Feature[23] expects to move its software engineering business Downtown next month, and no later than May, leasing one floor of the Greenleaf & Crosby Building and expecting to need another within two years.
“We’re seeing a resurgence of Downtown,” said Jeremy Vaughan, a principal of the St. Augustine-based company and its chief strategist. “As a small business, we want to be around that momentum and energy.”
Feature[23] launched in 2008 in Jacksonville’s Southpoint area and moved to St. Augustine two years ago.
“That was pre-Shad Khan,” Vaughan said, referring to the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Khan bought the NFL franchise in early 2012 and has been supportive of Downtown ventures, including financing the KYN business accelerator.
With 13 technologists, engineers, design, and business consultants, Vaughan said feature[23] will continue to grow. It also expects people to be in and out of its offices as its startup partners — Restrrom Alert, Nerdular, Stocktagon, and Profile Gorilla — work in the open, collaborative space being designed.
The city is reviewing a permit application for Tenant Contractors Inc. to renovate about 4,400 square feet of space on the 10th floor of Greenleaf & Crosby at 208 N. Laura St. Build-out is shown as a $110,000 project.
Space plans show offices, a conference room, a break area with games, open offices, collaboration space and more. The architect is ASD.
The building, also referred to as Greenleaf Tower, comprises 12 floors and about 57,800 square feet of space. It was built in 1927 and renovated in 1985 and 1999.
On its website, feature23.com, feature[23] describes itself as “the best software engineering delivery system available. Period.”
Vaughan said it is a learning organization that encourages its employees to question boundaries and limitations, and that stresses honesty and transparency with its more than 30 clients, for example by not charging for its own mistakes.
The company began in 2008 when Mike Potts, a principal, founded Potts Consulting
Group.
He wanted to offer his clients technological solutions that weren’t just “patches” written to spec, but that were more realistic, with staying power for those who deployed them, Vaughan said.
After a few years in business, the firm noticed new patterns. “Feature[23] is a philosophy based on software engineering and everything that advances the field,” says the website.
The company recently was selected into Microsoft’s Azure Circle partnership. Lead software engineer Paul Irwin said that means there are co-marketing and training opportunities with Microsoft, as well as developing powerful cloud services for feature[23]’s clients.
“Joining the Windows Azure Circle is an awesome opportunity to help fast-track our clients into the cloud. Developers already love the Azure toolset for its power and flexibility, and the value proposition of Windows Azure is huge,” Vaughan said.
And the genesis of the name feature[23]?
Vaughan said the brand name came from the company’s philosophy of delivering solutions to clients that have been prototyped and tested thoroughly before launch and build lasting value for their businesses.
“In this particular case, the ‘lasting value’ was within lines of code called ‘feature set 23,’ which was the revenue generator for this client’s application. Feature 23 was talked about so often within the small office that the name just stuck,” said Vaughan.
Downtown also closer to Corner Bakery
The area’s first Corner Bakery Café is a step closer to opening in Downtown’s Brooklyn area.
The city is reviewing a construction permit application for a 4,000-square-foot shell building at 192 Riverside Ave. in the Shoppes on Riverside project. The “Shops B” building, described as family dining in the documents but not identified as the Corner Bakery, sits separately along Riverside Avenue.
Regency Centers Corp. confirmed it would be the Corner Bakery. No contractor was specified for the $240,000 shell structure.
The architect is Wakefield Beasley & Associates.
Corner Bakery will occupy a standalone building in front of the structure that will feature The Fresh Market.
The Fresh Market will lease a 20,400-square-foot building that will have adjacent retail space on each side. The first three buildings approved comprise the building for The Fresh Market, a 5,800-square-foot building and a 4,200-square-foot structure connected on the west and east.
The center eventually will comprise almost 50,000 square feet. It is a joint venture of Regency Centers Corp. of Jacksonville
and Fuqua Development of Atlanta.
The Corner Bakery, a fast-casual restaurant, is expected to open late this year. It offers made-to-order breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as catering.
In September, the Dallas-based company said it would open its first Northeast Florida store this year and that it plans to open as many as 10 restaurants in the area as part of a multi-unit restaurant franchise agreement.
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