Metro Jacksonville

Or even near Downtown.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-05-08/story/ge-working-capital-solutions-opening-jacksonville-office-could-hire-300

Come on.

So, when this new Downtown group (DDA or whomever) finally passes through City Council, do we expect them to come up with a new plan or initiative to attract these types of companies to open Downtown?

Everything related to signifcant Downtown revitalization seems to be on hold until this group gets through Council, but are there any discussions (that people can disclose) about what they plan on actually doing once in place?

not everyone is going to locate downtown....heck, even metro. areas with successful downtowns often have less than 20% of the region's workforce in their CBD (the main exception is NYC).

In the end, this is still good for the City....and somewhat (and albeit only slightly) better than having them locate in St. Johns County

It's a lot better than having them locate in St. Johns, and much better than having them not come to Jacksonville at all. Not as good as downtown, clearly, but as tufsu1 says, not everyone will come downtown.

But, If these downtown organizations, whatever they be, or Redman does not get their asses in gear... nothing will go downtown.  That is a problem.  As for business in Jax: that is good. 

Still plenty of office space to fill up Downtown. Heck, even after Everbank moves in the tower will only be 70% occupied. We all know that not everything will locate Downtown, but some wins are nice every now and then. I felt the same way when Deustsche Bank located off Gate Pkwy. Why not Downtown? I would like to know if the discussions even took place.

Quote from: fsujax on May 08, 2012, 02:26:33 PM
Still plenty of office space to fill up Downtown. Heck, even after Everbank moves in the tower will only be 70% occupied. We all know that not everything will locate Downtown, but some wins are nice every now and then. I felt the same way when Deustsche Bank located off Gate Pkwy. Why not Downtown? I would like to know if the discussions even took place.

Cheaper,  nicer, newer, safer, closer to workers homes and with free parking

QuoteGE Working Capital Solutions will use the Jacksonville office as an accounts receivables management center.

Think about this for a minute. 

i dont know how it can get any nicer than the BofA tower, the views and restaurants within walking distance you can't beat. Safer???? thats debateable. Closer to their homes and free parking, OK I can give you that one.

Quote from: fsujax on May 08, 2012, 02:41:46 PM
i dont know how it can get any nicer than the BofA tower, the views and restaurants within walking distance you can't beat. Safer???? thats debateable. Closer to their homes and free parking, OK I can give you that one.

I stay on the westside and I work downtown. Downtown is much closer than if I worked on the southside. That would actually be a nightmare drive to work. Downtown is the central point of the city  o matter where you live in town. So the location thing is debateable too.

^ downtown may be the central point for the City of Jacksonville, but not the metro area....more and more people are living in northern St. Johns and Clay counties...which is closer for them?

Quote from: duvaldude08 on May 08, 2012, 02:44:30 PM

Quote from: fsujax on May 08, 2012, 02:41:46 PM
i dont know how it can get any nicer than the BofA tower, the views and restaurants within walking distance you can't beat. Safer???? thats debateable. Closer to their homes and free parking, OK I can give you that one.

I stay on the westside and I work downtown. Downtown is much closer than if I worked on the southside. That would actually be a nightmare drive to work. Downtown is the central point of the city  o matter where you live in town. So the location thing is debateable too.

Safer is not debateable(whether real or percieved). Location is not either as the vast majority of the workers live in the Beaches, SS or SJC. There are a few nice buildings DT but they are much more expensive.

The idea that Downtown is less "safe" is nonsense. It's one of the safest parts of town. And that's just crime. Southside is certainly not "safer" for pedestrians or those needing to go to the hospital.

Quote from: Tacachale on May 08, 2012, 03:17:59 PM
The idea that Downtown is less "safe" is nonsense. It's one of the safest parts of town. And that's just crime. Southside is certainly not "safer" for pedestrians or those needing to go to the hospital.

Ask 100 people and see what they say

Not really shocking where they are locating.  Southside is becoming the hub for businesses now.  As Bill mentioned, it is more centrally located to where employees live.  For better or for worse.

I saw the GE signs off St Augustine Rd this morning. I guess now I know why.

As far as hospital access, this is about a minute from Baptist South. Not that it is probably a big consideration.

Didn't GE Financial (auto) have a presence/history in the building and or Flagler Center already?

* Maybe that was GMAC (?)

It's an A/R processing facility.  You would never put this in any downtown on their own.

Quote from: blizz01 on May 08, 2012, 03:33:35 PM
Didn't GE Financial (auto) have a presence/history in the building and or Flagler Center already?

* Maybe that was GMAC (?)

GM had a small part plant or distribution center back there that closed a couple years ago.

Flex product off Old St Augustine isn't nicer than downtown. 

I call marble lobbies, towering city views, and high end dining like NOLA & University Club nice.  Not uninspired parking lots, man made lakes, and applebys.

I think I should post this again.

QuoteGE Working Capital Solutions will use the Jacksonville office as an accounts receivables management center.

This quote came from the article. 

Speaking as someone who works in the Flagler center, I can tell you future workers here can also look forward to Canadian geese shitting everywhere.

That said, I have a soft spot for the Starbucks next to that Applebee's.

^^LOL. that's funny. Well, at least there is a Pig BBQ near by!

Quote from: cityimrov on May 08, 2012, 04:14:49 PM
I think I should post this again.

QuoteGE Working Capital Solutions will use the Jacksonville office as an accounts receivables management center.

This quote came from the article. 

So you are referencing the previous incident at a GMAC office?  If so, then I would think downtown in a limited-access building would have been a wiser choice.  Maybe I'm off the mark...

Quote from: Bill Hoff on May 08, 2012, 01:25:22 PM
, but are there any discussions (that people can disclose) about what they plan on actually doing once in place?

I guess not. Hopefully after the Council approves.

Person 1 (normal guy): Nice, Jacksonville has 300 new jobs.

Person 2 (pessimistic urbanite): But they aren't DT, so it doesn't matter

Person 1: WTF?!! 

That's not my perspective. I'm just eager to see what plan will be initiated to lure jobs, such as the ones highlighted in this thread, to Downtown.

Quote from: bill on May 08, 2012, 03:01:41 PM
Safer is not debateable(whether real or percieved). Location is not either as the vast majority of the workers live in the Beaches, SS or SJC. There are a few nice buildings DT but they are much more expensive.

Sorry to disagree Bill, but downtown is the geographic center of the county and considering the booming growth in Nassau County, it is pretty close to the geographical center of the metro. Moreover, downtown Jacksonville is the undisputed transportation hub of the Florida Crown, with 5 of the 8 bridges between the sea and Green Cove Springs. This means that it doesn't matter if you are a CEO, or a window washer, chances are, you'll be going through downtown, if not today, tomorrow.

Crime is debatable? Just ask the locals? Wrong. If I'm a business location specialist for GE, I'm not out standing in front of the Mellow Mushroom in Avondale (I just couldn't resist that one) asking all of the local boys and girls how good or bad it is downtown. When I hit town to look at locations, I'm armed with the uniform crime statistics and I'll use those hard numbers to make my decision.

As far as south side being closer to "where all of the workers live," I guess you are right if all you are counting is blond haired, blue eyed, Aryan's. Frankly there is no denser residential section of town then the North and Northwest side.

QuoteThat's not my perspective. I'm just eager to see what plan will be initiated to lure jobs, such as the ones highlighted in this thread, to Downtown.

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I work for a company with 1,000+ employees in town.  We are looking to relocate, but will not consider downtown for parking reasons.  The rental rates and product quality are better in DT, but paying for 1,000 spaces in a garage is too much of an obstacle as far as our management is concerned.  Without the city jumping through hoops, i don't see it happening.

I would also think a limiting factor for downtown Jax is the fact that there aren't contiguous blocks of space available in a building that has the infrastructure to serve 21st century communications requirements for a 300-1,000 employee relocation .

Jacksonville's buildings are pretty old and hardly class A (often by the lack of infrastructure and dated floorplate configurations/systems).

Jacksonville does not have many buildings to choose from (and many buildings downtown are owner-occupied/single tenant).

Within Jacksonville's limited selection of buildings, there aren't appealing or large contiguous blocks of space, even with the high vacancy.


These are all potential obstacles to landing firms downtown.  And then you have to keep in mind a lot of jobs Jacksonville attracts are support jobs and call center jobs that don't necessarily fit the bill for CBD office space.  Jacksonville needs a larger FIRE/Accounting/Legal/Healthcare/Architects/International Firm job market to fill office towers.  We don't field a presence with major law firms (I think Foley Lardner is the only large "elite" firm with a presence in Jax?).  We have lost a tremendous amount of bank and insurance jobs, and real estate jobs have gone kaplunk (never had a private equity presence and only had 2 REITs and a few smaller brokerage offices).  We have a lot of hospitals, which usually build up and build large, but hospitals are shrinking and smaller MOBs are taking their place.  Not sure that we have any offices for major architectural or engineering firms.  We don't have offices for the likes of Hitachi or Sony or SwissRE or Macquarie, etc etc.

And then you need a special kind of smaller-mid sized firm to occupy all of the smaller buildings/older-historic buildings in Jax.  Co-Work is great for the cheaper space, and that furniture store is classic (see that all the time in major cities).  What I don't see too much of in Jax are smaller PR/Marketing firms and smaller consulting firms.  I don't see the tech firms, but they are split between suburban and loft office.

Not all firms are meant to occupy space in a tower...or to fill up the smaller buildings in central environments.

Quote from: Ocklawaha on May 08, 2012, 09:44:59 PM
Sorry to disagree Bill, but downtown is the geographic center of the county and considering the booming growth in Nassau County, it is pretty close to the geographical center of the metro.

except that Nassau County has less than 100,000 people...and Clay and St. Johns each have about 200,000....and are growing at a faster rate