News

Sunday’s annual ceremony in Jacksonville Beach officially opening the Beaches for 2019 doubled as a christening for the Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps’ upgraded facility.

The Corps cheered more than $33,500 in upgrades to the building’s locker room facilities completed April 26 with the help of the Northeast Florida Builders Association.

An apartment community of shipping containers is designed for the Cathedral District area of Downtown.

JWB Real Estate Capital submitted plans to the Downtown Development Review Board for the Ashley Street Container Project at 412 E. Ashley St.

Fencing is up at the former Kmart store at northwest Beach and University boulevards, signaling that site work has begun toward development of Boulevard Crossing.

Jacksonville-based Hallmark Partners is developing 8 acres of the parking lot at 5700 Beach Blvd. into retail and restaurant use and professional offices.

As the housing market slowly recovered from the financial crisis a decade ago, construction became a major engine for job growth in Northeast Florida.

When Jacksonville’s job growth peaked at 3.7% in March 2018, construction led the way, growing at 15% and accounting for nearly a quarter of the 25,000 jobs added in the previous year.

However, job growth has cooled in early 2019 and construction employment has taken a sudden downturn.

CSX Corp. on Tuesday reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, as the Jacksonville-based railroad company continues to reduce staff and other operating costs.

Earnings of $1.02 a share were 24 cents higher than the first quarter of 2018 and 11 cents higher than the average forecast of analysts, according to Zacks Investment Research.