TUESDAY December 18, 2018
Public legal notices begin on page 4
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE MATHIS REPORT
Hucker awarded $4.5 million in lawsuit
Daily Record
JACKSONVILLE “The coordination between the city and the state was the best that we saw.” NIGEL COCKROFT, GENERAL MANAGER OF JINKOSOLAR (U.S.) INC.
How the city landed JinkoSolar
The CEO of Winn-Dixie parent sued St. Louis Schnucks chain in 2016 for wrongful termination.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
JACKSONVILLE
From calls in the middle of the night to Trump’s tariffs, solar panel manufacturer executive shares how the deal evolved and was made.
China-based JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. settled on Jacksonville for the first new U.S. solarpanel plant since tariffs were announced in January because of a focus by the city and state. “Everybody really wanted to make it happen,” said Nigel Cockroft, general manager of JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc., covering the U.S. and Canada. JinkoSolar is based in Shanghai. Cockroft is general manager of San Francisco-based JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. and is responsible for photovoltaic module sales and operations in the U.S. and Canada. In April, the company registered the name JinkoSolar (U.S.) Industries Inc. with the state. JinkoSolar Director of Business Development Jeff Juger said many of the company’s top customers wanted it to build a factory in the U.S. SEE MATHIS, PAGE 3
Courtesy of JAX Chamber
Nigel Cockroft, general manager for the U.S. and Canada for JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc., part of China-based JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd., spoke Thursday to JAXUSA Partnership.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday that Schnuck Markets Inc. and its CEO were ordered to pay more than $4.5 million to Anthony Hucker, its former president who now is president and CEO of Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers. STLToday. com reported that St. Louis County Circuit Court ruled Hucker had been wrongly Hucker fired from St. Louis-based Schnucks. He filed the suit in October 2016 for breach of contract, claiming he had been terminated without cause after he was offered the CEO job at Save-A-Lot. According to the news site, Hucker said he approached CEO Todd Schnuck, asking to waive his noncompete agreement, and that Schnuck never responded. Hucker was fired instead, causing him to lose the chance to be CEO of Save-A-Lot. The news site report said that after the suit was filed, the court ordered the parties to arbitration and the arbitrator issued the award in favor of Hucker in October. The court also ordered the defendants to pay more than $11,000 in post-award interest for 12 days in November. SEE HUCKER, PAGE 2
Plymouth closes on Southside portfolio Boston-based Plymouth Industrial REIT Inc. said Monday that it closed Friday on the purchase of a 20-building, 1.1 million-square-foot light industrial and flex portfolio in South Jacksonville. Plymouth said it paid $97.1 million for the properties, at Interstate 95 and Butler Boulevard. The deal was funded in part through a deal with Madison International Realty Holdings LLC, a real estate liquidity company. The properties are 96 percent leased, with tenants including Comcast, Veritiv, Cintas, Staples, Cardinal Health, The Home Depot and Johnson Controls. Right, Salisbury Business Park is part of the sale.
VOLUME 106, NO. 23 • ONE SECTION