Retired JAX Chamber CEO Wally Lee and Anna Valent, former chamber vice president of operations, expect to announce details soon about their new Jacksonville venture, Lee-Valent Group LLC.
They registered the name with the state April 4. Each is a manager of the LLC.
The address of the Lee-Valent Group is 10060 Skinner Lake Drive, which is the BBVA Compass Bank office building where the JAX Chamber is operating while it awaits completion of its Downtown headquarters renovation.
Valent's last day at the chamber was April 15. She remains as a consultant and is managing the renovation project until it is completed.
Lee retired Dec. 31 after 23 years with the chamber and remained as a consultant through March. He said in December that after his chamber retirement he would remain active in business and the community.
Lee said he and Valent will release information within a week or two about their business model. He said the business address will be at the BBVA Compass building "at least in the near future."
Build-out for homeless day center
The City approved build-out at City Rescue Mission property at 221 W. Union St. for use as the City's Day Resource Center for the homeless.
ACON Construction Co. Inc. is the contractor for the project, shown on the permit at a cost of $69,949.
As the Daily Record reported, the Jacksonville Day Resource Center is scheduled to open in July.
Terrance Ashanta-Barker, director of the City Neighborhoods Department, said the center will allow service providers to better serve the homeless population.
"To house the most vulnerable, you have to know them well enough to know what it takes to get them off the street," he said.
Dawn Gilman, Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition of Northeast Florida executive directors, said the last time a census of homeless people in the Downtown area was conducted, about 400 people were counted as living unsheltered.
Gilman said a day center has been on the coalition's 10-year plan "for more than 15 years."
In addition to providing lunch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the center will provide a facility for homeless people to shower and wash clothes.
Tillis DeVaughn, the City's lead project manager, said opening the day center could reduce the homeless population in Hemming Plaza, which has become an issue for Downtown business owners, residents and visitors.
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