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2. Centex Homes recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for Willowcove at Nocatee, which will feature 10 new floorplans named for classic children’s novels. Keeping the theme in mind, the Willowcove sales center will also serve as a book dropoff point for RALLY Jacksonville!, a literacy program championed by Mayor John Peyton. Located on 238 acres within the master-planned community, Willowcove will offer homes ranging in size from 2,210 to more than 4,000 square feet. Models include The Canturbury, The Sawyer, The Huckleberry, The Gulliver, The Middlemarch, The Nottingham, The Avonlea, The Antonia, The Midsummer and The Mansfield. Shown are Centex Homes Division President Jim Riley and RALLY Jacksonville! representative Johnna Cooper-Daniels along with other Centex staffers and their kids.

3. Mattamy Homes recently held a grand opening luncheon event for real estate professionals at its Covenant Cove community on Beach Boulevard. More than 95 people attended the pirate-themed party. Tami MacKinnon (second from right), vice president of sales and marketing for Mattamy Homes, talks up the project to Wayne and Addie Carswell and Kevin M. Smith (left to right), all with Omni Home Realty Corp.

4. Nearly 600 high-school students from across Northeast Florida enjoyed an up-close and hands-on experience at Palencia recently as the Northeast Florida Builders Association Apprentice Program and the master-planned community sponsored the second annual Builders Youth Day. The project was coordinated by the Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow committee. It’s one of ten pilot projects nationwide administered by the Home Builder Institute, the workforce development arm of the National Association of Home Builders. Funding came via a grant awarded through the federal High Growth Job Training Initiative.

Progressions
Hazel Tweedale of Prudential Network Realty has received a Silent Angel Award from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors for her continuing support of the organization and for her commitment to continuing education. ... Karen Barnes has joined LandMar as marketing coordinator for The Shipyards, a mixed-use development along the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville. Barnes had previously been promotions director for Downtown Vision. ... Arthur Rutenberg Homes has expanded its Jacksonville team to include Bryan Maldonado as construction manager, Lisa Steward-Knox as purchasing manager and Samantha Ashworth as administrative associate. ...The Jacksonville office of Looney Ricks Kiss is also expanding, adding Damon Roby as a residential architectural designer, Will Schmidt as IT manager and Joey Rivera as a member of the mixed-use architecture design studio.