AT&T leaving Everbank Center

[JayBird]

^ I was there for a meeting back in May and it was a ghost town. I think it was something like 10 or 11 completely vacant floors and other vacancies throughout. About 175,000+ sq ft up for grabs.

[simms3]

Having that many vacant contiguous blocks of space available in multiple "trophy" towers downtown doesn't bode well.  Outside of Miami, Toronto, New York, and San Francisco where lots of luxury condo towers are going up in the financial districts and selling to foreign buyers, most downtowns can't support lots of residential without a robust office market...the whole purpose is to live close to work!  All of those JTB apartments have banners saying things like "You could be home by now", etc etc.  The SS will definitely have the edge until downtown office can be figured out.


Unfortunately it's a two-pronged problem, both on the landlord side and the tenant side.  Ownership doesn't have the capital structure to find a partner to recap any of these buildings so that improvements can be made to attract tenants...lots of these owners are fairly mom & pop as far as CBD office tower ownership goes and their investments/fund structures are considered opportunistic or value-add at best considering the market(s).

And there aren't tenants in Jacksonville out looking for cool new digs.  All of the tenants seem to be bargain hunting all the time.  No law firms or financial institutions scouting for a new flagship location (believe me when I say Everbank doesn't count - that was bargain hunting at best with all those incentives and all that hype disguised as a flagship move to DT...look at the tower they moved to - class B at best despite what ownership's website says) or tech tenants looking for large floorplates in cool buildings or corporate HQs sending out RFPs for new towers.

Unfortunately there's just no movement on either side.

[fsquid]

my company has made the decision that if you don't have at least 20 people, they are just going to put you in a Regus executive suite and go month to month.  Seems weird, but I'm not privy to their decision making.

[JaxNole]

So EverBank's imminent plans to consolidate operations Downtown and in Brooklyn from Southpoint/Cypress Plaza doesn't count? That's not what I've been exposed to while attending strategy meetings and reviewing proposals.

But what do I know? I just work there.

[JayBird]

So EverBank's imminent plans to consolidate operations Downtown and in Brooklyn from Southpoint/Cypress Plaza doesn't count? That's not what I've been exposed to while attending strategy meetings and reviewing proposals.

But what do I know? I just work there.

Not sure what you're referring to, I don't believe anyone said that. However, Everbank is not going to save downtown, but what they're doing already is more than other companies.

[ProjectMaximus]

So EverBank's imminent plans to consolidate operations Downtown and in Brooklyn from Southpoint/Cypress Plaza doesn't count? That's not what I've been exposed to while attending strategy meetings and reviewing proposals.

But what do I know? I just work there.

Not sure what you're referring to, I don't believe anyone said that. However, Everbank is not going to save downtown, but what they're doing already is more than other companies.

He's talking about simms who claimed Everbank's move downtown "doesn't count." Not sure I get his point, but that's who/what he was referring to.

[JayBird]

Thanks PM now I see.

[mtraininjax]

If City leaders cannot fix their own budget mess, what makes you think they can fix downtown?

More budget mess coming, now reported they are short another 2 million in the general fund.

[thelakelander]

^They can't fix downtown and should not be relied on to.  They haven't been able to in 40 years.  What they can and should do is create a situation where they facilitate private sector creativity and innovation as opposed to being a stumbling block.