October 9,2020ByDAVID VEGA

Broadway continues shutdown till June 2021

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Bad news for the arts. The Broadway League reportedly will announce another extension of the stage shut down in New York City today. The shutdown will be extended, and that there will be no Broadway performances before June 2021. That’s according to NY1 sources. Several new shows that have been scheduled to open have been canceled or postponed. According to sources, “The Lion King” and “The Phantom of the Opera” will most likely not reopen until the fall of 2021. Sarah Jessica Parker was set to appear in a spring revival of “Plaza Suite” opposite husband, Matthew Broderick. She hopes people will come back and support the theaters. If theaters remain closed through June 1, 2021, that will mean between 14 and 15 months of closures....

October 5,2020ByDAVID VEGA

Jaguars, Jacksonville city announce $450 million mixed-use development at Lot J

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The Jacksonville Jaguars and Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration released details Oct. 5 and announced a deal to finance team owner Shad Khan’s $450 million proposed development at Lot J near TIAA Bank Field. Mayor Curry proposes the city pay for its portion during construction with revenue bonds. The city would spend no more than $50 million for the Live! district under the deal and $77.7 million in the project’s infrastructure. No more than $25 million in incentives would go toward the hotel and residential development. That comprises a mix of grants and completion payments. Curry’s administration also wants to provide Khan’s development team with a $65.5 million construction loan, which he said would be secured by a $13.1 million deposit into a city trust. The loan included in the deal is known in the real estate industry as a “breadbox loan,” a novel financial program designed to allow developers to receive money from municipal governments, much like a grant, while avoiding the significant federal tax impact of actually receiving one, according to documents created by UTW Capital, LLC, a firm that manages these types of loans. Mayor Lenny Curry said that the city would loan Khan’s development team $65.5 million, but he didn’t say the loan would be interest free or take the city as long as 50 years to be repaid. The mixed-use development dubbed the “Live! District,” will include:two residential buildings with a total of 400 for-rent residences, a 150-250 room hotel, 75,000 square feet of street-level retail, 40,000 square feet of Class A office space, a 750-space surface parking lot, two 350-space parking garages, and a 100,000 square-foot entertainment center with bars and restaurants, as well as indoor and outdoor facilities. Lot J site work could start in early 2021 and construction will take 36 months. The Jaguars and city said there will be 2,300 construction jobs to build Lot J and 1,000 permanent jobs. “I am very proud to invest in this project and reinforce my commitment to Jacksonville, our downtown and all of Duval,” said Shad Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. “A vibrant downtown drives economic upside and opportunity for the entirety of a community. This is our moment to make that happen in Jacksonville while creating jobs and bringing people together in the process.” The city’s $92.8 million infrastructure responsibilities include $33.3 million for site improvements, $6.3 million for environmental remediation, $44.9 million for structured parking, and $8.3 million for surface parking. In May, city Director of Public Affairs Nikki Kimbleton told a teleconferenced meeting of the Jax Chamber’s Downtown Council on Friday morning that Lot J was a priority. Jacksonville City Council President Tommy Hazouri added: “Economic development is a major priority of our City Council, and the revitalization of downtown is a key priority for the economic growth of Northeast Florida. This unprecedented project at Lot J will further enhance Jacksonville’s growing reputation as a world-class destination for citizens and visitors alike....

October 3,2020ByDAVID VEGA

St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights will begin earlier this year in 2020

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City commissioners have passed Resolution 2020-26, which will allow for the annual Nights of Lights event to kick off on Saturday, Nov. 14. The city will be draped in white lights each evening through Jan. 31, 2021. Nights of Lights has been listed among the top ten holiday light displays globally by National Geographic. During Nights of Lights, St. Augustine glows and sparkles with holiday magic – from the ground to the rooftops. St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights features millions of tiny white lights that create a magical atmosphere in the Nation’s Oldest Historic City, and it’s free of charge. Para información sobre Nights of Lights en español, presiona aquí. Local secret: One of the hidden treasures in sight-seeing this beautiful night is on the water, with the crew of Old Town Cycle Cruise. The best boating Experience on the matanza. So, Don’t miss out and start booking the 2.5 hours in boating fun....

October 1,2020ByDAVID VEGA

Florida’s eviction and foreclosure moratorium will expire – DeSantis

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Desantis allows Florida’s eviction moratorium to expire. DeSantis announced Wednesday evening that he would be allowing the state moratorium to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday (Oct. 1st). This means some single-family homeowners may be left without protection against foreclosure proceedings. In the release, DeSantis spokesman Fred Piccolo said the governor was allowing the moratorium to expire “to avoid any confusion over whether the CDC’s evictions order should apply in a particular circumstance.” Since the federal order was announced, lawyers and court staff have been left to work through their own interpretations of which order would prevail and how it would affect eviction filings. The bigger picture, the CDC’s order requires renters to earn less than $99,000 annually and submit a report showing they cannot pay rent or are likely to become homeless if evicted. Renters must also offer that they tried to obtain all government assistance available for rent or housing. They cannot make payments due to loss of household income, a layoff, or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses. A Side note, The CDC’s eviction order is currently being challenged in federal court and may be struck down soon. Of note: Estimates from August found that 23 million Americans are at risk of eviction due to the pandemic....

September 21,2020ByDAVID VEGA

The 65th anniversary of the Jacksonville fair has been cancelled

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The Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair, which was to run Nov. 5 through Nov. 15, usually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, is now canceled. The fair usually helps small businesses in various arts and craft displays, livestock shows, rides, and other live concert events. “The safety of the Jacksonville Fair’s visitors, participants and community is the highest priority in producing the annual fair. After much discussion and debate with the Fair Board and stakeholders, it became clear that cancellation was the prudent choice for the fair to do its part to improve community health and safety and reduce the cycle of infection. The Jacksonville Fair will return bigger and better than ever November 4 – 14, 2021.”...

September 18,2020ByDAVID VEGA

YouTube Shorts – Google’s attempt to TikTok?

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Like Instagram did with Reels, YouTube is rolling out a new short-form video creator called YouTube Shorts that the company hopes will take some attention away from TikTok. A unique feature being tested in limited markets, and India is the first beta testers. YouTube Shorts offers the following features to video creators: Create and upload videos of 15-seconds or less. Edit videos with several creative tools. Stitch shorter clips together with a multi-segment camera. Add music to videos from YouTube’s library. Speed up or slow down videos. Timers and countdowns. Similar to TikTok, Shorts will let people make 15-second videos that can be set to music. Tag Music is available via an “in-product music picker feature,” a YouTube spokesperson told Tridence. The selector “currently has 100,000s of tracks, and we’re working with music artists, labels, and publishers to make more of their content available to continue expanding our catalog.” These videos are up to 15 seconds and can be seen on the YouTube homepage, called the new Shorts shelf, and across other parts of the YouTube app. The company announced in an official blog post, and here are more details on what to expect from the official blog: Create: Creation is at the core of short-form video, and we want to make it easy and fun to create Shorts. We’re starting to test just a few new tools for creators and artists with our early beta in India: A multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, The option to record with music from an extensive library of songs that will continue to grow, Speed controls that give you the flexibility to be creative in your performance, And a timer and countdown to easily record, hands-free. Get discovered: Every month, 2 billion viewers come to YouTube to laugh, learn, and connect. Creators have built entire businesses on YouTube, and we want to enable the next generation of mobile creators also to grow a community on YouTube with Shorts. Watch: You may have recently seen a row on the YouTube homepage, especially for short videos. Starting today, we’re also introducing a new watch experience that lets you quickly swipe vertically from one video to the next, plus discover other similar short videos. We’re also going to make it even easier to start watching Shorts. In short, YouTube’s competitive advantage over both TikTok and Instagram boils down to one thing: numbers. YouTube has more monthly active users than both TikTok and Instagram combined at 2 billion. That’s a considerably greater audience of people who can discover content created with YouTube Shorts. Currently, in Android, YouTube noted that Shorts would expand to iOS as more features will be added over time, and it’s confirmed that YouTube Shorts will expand to more countries in the coming months....

September 15,2020ByDAVID VEGA

2020 and 2021 will be the year of the Hispanic consumer

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September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic American Heritage Month 2020 – 2021 will be the year of the Hispanic consumer. Marketers who invest in the Hispanic opportunity for the long run, secure upper management buy-in, partner with multicultural marketing experts (like Tridence), and leverage cultural intelligence to develop and execute a strategy to connect and reach U.S. Hispanic consumers will be rewarded with growth. Now that’s something to celebrate truly. If you are a marketer looking to grow your brand, repeat after me – $1.5 trillion – 212% growth – $1.5 trillion – 212% growth (Hispanic online Marketing). These figures alone should lead you to take a hard look at the Hispanic market to drive growth today. Right now, Hispanics account for one out of every six Americans and their aggregate buying power is larger than the GDP of Australia. “If you’re going to spend time and money marketing to this audience, you want to take the best approach to develop an authentic Humanizing Brand message,” CEO David Vega of Tridence. “You need to understand culture points and brand preference, why they purchase some products and not others.” In addition, marketers should not just translate English into Spanish and assume they have checked the box. Marketers that are spending to reach the audience for the first time must first build a relationship. This audience is the primary growth market in the U.S., and you can’t just have one message to all. Looking to grow within the Hispanic markets. Contact David Vega with Tridence (Hispanic Marketing Agency). Officies in Chicago and Jacksonville....

September 15,2020ByDAVID VEGA

Halloween Horror Nights LIVES ON! 2020

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Just officially announced, two haunted houses will be offered this year at Universal Studios Florida as part of modified Halloween offerings at the resort. Months after Universal Orlando announced the cancellation of Halloween Horror Nights, the theme park said on its website Monday that it will allow a limited number of people into two of its haunted houses for two days only. Revenge of the Tooth Fairy and Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives—will open to guests, and for the first time ever, they’re included with daytime admission. Virtual Line will be available for the haunted houses. Premier Passholders will be among the very first to experience the Haunted Houses on Friday, September 18, 2020. Registration opens Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020 at Noon. At this time, no further details have been released on future dates for the Houses....

September 14,2020ByDAVID VEGA

RESTAURANTS ARE ON PACE TO LOSE $240B IN SALES THIS YEAR 2020

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Restaurant sales fell 34% below normal levels in August after dropping $165 billion during the first five months of the pandemic, keeping the industry on pace to forgo $240 billion in sales during 2020 because of COVID-19, according to a just-released business update from the National Restaurant Association (NRA). Even with dining rooms partially reopened in most areas of the country, the industry is employing only 71% of its pre-pandemic workforce, with nearly 3 million former staff members still on the sidelines, the NRA found. Let’s all continue to pitch in and help #protectlocal restaurants in your area. The development of industry professionals remains a top priority, and we (Tridence) are proud to support the restaurant workers during this time of crisis. Funding for the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund comes from various sources, including personal donations, corporate partnerships, and proceeds from the Go Gourmet Dining and Virtual Event Series. DONATE HERE...

September 12,2020ByDAVID VEGA

Zillow Group launched its direct homebuying platform in Jacksonville

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Zillow Offers allows homeowners to receive a near-instant cash offer for their homes, directly from Zillow. Seattle-based Zillow group has launched Zillow Offers in Jacksonville, its first expansion of the product footprint since Covid-19. Homeowners can directly sell their homes to Seattle-based Zillow through the platform, which aid Jacksonville sellers to avoid the common hassles of selling traditionally. Zillow Offers™ is an easier way to sell your home with less hassle on a timeline that works for you. If your home is in a participating market, you can request a cash offer from Zillow in a few simple steps. Unlike a traditional or for-sale-by-owner transaction, your home is never listed, so you avoid showings, open houses and home prep. There is no cost to request or receive an offer from Zillow. If you choose to sell your home to Zillow, you will receive a clear statement outlining any fees associated with the offer. The average service fee is 2.5% Jacksonville will be Zillow‘s third Florida market, behind Tampa and Orlando. It’s also active in 25 other markets....