance companies and 800 life-health insurance companies based in the United States.
• Memphis-based Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. bought Tattersall at Tapestry Park, at 9734 Tapestry Park Circle, from a partnership between Glenmont Capital Management and Arlington Properties for $42.8 million, or about $153,405 per unit. Tattersall, built in 2009, is a 279-unit community and was about 90 percent occupied at the time of the sale. Dan Allen of CB Richard Ellis represented the seller. Mid-America did not have outside representation.
• Roger S. Williams LLC bought a 57,516-square-foot industrial center on 6 acres at 5300 Shad Road from Noland Properties Inc. for $2.6 million, or $45 per square foot. Williams bought the property as a new location for Harbinger Signs, formerly Quality Sign Co., which he has owned and operated since 1962.