By next year’s Florida-Georgia game, visitors and fans should be able to buy food and essentials at two more Downtown stores.
The former Warren Motors building at 233 E. State St. Downtown should be demolished next week and a Family Dollar store and a McDonald’s could be open by March on the site.
Developer J.J. Lamberson, president of Twin Rivers Capital of Charleston, S.C., said after Warren Motors is demolished, the McDonald’s part of the site will be prepared, construction will start on the foundation for Family Dollar and the central driveway separating the two sites will be built.
He said “massive underground stormwater tanks” and other work also will be done.
Lamberson said McDonald’s will lease its ground and handle most of its site work and construction.
The former Warren Motors property was sold Oct. 16 by Ellis, Nedra, Harold and Vita Warren to two Lamberson companies.
The 1.5-acre site was sold in two parcels. Market Street Retail LLC paid $684,000 and Market McD LLC paid $741,000.
The City approved the permit Sept. 24 for the $45,000 demolition project, which is being handled by HJB Construction Inc. of Charleston, S.C.
The property is fenced, the building is being emptied and the site is being prepared to take down the structures and remove the rubble.
Plans were filed in June with the City for the development, along State Street between Newnan and Market streets at the site of Warren Motors. Warren Motors President Ellis Warren said the dealership has been at the State Street location for 23 years and operated at 21st and Pearl streets for 35 years before then.
He moved the business to 4530 Brentwood Ave., east of Interstate 95 and north of Downtown.
The construction permit for McDonald’s at 201 E. State St. shows Stansell Properties of Tampa will build the $689,426 project. It’s designed as a 3,905-square-foot restaurant.
Family Dollar plans to develop a store of about 9,000 square feet on the west side of the site. Taylor & White Inc. is the project engineer and the developer is listed as TRC Lane LLC. The surveyor is Clary & Associates Inc. and the landscape architect is Janet Whitmill.
The McDonald’s would be across the street from the Burger King at 210 E. State St.
Notable wine list
RestaurantNews.com reports that OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service, announced its 2012 Diners’ Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Restaurants with the Most Notable Wine Lists in the U.S. and The Tasting Room Wine & Tapas in St. Augustine was one of eight Florida restaurants that made the cut.
Foreclosure rates on the rise
The CoreLogic research firm reported foreclosure rates in Jacksonville rose in August from August 2011. The rate of Jacksonville area foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was 8.91 percent, up 0.50 percentage points from 8.41 percent in August 2011. Foreclosure activity in Jacksonville was higher than the national rate of 3.35 percent in August.
The mortgage delinquency rate in Jacksonville rose as well. In August, 14.02 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent, up 0.41 percentage points from 13.61 percent in August 2011.
Conventions in town
Here are some of the events Visit Jacksonville reports are booked for November.
• Florida Community College Activities Association, FCSAA State Volleyball Tournament, Nov. 1-4, Jacksonville Marriott, 200 delegates.
• Horse Shows in the Park, Hunter Jumper Series, Nov. 1-4, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, Chaffee Road, 300 delegates.
• Meeting Professionals International, Midyear Board Meeting, Nov. 1-2, Sawgrass Marriott, 14 delegates.
• The Knights & Ladies of St. Peter Claver, Zone Meeting, Nov. 2-3, The Jacksonville Airport Hotel, 150 delegates.
• Tour Time Inc., tour Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Amelia Island, Nov. 2-5, Holiday Inn, Interstate 295 East Beltway and Baymeadows Road, 40 delegates.
• Jacksonville Jaycees, Florida Jaycees 3rd Quarter Conference, Nov. 9-11, Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, 125 delegates.
• American Water Resources Association, Annual Water Resources Conference, Nov. 10-15, Hyatt Downtown, 300 delegates.
• Redox Technologies Inc., Redox Technologies International Conference, Nov. 10-17, Crowne Plaza Jacksonville Riverfront, 200 delegates.
• Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc., Commission Conference, Nov. 12-18, Hyatt Downtown, 900 delegates.
• Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Loan Origination Essentials, Nov. 26-29, Crowne Plaza Jacksonville Riverfront, 28 delegates.
• Florida Parking Association, Annual Conference, Nov. 27-Dec. 1, Renaissance World Golf Village Resort Convention Center and Beach Club, St. Augustine, 175 delegates.
• Florida Department of Health, Board of Nursing Home Administrators, Nov. 29-30, Renaissance World Golf Village Resort Convention Center and Beach Club, St. Augustine, 30 delegates.
• Florida Department of Health, Board of Osteopathic Medicine. Nov. 30, Hyatt Downtown, 50 delegates.
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