Third bidder for development of Shipyards has 'divine plan'

Northside man says 'God wants to make a final stand'

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With the development of the Shipyards downtown up for grabs, and a price tag in the millions, a third developer from the northern end of Jacksonville has thrown his hat into the ring and thinks that he'll beat out Shad Khan and win the city's bid.

When the news came out that a third party was interested in developing the Shipyards, city hall only said that the bid was from someone called In Him LLC, and that very little was known about the man who would be competing with a mega yacht company and Jaguars owner Shad Khan.

"All I know is the third developer is In Him LLC. I don't know anything about the entity or what they're proposing," Oliver Barakat, chairman of the Downtown Investment Authority, said.

The address for In Him LLC. leads to a trailer in a northwest Jacksonville mobile home park, where a man named Stephen Grenda was supposed to operate the company.

"It's Steve, he wants to develop instead of Shad Khan. That man ain't got no damn money!" a neighbor said.

Stephen Grenda though, said that his plan is divinely inspired. 

"We're in the last days. The sun's been blotted out. God wants to make a final stand," Grenda said.

Grenda said that God has chosen him to develop the shipyards and wants to build a replica of Noah's Ark.

"Yeah, there's also going to be a healing temple there, and there's going to be nurses, close to two nurses," Grenda said. "[And a] volleyball court. I love volleyball."

When asked about how he intended to pay for it all, Grenda said that he's not worried about competing with a billionaire.

"God can take that billion dollars and turn it around and put it right in my lap today if he wanted to," Grenda said.

Grenda said he even has a GoFundMe account set up to make this a reality and the city of Jacksonville may get to hear his plans Thursday when the downtown investment authority will meet with all three interested parties to determine what exactly they want to do with the shipyards.
 


About the Author:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.