A late May change in contractors for the Cowford Chophouse had restaurant ownership still confident of opening later this year, but those plans are indeed pushed back.
Forking Amazing Restaurants now says the upscale Downtown steak and seafood restaurant in the historic structure at Bay and Ocean streets won't open until 2017.
In late May, the company shifted gears and replaced Elkins Constructors with Danis Construction for the remainder of the renovation. After a brief intermission, the master design has been updated to include enhancements for the restaurant’s kitchens, which will push the opening date back.
“This transition period has been necessary and productive,” said Jacques Klempf, Chophouse owner, in a news release.
Klempf said the Danis team needed time to review the project status and make recommendations to finish the job.
In addition to the master design update, Danis has removed an interior partition wall, demolished flooring, installed wood beam supports and worked on restoring the historic windows and cornices.
Wilmington Trust opens local office, hires three managers
Wilmington Trust has opened an institutional custody office in town as part of the company’s Southeastern expansion.
The company provides corporate and institution services including trustee, agency, asset management and retirement plan services for clients who use capital markets financing structure.
The opening of the office comes with three hires.
Randy Deen will serve as director, Christy Sheppard as senior relationship manager and Charlotte Kardatzke as relationship manager.
Temporary offices will be at 4651 Salisbury Road on the Southside until a permanent location is found.
Caring Chefs tickets available
The 33rd annual Caring Chefs event to benefit the Children’s Home Society of Florida will be 7-9:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at The Avenues mall.
The event will have samples from 70 local chefs, sommeliers and brewers as part of the agency’s fundraising effort to help it continue annually serving more than 10,000 children and family members in abusive situations.
Tickets are $70 and available at chscaringchefs.com.
UNF computer students receive scholarships for academic excellence
Two University of North Florida students were awarded scholarships totaling $3,000 for academic success in computing.
Graduate student Mahesh Kotapelli is working on his master’s degree in computer science, maintains a 3.9 GPA and has authored “Landmarks in Code Navigation,” which won top project last year at the school’s research showcase.
Nadiia Semenchuk is a senior majoring in computing and information services. She has a 3.92 GPA, is a member of the Society for Women Advancing Technology at the school and interns at Florida Blue, where she supports and develops a web-based application built on a configuration management database.
Whitson returns to Jacksonville TV market
Jeff Whitson has returned to Jacksonville to lead the sales department at WTLV TV-12 and WJXX TV-25.
He comes from Oklahoma, where he held the same position at KOKH TV-25 and KOCB TV-34.
Prior to that, Whitson was in Jacksonville as vice president and general manager of WFOX TV-30 and WJAX TV-47.
He will be back in Jacksonville next week.
Guss earns University of North Florida professor’s award
The University of North Florida will present psychology professor Dominik Guss with the 2016 Distinguished Professor Award during the 45th annual fall convocation Friday.
He is the 39th faculty member to get the award, the highest honor a faculty member can receive.
In his 10 years at the school, Guss has worked to broaden course offerings in the psychology department by developing and teaching five new courses.
He was one of the department’s first faculty members to develop a distance learning course and in 2006 received the Outstanding International Service Award.
His accolades include more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, eight peer-reviewed proceedings and more than 15 book and encyclopedia chapters.
Guss received a doctorate in psychology from the Otto-Friedrich-Universitat Bamberg in Bamberg, Germany.
Jacksonville University club joins outdoor challenge
Jacksonville University is the first college in Northeast Florida and one of 87 in the U.S. to compete in the Outdoor Nation Campus Challenge.
The goal is to combat growing inactivity among U.S. youths by connecting them to the outdoors.
The university will participate through its Outing Club, an organization of more than 140 members who promote self-reliance, leadership skills and self-responsibility. The club organizes backpack, canoe, biking and sailing trips among its activities.
The national competition will show which campuses have students who spend the most time being active outside, with the top school being named the National Outdoor Champion. The person who logs the most hours will win the Outsider of the Year honor.
To date, Outdoor Foundation sponsors have provided $2,000 in cash and gear to JU’s Outing Club.
The national competition runs from Sept. 4-Oct. 15.
Urban Land Institute awards deadline is Tuesday
The Urban Land Institute North Florida still seeks nominations for its Awards for Excellence event on Oct. 11 at St. John’s Cathedral.
The annual event honors industry leaders in project categories of new development, public sector/nonprofit, Downtown, reuse/repurpose and open space.
The deadline for nominations is Tuesday. Projects must have been completed after January 2013.
For information on criteria for each category, visit bit.ly/2bMw3zQ.
Self-nominations are welcome.
FSCJ ranks 37th among peers
Florida State College at Jacksonville didn’t hit No. 1, but nonetheless it’s highly ranked at No. 37 on WalletHub’s 2016 Best and Worst Community Colleges study.
The personal finance website graded the top 821 institutions in the country.
Key dimensions in the study were cost and financing, education outcomes and career outcomes. The scores in those categories were weighted in comparison to schools in the same state. That result was used to determine the final ranking.
FSCJ ranked No. 437 in cost and financing, which weighed in-state tuition and fees, availability of grants, cost per student, school spending efficiency and faculty salary.
In education outcomes, it graded out as No. 254, a rank based on first-year retention, graduation and transfer rates, among other factors.
The school fared best in career outcomes, where it placed No. 51. That took into account the return on educational investment and student loan default rates.
Only Valencia College in Orlando placed better than FSCJ in Florida. The top community college in the country, according to the study, is Helene Fuld College of Nursing in New York City.