NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

When The PARC Group first conceived the idea of the Town of Nocatee, its sheer size raised some eyebrows. The 15,000-acre community was set to encompass 14,000 homes, 4 million square feet of office space, 1 million square feet of commercial space, 5,000 acres of greenways and nine schools.

Now, Nocatee has gotten off the ground with construction of its first 100 homes and the debut of the new Nocatee Parkway, a four-lane, limited-access highway connecting the Intracoastal Waterway and U.S. 1

For PARC Group executives, however, the recent Regional Leadership Award for Excellence in Environmental Stewardship given by the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council has been the community’s defining moment.

"We’ve always had as our focus to develop using the principles of smart growth, preservation and conservation," says Richard Ray, partner with The PARC Group. "This community represents the kind of responsible planning and management that we feel will be coming to Northeast Florida in the next several decades."

More than 60 percent of the land in Nocatee, an estimated 9,000 acres, has been set aside for a preserve, parks and a greenway. Development standards also dictate environmentally-friendly processes such as reclaimed irrigation water, slow-release fertilizers and storm-water treatment ponds.

"Despite the fact that costs have increased on such things as road construction and community amenities, we’ve not changed the initial plans or been deterred from doing things as scheduled," Ray adds. "This community has a 15- to 20-year buildout, so we’re building for the future."

Builders in Nocatee currently include Centex Homes, CornerStone Homes, Lennar, Pulte Homes, Ryland Homes, Toll Brothers, Del Webb and American Homebuilders.

Laura Laseman began working as a bookkeeper for the Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA) 30 years ago. Two years later, she was appointed by then-Executive Director Arnold Tritt to head the association’s Apprenticeship Training Program.

And that’s where she’s remained for 28 years, guiding the program as it grew into the largest non-union effort of its kind in the country. Further, she may well have been the first woman ever to head a builder association-affiliated apprenticeship program.

"Laura has definitely been a trendsetter," says Thompson Taylor, who worked with Laseman for nine years and took over last February when Laseman retired. "Statewide, there are now six or seven apprenticeship programs run by women—and that has a lot to do with how Laura ran this one."

The NEFBA Apprenticeship Training Program uses a member base of about 200 contractors to provide training and on-the-job learning opportunities in the fields of carpentry, heating and air conditioning, electrical and plumbing.

Apprentices attend classes two nights a week and perform 144 hours of training, all while working 40 hours a week for program-approved contractors. It’s a rigorous, four-year process.

"During the years that I was with the program, I watched it get more credibility which was very rewarding," Laseman said. "We could really see the results when young men and women who had been through the program came back as contractors and started their new employees training with us."

Around 350 apprentices typically walk the stage at graduation. Laseman will miss those nights the most, she says.

"There are a lot of ups and downs to running this program, and it wasn’t easy," she notes. "But every time I saw those proud graduates who had made it through the four years, it always made every bit of my work worth the effort."

Paul Fletcher has been quietly developing in Northeast Florida for many years. His Fletcher Management Corp. has been behind development of seven area golf-course communities, including Marsh Landing and Palencia.

Last summer, however, Fletcher was thrust unwittingly into the spotlight after proposing a yet-unnamed residential development in the Timucuan Preserve on Black Hammock Island. The 143-home home community will encompass a 358-acre portion of the preserve’s 46,000 total acres.

After a heated debate last summer during which concerned citizens and residents of the island voiced their opposition, the Jacksonville City Council approved the project. Fletcher was asked to pay $120,000 in concessions, although he had offered to pay more.

Plans call for 100-foot buffers between the lots and the marshes. And bowing to pressure concerning density, Fletcher also cut the number of homes in half.

In the meantime, opponents of the plan, including the local chapter of the Sierra Club, say they’ll to sue the city to prevent construction, claiming the development jeopardizes character of the island and the health of the Timucuan Preserve. Mayor John Peyton, who originally opposed the plan, has not decided whether he will veto it.

Fletcher Management officials are not certain what 2008 will hold. Submitting site plans to the city is the next step in the process. For now, Fletcher is focusing on other projects, including potential developments in California and Savannah. "Controversy," he says, "is just the nature of the business."

Former Jacksonville Jaguar Tony Boselli has a history of working for the benefit of local children, primarily through the Boselli Foundation, formed in 1996.

For the next seven years, until the Boselli family moved away, the foundation awarded scholarships, encouraged educational programs and distributed funds to community organizations at holidays and other times of need.

Now, Boselli is back in town. And the foundation bearing his name is once again doing good work—this time with the opening of Jacksonville’s first Youth Life Learning Center, one of only two in the state of Florida. Youth Life Learning Centers, which are headquartered in Nashville, TN, provide after-school and summer education and character programs for underprivileged youth.

With the help of NEFBA’s Builders Care and President Don Wilford of ICI Homes, the center’s building in Simonds Johnson Park on Moncrief Road underwent extensive renovations and was refurbished in May 2007. Doors opened in the summer, and the center is currently serving 16 children with room for 30.

Targeting children in grades kindergarten through fourth and providing guidance through high school, the center offers computer, science, math and social skills classes, as well as providing outdoor recreation.

Boselli has ambitious plans to open up a half dozen more Youth Life Learning Centers in the city in the next few years. And officials at Builders Care say they’re definitely on board to help.

"I’ve always had a great relationship with Builders Care, and we were able to partner with ICI to get the building done, which was a very rewarding experience," says Boselli. "It’s great to be back in Jacksonville and to have found a focus for our foundation’s efforts."

The grand opening of Phase II of St. Johns Town Center, held on a drizzly October day, had flocks of people braving the weather to peruse the newly-opened stores in Ben Carter’s expansion of the enormously successful open-air mall that he calls the first of its kind in the country.

Carter, owner of Atlanta-based Ben Carter Properties, saw the potential in Northeast Florida after years of vacationing in Ponte Vedra Beach. And his initial effort has taken off just like he expected.

"Our mall concept is a lifestyle, with its mix of anchors, specialty stores, retail and gathering places," Carter notes. "And people have responded to that. They come here for the experience—and even the weather is part of that."

With St. Johns Town Center Phase II stores and restaurants open for business, Ben Carter Properties is now planning Phase III, which will potentially house Neiman Marcus, Nordtrom’s and more upscale boutiques.

In the meantime, permitting is nearly complete on The Esplanade at St. Johns, the company’s second open-air venture in Northeast Florida. Located along International Golf Parkway near I-95, The Esplanade will be a 1.2-million-square-foot mix of department stores, a movie theater, specialty anchor stores, boutiques and shops.

"Our goal is to have Target, Dillards, J.C. Penney and hopefully a Macy’s," says Carter.

The Esplanade, which will cost an estimated $250 million to develop, is located just 20 miles from St. Johns Town Center, and while there may be overlapping customers, Carter says there are plenty of shoppers to go around.

"We have a customer base from St. Johns, Flagler and Putnam counties who would welcome a mall closer to them," Carter notes. Completion of The Esplanade is slated for 2010.