Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Vol. 104, No. 032 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Parsons closes in Regency food court
Peter Gladstone, vice president of marketing for the Jacksonville Symphony, stands on the conductor’s rostrum on the stage in the concert hall at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, for which he orchestrates the filling of the 1,800 seats.
Making sure the concert hall is full
By Fran Ruchalski Contributing Writer About three years ago, as the winter’s fourth major snowstorm pounded Annapolis, Md., Tracy Hannah was done. And she let her husband, Peter Gladstone, know it. They had a house in St. Augustine and that’s where she was going. “You can join me if you’d like,” she told him. Being a smart man, Gladstone, then vice president of an awardwinning advertising agency in the Baltimore area, thought he’d better start looking for a job in Florida. At that point, the Jacksonville Symphony was looking for someone to direct its marketing efforts. He hadn’t worked for a nonprofit before, but he knew he had the skills to tell the symphony’s story. Gladstone has been in advertising for most of his career. He started out at the legendary advertising
firm Doyle Dane Bernbach in New York. He worked for several advertising and marketing companies, including a stint with the New Jersey Devils when they came into the NHL. Over the years, he worked his way down the east coast to the Baltimore area. A few years ago, Gladstone, 65, and his wife were considering their options as they started approaching retirement age and decided Florida was in their future. He envisioned relocating somewhere on the Gulf Coast, but his wife thought they should look at St. Augustine. As a college student, she had visited the ancient city once and remembered it fondly. When the couple visited one weekend about five years ago, they were enamored with the city’s charm. They bought a house before they returned home. Workspace continued on Page A-7
Photos by Fran Ruchalski
Gladstone enjoys telling symphony’s story
Some of the awards displayed on Gladstone’s walls for his advertising campaigns from his time in the Baltimore area.
Michael and Cindy Parsons closed their Regency Square Mall food court Parsons Seafood Express in mid-December after two months in operation. They opened Oct. 20 and closed Dec. 15. Meanwhile, their Neptune Beach Parsons Seafood Restaurant remains open — and, as Michael Parsons said Monday, is “overperforming.” Parsons said the Regency Square restaurant was holding its own and broke even, but the Neptune Beach location was exceeding expectations and needed their attention. Rather than continuing to split the 12-member crew between the two sites, Parsons said he and his brother, who operates the Neptune Beach restaurant, decided to focus on the successful location. “We decided it was most feasible to operate the one making the most money,” he said. Parsons also said he didn’t have the working capital left over at Regency to fully promote the mall site. “If I had had the money, I would have kept it open longer,” Parsons he said. If so, he said he might have been able to be operating when Impact Church opens in the former Belk department store space at the mall, creating more pedestrian traffic. “Once that comes in, I do believe that would have made a big difference,” he said. Another factor, he said, is the restaurant occupied an end site in the food court with three empty spaces next to it. The opposite side of the court has four tenants operating out of seven spaces. Parsons said he should have opened on that side. Plus, he said the Christmas shopping traffic at the mall wasn’t as busy as he thought it would be and he would have Mathis continued on Page A-2
City could invest $60,000 to promote export trade By Max Marbut Staff Writer The JAX Chamber and the city are planning for export trade and the economic development and jobs it can create to be one of the business stories that will be included in the review of 2017. City Council is considering an ordinance to give $60,000 to the chamber’s JAXUSA Partnership to manage an export enhancement plan and develop strategies identified through Jacksonville’s participation in
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the Global Cities Initiative. Jacksonville is one of 29 cities selected by the Brookings Institute and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to participate in the initiative. It’s a strategy to boost global trade and investment, create partnerships between U.S. and international metropolitan areas and advocate for state and federal policy changes. The effort began in November 2013. In April 2015, the MetroJAX/Northeast Florida Export Plan was introduced by the city and the chamber as the first phase of
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the local Global Cities effort. When the study was released, former Mayor Alvin Brown said the region is “uniquely positioned” to take advantage of export and global trade opportunities because of the port, railroads and highway systems that have positioned Jacksonville as a logistics center. The report identified as the next steps the establishment of a “one-stop shop” to provide businesses the resources to develop export trade; creation of a “Global Cities Advocacy Team” to lead implementation;
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and involve at least 25 potential export businesses. The team also would research existing export development programs and market the region as an area for export development and international investment. Chamber spokesman Matt Galnor said John Haley, former JAXUSA senior vice president for business development who was one of the contributors to the 2015 report, will likely be retained as a consultant for the revival of the program. No Chamber continued on Page A-3
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