Junior Achievement of North Florida presented its top award May 13 to Jacksonville business executive Andy Allen, honoring him for community leadership.
Allen is the co-founder and CEO of Corner Lot, which has grown to a billion-dollar company in residential, multfamily, mixed-use development and hospitality since launching in 2009.
He received the Thompson S. Baker “Solid as a Rock” Award at JANFL’s 27th Hall of Fame Luncheon at the Adam W. Herbert University Center at the University of North Florida.
About 350 people attended the event.
Rob Sandlin, the retired president of Florida Rock & Tank Lines, presented the award to Allen, describing how he met the former Jacksonville University golfer through the game. Recalling a golf trip to Dalton, Georgia, Sandlin said “Andy talked all the way up there” about his vision for Jacksonville and how it could reach its potential as a vibrant metro.
“I remember that conversation like it was yesterday, and I’ve had the absolute joy of watching him make every word of it happen,” Sandlin said.
Under Allen’s leadership, Corner Lot has invested in projects in and around Downtown, including the $93 million, 340-unit Artea apartments at 944 Broadcast Place, while developing multfiamily properties with rents for workforce through luxury tenants. Other projects include restoration of the historic Casa Marina Hotel in Jacksonville Beach.
A new venture is Corner Lot’s proposed hotel tower at 330 E. Bay St. on the Downtown Northbank, which would include a Southeast campus of the Culinary Institute of America. Corner Lot is partnering with Aspect Real Estate Group on the project for which Jacksonville City Council is considering providing $35 million in incentives to attract the CIA.
“He doesn’t do anything small, he doesn’t show up halfway and he does not stop until people around him are better for it,” Sandlin said. If you know Andy, you know this: He believes Jacksonville’s best days are ahead.”
Allen thanked his business partner, George Leone, and other community members and his wife, Kristen, tearing up as he spoke to her from the stage. He joked that he had Googled what speakers should do if they begin crying, the answer being to place their tongue on the roof of their mouth.
“It works, too,” he said.
Allen themed his speech on an acronym, ERECT, which stood for educate, relationships, elevate, community and team. Each of those words, he said, spoke to the missions for Corner Lot and JA.
“So let’s go erect, or build up, Jacksonville,” he said.
JANFL says the Baker award “recognizes individuals who have dedicated themselves to bettering our community through leadership, hands-on involvement and philanthropic deeds.”
The award’s namesake, and inaugural winner, founded the company that became Florida Rock Industries Inc. Other recipients include Preston Haskell, founder of Haskell engineering and construction company; Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan; former Jaguars owners Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver; and former Duval County sheriff and Edward Waters University President Nathaniel “Nat” Glover.
Other honorees at the Hall of Fame event were Pam Coleman, career technical education instructor at Westside High School, as Educator of the Year; Evan Satterwhite of Bank OZK as Volunteer of the Year; and FIS as Company of the Year.