Another Company Moving from the 'Burbs to Downtown

[comncense]

Not sure if I'm late on this one but I just saw that on the JBJ and thought I'd relay it.

Financial Design Associates    , a member of the Mass Mutual Financial Group, will move 50 employees from the suburbs to Downtown Jacksonville by Sept. 1.
Managing partner Roger Dominey said his company will lease about 10,000 square feet of office space on the sixth floor of the BB&T Tower.
The company currently has about 8,000 square feet in Deerwood Park, a suburban office park, where it’s been for the last 13 years.
Dominey said he will add 25 to 30 employees after moving Downtown. He said he has an option to take another 4,000 square feet and lease the entire floor.
The lease is for eight to nine years and about 20 percent cheaper than the current suburban space, Dominey said.
“The reason I’m moving is I felt like I really wanted to be part of the redevelopment of Downtown Jacksonville, and I think it’s importnat that business leaders reinvigorate the Downtown area,” Dominey said. “That’s the heartbeat of Jacksonville, and I really feel like that’s what we need to do if we’re going to have it grow to the level we want.”
More information on the deal and the dynamics of the Downtown office market will be in the July 13 edition of The Business Journal.
Financial Design Associates was one of this years Best Places to Work.

[Wacca Pilatka]

I hadn't seen this either.  Thanks for posting!

[Tacachale]

Good news. We need more like them.

[duvaldude08]

Woot! Woot! Bring it on! Who's next? 

[JaxJag]

hopefully this will rub off on some others.

[ronchamblin]

Dominey's statement:

"The reason I’m moving is I felt like I really wanted to be part of the redevelopment of Downtown Jacksonville, and I think it’s important that business leaders reinvigorate the Downtown area,” Dominey said. “That’s the heartbeat of Jacksonville, and I really feel like that’s what we need to do if we’re going to have it grow to the level we want.”

Beautiful.  We should all find Roger Dominey and give him a big hug.  This is the kind of thing that whatever agency is assigned to downtown ought to be communicating to new north Florida arrivals "and" existing tenants in the suburban office parks.  Several of this kind of new core infill projects will move us closer to a self sustaining growth momentum.   

[Ocklawaha]

The same economic synergy of critical mass and distance that are driving the millennial generation back to the cities, will prove to be the driver that revives the downtown business districts. In downtown the economics of scale far outweigh the imagined benefits of a sprawling office park with massive surface parking lots... and no sidewalks.

Just add fixed mass transit and watch downtown blossom.

[tayana42]

Great news!  Perhaps a few more like this and JTA might start looking at fixed rail.

[tufsu1]

Great news!  Perhaps a few more like this and JTA might start looking at fixed rail.

they have been and continue to look at fixed rail....perhaps you meant actually build it.

[Ocklawaha]

Great news!  Perhaps a few more like this and JTA might start looking at fixed rail.

they have been and continue to look at fixed rail....perhaps you meant actually build it.

The key word here is 'look,' they've been 'looking' for right at 40 years now and all we have to show for it is an incomplete, dysfunctional Skyway. JTA has been 'looking' at streetcar for 32 years and had they acted on it, we would have come in between San Diego and Portland as one of the first 3 new systems built in the country in 50 years. Since those early days and while we've been 'looking' the following has happened:


STREETCAR SYSTEMS

Large Size/Scale

Boston, MA

Little Rock, AR

New Orleans, LA

Memphis, TN

Philadelphia, PA

Portland, OR

San Francisco, CA

Seattle, WA

Tampa, FL

Toronto, ONT

Medium Size/Scale

Dallas, TX

Kenosha, WI

Lowell, MA

San Pedro, CA

Tacoma, WA

Vancouver, BC

Small Size/Scale

Astoria, OR

Denver, CO

Edmonton, Alberta

El Reno, OK

Fort Collins, CO

Fort Smith, AR

Issaquah, WA

Nelson, BC

San Diego, CA

Savannah, GA

Whitehorse, Yukon Territories




Under Construction

Atlanta, GA

Charlotte, NC

Cincinnati, OH

Salt Lake City, UT

Tucson, AZ

Washington, DC




Under Active Planning

Ames, IA

Augusta, GA

Austin, TX

Baltimore, MD

Baton Rouge, LA

Bayonne, NJ

Birmingham, AL

Boise, ID

Boulder, CO

Bridgeport, CT

Brooklyn, NY

Buffalo, NY

Cedar Rapids, IA

Champaign, IL

Charleston, SC

Charlottesville, VA

Chicago, IL

Cleveland, OH

Colorado Springs, CO

Corpus Christi, TX

Dayton, OH

Denver, CO

Des Moines, IA

Dubuque, IA

El Paso, TX

Everett, WA

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Fresno, CA

Glendale, CA

Grand Rapids, MI

Honolulu, HI

Huntington, WV

Indianapolis, IN

Ithaca, NY

Kansas City, MO

Kitchener, ONT

Lancaster, PA

Lorain, OH

Long Beach, CA

Los Angeles, CA

Miami, FL

Middletown, CT

Milwaukee, WI

Minneapolis, MN

Missoula, MT

Montgomery, AL

Montreal, PQ

Myrtle Beach, SC

New Haven, CT

New York, NY

Newport News, VA

Oakland, CA

Ogden, UT

Oklahoma City, OK

Omaha, NE

Ottawa, ONT

Pasadena, CA

Providence, RI

Racine, WI

Reading, PA

Reno, NV

Richmond, VA

Roanoke, VA

Rochester, MN

Rock Hill, SC

Sacramento, CA

St. Charles, MO

St. Louis, MO

Salem, OR

San Antonio, TX

Santa Ana, CA

Santa Cruz, CA

Stamford, CT

Surrey, BC

Toledo, OH

Tempe, AZ

Waco, TX

Wilmington, NC

Winnipeg, MB

Winston-Salem, NC



Just saying...

OCKLAWAHA

[JeffreyS]

Great news!  Perhaps a few more like this and JTA might start looking at fixed rail.

they have been and continue to look at fixed rail....perhaps you meant actually build it.

I get the feeling they have been looking at it just enough to try and say they aren't ignoring it.  It hasn't felt to me like it is something they are really motivated to get done.

[cityimrov]

Not sure if I'm late on this one but I just saw that on the JBJ and thought I'd relay it.

Financial Design Associates    , a member of the Mass Mutual Financial Group, will move 50 employees from the suburbs to Downtown Jacksonville by Sept. 1.
Managing partner Roger Dominey said his company will lease about 10,000 square feet of office space on the sixth floor of the BB&T Tower.
The company currently has about 8,000 square feet in Deerwood Park, a suburban office park, where it’s been for the last 13 years.
Dominey said he will add 25 to 30 employees after moving Downtown. He said he has an option to take another 4,000 square feet and lease the entire floor.
The lease is for eight to nine years and about 20 percent cheaper than the current suburban space, Dominey said.
“The reason I’m moving is I felt like I really wanted to be part of the redevelopment of Downtown Jacksonville, and I think it’s importnat that business leaders reinvigorate the Downtown area,” Dominey said. “That’s the heartbeat of Jacksonville, and I really feel like that’s what we need to do if we’re going to have it grow to the level we want.”
More information on the deal and the dynamics of the Downtown office market will be in the July 13 edition of The Business Journal.
Financial Design Associates was one of this years Best Places to Work.

It's about time.  It was crazy for big empty downtown buildings to have higher lease rates than busy suburban spaces.