05:10 AM EST Share When it comes to progress in Northeast Florida in the new year, these are the places that will be driving headlines
North Core
Four developers JWB Real Estate Capital, Augustine Development Group, ACE JAX LLC and Jim and Ellen Wiss have announced $116.1 million of investments in the historic area they’ve collectively branded the North Core.
The North Core is bordered by State, Broad, Church and Main streets.
Apartments for the North Core
JWB, led by president Alex Sifakis, plans to invest $11.4 million to redevelop the Federal Reserve and Baptist Convention buildings.
The Wisses acquired from First Baptist Church nearly a full city block that they intend to redevelop.
09:16 AM EST Share ICI Homes and David Weekley Homes will buy 550 acres in phases to develop 1,600 homes and commercial space.
The same day that ICI Homes and David Weekley Homes announced they will purchase 550 acres of Skinner land, a New York-based credit firm paid $11.8 million to buy property from the family for residential development.
The closing represents the first phase of the contracted purchase of the 550 acres, according to one of the sellers, Edward Skinner Jones. He referred other questions to the buyers.
Sawmill Timber LLC, comprising members of the Skinner family, sold property in the Southeast Quadrant on Dec 23 to DRP FL 2 LLC, which is DW Partners. The deed was recorded Jan. 5 with the Duval County Clerk of Courts.
Cookie-eating grandma gets cooking lessons on national TV
When family gathered for Joy Blessing s annual Joy Ham Christmas dinner last month, they got something of a surprise: The dinner wasn t terrible.
Blessing, a wedding officiant who lives off Butler Boulevard, has upped her cooking game thanks to a stint on a Food Network TV show, Worst Cooks in America. Blessing was one of 14 kitchen klutzes who gathered in New York City to tape the competition series. The 90-minute first episode airs at 9 p.m. Sunday.
Blessing, 65, spent most of her career working for airlines, flying around the world, so cooking wasn t a real priority. I raised three kids and they all survived to adulthood, mostly on frozen dinners, she said. I’m not a cookie-making grandma, I’m a cookie-eating grandma.