INNOVATION

More Proton Therapy in Jacksonville

The Mayo Clinic plans to build a $233-million, 140,000-sq.-ft. cancer care center in Jacksonville, where patients will have access to, among other things, the newest form of proton therapy — pencil beam scanning.

The technology uses a proton beam about the size of a pencil to precisely deliver radiation to a patient’s tumor, destroying the cancer while minimizing damage to nearby healthy tissue and organs, experts say.

When the facility opens in late 2023, Mayo will be the third proton therapy provider in Jacksonville, along with UF Health and privately owned Ackerman Cancer Center. UF Health’s Proton Therapy Institute will soon complete a $39-million expansion in Jacksonville, giving it two proton therapy systems, both with pencil beam scanning technology.

Since opening in 2006, the UF institute has been “a world leader in proton therapy,” says Executive Director Stuart Klein. “That has paved the way for other local providers to emulate and follow our lead.”

UTILITIES

• After authorizing staff to begin looking at ways to privatize JEA, the municipal utility’s board hired financial and legal advisers to field offers from potential buyers. JEA CEO Aaron Zahn has said privatization could allow the utility, which faces declining sales, to avoid layoffs and rate hikes. In an earnings call, FPL’s parent company, Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy, suggested it may be interested in acquiring JEA. “We think we would bring a lot to the customers of those utilities in Florida who would be interested in selling,” NextEra Energy CEO Jim Robo said.

HOSPITALITY

• Lake City Hotels plans to build a TownePlace Suites by Marriott and a Tru by Hilton near Jacksonville International Airport next year.
• Gold Coast Premier Properties will develop a 122-room WoodSpring Suites hotel near a proposed Bentley dealership off I-95 in Jacksonville.
• Tampa-based Impact Properties will develop the first hotel in Wildlight, a new development in Nassau County. The 106-room Marriott-branded hotel is to open in 2020.
• Miami-based Baywood Hotels is developing a 136-room Residence Inn by Marriott in downtown Jacksonville’s Brooklyn neighborhood.

REAL ESTATE

• CSX will spend about $4 million to renovate the third floor of its headquarters and a dispatch center in Jacksonville.
• Jacksonville is seeking bids from developers to buy the former Florida National Guard armory building on two acres downtown, with an option to redevelop an adjacent three-acre site. The Gothic Revival-style armory, built in 1908, has been vacant since 2010.
• Pennsylvania-based Somerset Properties bought a 417,513-sq.-ft. office complex called Capital Plaza in Deerwood Park for about $52 million.
• Jacksonville-based Vestcor has begun the approval process for a mixed-use development on four acres formerly occupied by Bank of America in the Murray Hill neighborhood near downtown. Plans call for 117 apartment units, retail space and surface parking.
• Heritage Development proposed a master-planned community called Parrish Farms on about 2,800 acres near I-95 in southern St. Johns County. The 20-year project includes up to 1,700 single-family homes, 2,000 multifamily units and 4 million square feet of office, retail, hotel and light-industrial development.

SERVICES

• DialAmerica reopened a 7,000-sq.-ft. call center in Ocala and will create about 100 jobs. DialAmerica, which provides call center services, closed the facility in 2015. Workers will handle calls for health insurers.
• Darian Pickett has been named CEO of Jacksonville-based sales and marketing firm Acosta. Pickett, previously chief client officer, succeeds Alejandro Rodriguez Bas, who left after a year to “pursue other opportunities,” Acosta says.

TECHNOLOGY

• Jacksonville-based website services provider Web.com acquired Australia-based Dreamscape for about $73 million.
• India-based software company Mindtree will close its 7-year-old development center at the University of Florida’s Innovation Square in Gainesville by late December.

HEALTH CARE

• UF Health Shands Hospital opened a renovated intensive care unit for burn and serious-wound patients. The 34,000-sq.-ft. unit now has 27 patient rooms, up from eight rooms previously. The twoyear renovation cost $30 million.

GOVERNMENT

• The Gainesville City Commission approved a plan to draft a new rental housing ordinance that would require landlords to meet energy-efficiency standards and codify renters’ rights. The ordinance also would establish a mediation program to handle landlord-tenant disputes and create a staff position to oversee rental housing issues. Commissioners could vote on the ordinance later this year.
• Jacksonville Beach’s planning commission approved new rules for short-term renters, including requirements that they register with the city, be inspected and follow occupancy and parking restrictions.

SPORTS

• Andrew Kaufmann, a Jacksonville resident and businessman, purchased the city’s minor league hockey team, the Icemen, from El Acquisitions, a group led by former CEO Ron Geary. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Icemen are an affiliate of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Earlier this year, Kaufmann bought a controlling ownership interest in the Fort Myers Miracle baseball team.

FINANCE

• Mark Bennett is Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s new Southeast region executive for business banking in Jacksonville. Bennett oversees commercial banking efforts for companies with between $5 million and $50 million in annual sales throughout the Southeast.
• New York-based Voya Financial, a retirement, investment and insurance company, will close its Jacksonville office and lay off 267 employees by the end of next April.

 

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