 |
James F. Jacoby is an American businessman based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Jacoby is the founder, chairman and CEO of The Jacoby Group, Inc., a synergistic group of operating companies headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The nationally recognized Jacoby Development, Inc., a land development company that specializes in environmentally sensitive multi-use properties and reclamation of impaired sites brownfields is a member of the group.
Jacoby was born in 1943 in Miami, Florida, the fourth and youngest child of Phebe and Dewey Jacoby. From an early age, he showed interest in all facets of math and business, and was the most entrepreneurial of his siblings. After high school he served in the Naval Security Group, a U.S. Navy intelligence unit, from 1961 to 1969, during which he was stationed in the Philippines, Germany and the United States. After serving in the military, he attended Miami-Dade Community College and subsequently moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1973 Jacoby launched his entrepreneurial career in real estate scouting and assembling sites for developing and redeveloping various projects. Jacoby developed multiple retail projects and began a relationship with Wal-Mart in the late 1970s. This relationship lead to the formation of what would eventually become Jacoby Development, Inc. and the development of 40 Wal-Mart anchored shopping centers on the East Coast throughout his career.
Describing his feelings as a crisis of consciousness, Jacoby realized that his goal was to build more than just shopping centers; he was interested in creating healthy communities that would last for years to come. A visionary, Jacoby began focusing on environmentally-friendly and long-term sustainable development before it became a trend.
In 1997, Jacoby contracted the site of the former Atlantic Steel mill in Atlanta, Georgia in partnership with AIG and in 1999 they collectively built Atlantic Station, now widely used as a case study for successful transformation of a brownfield site to a LEED certified campus. Atlantic Station was the first LEED certified campus in the U.S. and includes offices, retail, residences, hotel, a major grocery store, restaurants, a movie theater, and more. During the ten years required for creating this livable and workable space, Jacoby took on the cleaning of the former steel mill site, and laid out the infrastructure, including a bridge across I-75 and I-85 to connect Atlantic Station with the east side of Midtown Atlanta.
In 2001 Jim acquired the aging Marineland property just south of St. Augustine, Florida. Originally built in 1938 to film underwater scenes and movies, Marineland morphed into a Florida tourist attraction featuring aquatic life exhibits and dolphin shows. After it was damaged by a hurricane, Jacoby acquired the dolphin attraction as well as related real estate and redeveloped the entire park to a modern dolphin facility focused on education and animal/human interaction, and formed an operating partnership with the Georgia Aquarium. Marineland reopened in 2006 with new programs and experiences available to the public. On New Year's Day, 2011, Jacoby sold Marineland to the Georgia Aquarium. [1]
A decommissioned Ford Taurus assembly plant in Hapeville, Georgia adjacent to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport the world's busiest airport, was acquired by Jacoby in 2008. The plant was demolished and the site remediated, and re-christened Aerotropolis Atlanta. The site has been subdivided, and portions have been sold to buyers, including Porsche and the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. On November 27, 2012, Porsche broke ground for construction of its new North American Headquarters and driving experience center, located at One Porsche Drive, which will be anchor of the redevelopment.
In 1999, Jacoby acquired a former asphalt production site in Whitemarsh, Maryland. The redevelopment of the site, which included clean-up of contaminated groundwater and soils has become one of the largest brownfield redevelopments in the state of Maryland. The site is now home to a General Motors Allison Transmission plant, a Federal Express regional distribution center, hotel, bank and building materials supplier.
In 2009 Jacoby acquired the Norfolk, Virginia Ford Plant which is envisioned to become a manufacturing and logistics park due to its accessibility from rail, highways and sea. A portion of this was sold to Katoen Natie, a global logistics provider, bringing an estimated 425 jobs to the Norfolk area.
In February 2009 the landfill gas Live Oak project in Atlanta injected its first bio methane gas into the Atlanta gas light company system. Jacoby initiated this project a few years before the first injection and sold the project to a French company in January 2012.
The future Azalea Solar Park will be the largest of its kind in Georgia and is scheduled to open for production in 2013. Located in Washington County, Georgia, the site, acquired in 2012 is currently under development. Upon completion, it will produce 10 megawatts of power from ground-mounted photovoltaic panels.
Jim's interest in new and emerging industries, including alternative energy, media and the biotechnology industry, has resulted in the founding of several companies.
Currently, Intellimedix and Marine Studios occupy space at Jacoby Group's Atlanta headquarters. Intellimedix is a biotechnology company engaged in accelerated drug discovery and personalized medicine. Initially working on finding treatments and cures for seizure disorders, the company uses computer algorithms and an ion proton gene sequencer to identify gene mutations, repurpose FDA-approved drugs. Marine Studios produces films themed on ocean-based environmental issues.
Former business ventures include Jacoby Energy, a public/private partnership which reclaimed methane gas from Atlanta's Live Oak landfill for use in the Atlanta Gas Light pipeline to serve local energy needs, and helped found Next 3-D, a computer based media company.
Jim lives in Atlanta. He and his wife, Jan, are parents of two adult children. Jacoby enjoys SCUBA diving and is an experienced diver who has cataloged dives in Galapagos, Great Barrier Reef, Tahiti and multiple Caribbean sites. He also enjoys fishing, is interested in the marine environment and how underwater species can help in medical research of a multitude of diseases.
Jacoby is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He also sits on the board of directors of the Georgia Aquarium, Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, Savannah College of Art and Design, and the Hawaii Health Foundation. He served 10 years on the board of the University of Florida Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience.
Brownfield refers to land that is abandoned or underutilized due to pollution from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and/or land developers within different countries. The main difference in definitions of whether a piece of land is considered a brownfield or not depends on the presence or absence of pollution. Overall, brownfield land is a site previously developed for industrial or commercial purposes and thus requires further development before reuse.
Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than 11 million US gallons (42,000 m3) of water. It was the largest aquarium in the world from its opening in 2005 until 2012 when it was surpassed by the S.E.A. Aquarium in Singapore and the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China; the Georgia Aquarium remains the largest aquarium in the United States and the fourth largest in the world.
Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast in Los Angeles County, California. Architect William Pereira designed the main structure. It was also known as Hanna-Barbera's Marineland during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Marineland operated from 1954 until 1987, when it was purchased by the owners of SeaWorld San Diego. The new owners moved the popular killer whales and other animals to their San Diego facility and abruptly closed Marineland.
A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinaria consist of one pool where dolphins perform for the public, others are part of larger parks, such as marine mammal parks, zoos or theme parks, with other animals and attractions as well.
Marineland of Florida, one of Florida's first marine mammal parks, is billed as "the world's first oceanarium". Marineland functions as an entertainment and swim-with-the-dolphins facility, and reopened to the public on March 4, 2006. In 2011, the park was purchased by the Georgia Aquarium for a reported $9.1 million.
Atlantic Station is a neighborhood on the northwestern edge of Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States comprising a retail district, office space, condominiums, townhomes and apartment buildings. First planned in the mid-1990s and officially opened in 2005, the neighborhood's 138 acres are located on the former brownfield site of the Atlantic Steel mill.
Marineland, is a themed zoo and amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The park has performing marine animal shows, exhibits of marine and land animals, and amusement rides. It keeps dolphins, sea lions, and beluga whales. Until 2023, the park also kept walruses and orcas. The park also keeps bears, deer, and other land animals. It was founded and operated by John Holer, a Slovenian immigrant, from 1961 until his death in 2018. It is privately owned and operated by his family.
HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955.
Atlanta Assembly was an automobile factory owned by Ford Motor Company in Hapeville, Georgia. The Atlanta Assembly plant was opened on December 1, 1947. Harbour Consulting rated it as the most efficient auto plant in North America in 2006. As part of The Way Forward plan, the plant was closed on October 27, 2006. Prior to the operation of this assembly plant, Ford operated another assembly plant and offices on Ponce de Leon Avenue near the old Sears headquarters building, in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood just northeast of Downtown Atlanta.
An oceanarium can be either a marine mammal park, such as Marineland of Canada, or a large-scale aquarium, such as the Lisbon Oceanarium, presenting an ocean habitat with marine animals, especially large ocean dwellers such as sharks.
A marine mammal park is a commercial theme park or aquarium where marine mammals such as dolphins, beluga whales and sea lions are kept within water tanks and displayed to the public in special shows. A marine mammal park is more elaborate than a dolphinarium, because it also features other marine mammals and offers additional entertainment attractions. It is thus seen as a combination of a public aquarium and an amusement park. Marine mammal parks are different from marine parks, which include natural reserves and marine wildlife sanctuaries such as coral reefs, particularly in Australia.
The Marineland of Antibes is a theme park founded in 1970 by Count Roland de La Poype in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes), in the French Riviera. Covering 26 hectares, it includes a marine zoological park with dolphinarium, a water park (Aquasplash), a children's play park, mini golf and a hotel. It is the property of the Spanish multinational company Parques Reunidos, whose majority shareholder is the British investment fund Arle Capital Partners. The current director is Arnaud Palu.
Marineland of New Zealand was a marine mammal park in Napier, New Zealand. The park opened in 1965 and closed to the public in 2008. During the time it was open, Marineland housed several species of native and introduced marine wildlife, most notably including the common dolphin.
Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums is an accreditation and advocacy organization representing zoos and aquariums within Canada. The organization states that its member zoos and aquariums care for more than 100,000 individual animals representing over 2000 species of wildlife, observed by an estimated 11 million visitors each year. The organization is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
In 1999, the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve was designated in St. Johns and Flagler counties, Florida as a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) system. The GTM Research Reserve represents the east Florida sub-region of the Carolinian bioregion. It is one of 30 NERRs in 23 states and one territory. GTM is one of three NERRs in Florida and is administered on behalf of the state by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Coastal Office as part of a network that includes forty-one aquatic preserves, three NERRs, a National Marine Sanctuary, the Coral Reef Conservation Program and the Florida Oceans and Coastal Council. Additional interests are held in the research and management of the GTM and connected preserved or conserved lands including:
Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of the United States' largest privately held construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services for a wide variety of markets. Founded in 1964, Brasfield & Gorrie has 12 offices and approximately 3,500 employees. Its 2022 revenues were $5 billion. Engineering News-Record ranks Brasfield & Gorrie 21st among the nation’s “Top 400 Contractors” for 2022. Modern Healthcare ranks the company No. 1 among healthcare general contractors in the nation.
Land recycling is the reuse of abandoned, vacant, or underused properties for redevelopment or repurposing.
Aerotropolis Atlanta is a planned mixed-use development in Hapeville, Georgia on the site of the former Ford Atlanta Assembly Plant. The site is directly adjacent to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The complex is to house offices, retail, and entertainment.
171 17th Street is a skyscraper located in the Midtown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, within the Atlantic Station mixed-use development. It has 22 stories of office space and was completed in 2004, when it was called the Southtrust Tower. 171 17th Street was the first skyscraper in Atlanta west of the Downtown Connector and north of 14th Street.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and aquarium in Clearwater, Florida. It is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick and injured marine animals, public education, conservation, and research.