QuoteCitizens Property Insurance Corp. drew seven bids from its invitation to negotiate for "turn-key" office space in Jacksonville that is smaller than its current Downtown location.
The state insurer operates in the 30-story high-rise at 301 W. Bay St., for which it signed a 10-year, $41.7 million lease in 2015. At that time, the Daily Record reported the Citizens was consolidating offices and moving 1,038 jobs into about 232,000 square feet of space.
With its lease there set to expire in June 2026, Citizens issued an ITN with requirements that included 203,000 to 215,000 square feet of space, a minimum of 1,107 parking spaces, offices either in a single building or within the same campus, and and a lease with an initial 10-year term and renewal options.
On Jan. 17, Citizens unsealed bids from several respondents:
• Rosecrans 2004 LLC for 225 Water St. (Downtown Northbank)
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. for 4800 Deerwood Campus Parkway (Southside)
• 841 Prudential MLB LLC for 841 Prudential Drive (Downtown Southbank)
• Jax LC Owner 2 LLC for 14000 Citicards Way (Batram Park - Flagler Center)
• The Atlantic Land and Improvement Co., care of CSX Transportation Inc., 550 Water St. (Downtown Northbank)
• Amkin West Bay LLC, 301 W. Bay St. (Downtown Northbank)
• Jacksonville IV FGF LLC, care of Boyd Watterson Asset Management, 8787 Baypine Road (Baymeadows)
Full Article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/jan/17/citizens-draws-bids-for-office-space-in-downtown-and-south-jacksonville/
Based on the above article, Citizens is looking at:
QuoteWith its lease there set to expire in June 2026, Citizens issued an ITN with requirements that included 203,000 to 215,000 square feet of space, a minimum of 1,107 parking spaces, offices either in a single building or within the same campus, and and a lease with an initial 10-year term and renewal options.
And, today this regarding Citi's campus at the very end of the map that Citizens posted for space possiblitiies:
QuoteThe announcement said Citigroup will continue occupying about 230,000 square feet of office space. The other 260,000 square feet of space is being offered to new tenants.
Citi's address was listed as a finalist for Citizens and now we can see why.
QuoteInitial ranking gives top score to former law school building for Citizens future location
The closely watched decision by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. on whether it will stay in downtown Jacksonville or move to the suburbs is headed into the home stretch after an evaluation team spread its top scores to three Southside office buildings and Citizen's current home in EverBank Center....
Quote"The safety and security of Citizens' employees should be priority one and the current environment does not provide such," Shelton said.
"Given the gross number of past and continuous serious, offensive and frightening incidents impacting our employees in and around our current location — the west side of downtown, far away from the east side of downtown where much attention and dollars have been directed — I can't see a scenario where management would continue to provide such an environment for the employees of Citizens," he said.
Full article: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/02/03/citizens-property-insurance-searches-for-jacksonville-office-spot/78090880007/
You can see the lack of perspective of the people who make decisions on behalf of downtown in the following blurb from Lori Boyer:
""I walk around downtown and have not had those encounters, and I'm not a particularly imposing person," Boyer said. "That's not to say that it doesn't happen, but I don't see it as a significant order of magnitude.""
She lives in San Marco from what I've gathered, and it sounds like she's spending her lunch break maybe downtown, when things are busy. If you hang out downtown it's not a scary place, but if you do like my buddy and I do when we go downtown: have a couple beers at Bold City Downtown, then walk across the bridge to Southern Grill for a late night snack, then walk back, you're gonna get asked for money or encounter someone down on their luck. No hard feelings towards most, but I'm not entertaining your sob story asking for money or gonna act like all is sunshine and rainbows when an addict is coming down and crashing out, screaming at random passersby or chucking rocks at cars and buildings while pedestrians are nearby, or crowds are waiting to go to a concert.
Granted, the same thing happens in Riverside, and just about any popular place where people congregate, but still, the "I don't see it" attitude towards the frequency of unpleasant encounters with strangers downtown doesn't lend her any credibility when her whole job is to have a finger on the pulse of downtown.
Agreed - not good results from the initial ranking for them staying downtown.
In terms of Boyer's response - it's tone deaf. To a less serious extent it's the same thing as the statements that people are uncomfortable on the NYC Subway and them saying, "crime stats are low" or "it's a handful of incidents".
Citizens is making a decision based on real lived experience. I will be surprised if they stay downtown. The solution (a cleaned up and vibrant downtown is a simple one). But that's not going to happen before they jump ship.
The city's current homelessness plan is designed to help address the issues. Per the state law requiring all local governments to prohibit public sleeping, there is now a Providing Assistance to the Homeless (PATH) team under the fire department on call 24/7 to help connect those sleeping on public property with resources and services that can help them (and call in JSO if they don't agree). We are also putting more resources into shelters, wraparound services and the Homeward Bound program to help find homeless peoples' relatives. City Council cut the funding for this plan from the budget last fall, but we've been able to move it forward since then, albeit in a more piecemeal fashion. The good news is it's working, and with more resources the better it'll be.
Quote'Not acceptable': Documents detail safety concerns of Downtown Citizens Insurance employees
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville's efforts to keep one of Downtown's largest employers from moving out of the heart of the city may be in trouble.
The city has been fighting to keep Citizens Insurance from leaving Downtown for nearly a year.
Now, a recommendation that was scheduled for Friday to decide the company's next move was delayed by one week.
Quote"Well, we've made several convincing offers to Citizens and hopefully they make the right decision," Davis said.
But in a statement, Citizens Governor and Audit Committee Chair Jamie Shelton argued the incentives offered so far aren't enough.
"Citizens is not anti-Downtown Jacksonville, but the present conditions are not acceptable, and recent public offers of certain incentives of reduced parking are not addressing the core issue of safety," Shelton said.
"We're doing a lot to try and combat that. Not only with the state law, the anti-public camping. Everything that JFRD is doing now to kind of be the first responder," Jacksonville City Council Vice President Kevin Carrico (R-District 4) said.
Carrico, who chairs the Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, argued losing Citizens and its 1,000 Downtown employees would be a step in the wrong direction for Downtown.
Full article: https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/not-acceptable-documents-detail-safety-concerns-downtown-citizens-insurance-employees/I6IJ5BHWGVDNDNQB5XMUSBW5ZU/
^We could have jump-started a stronger response that had a much better chance of retaining Citizens downtown had these clowns not gutted the homelessness and affordable housing initiatives from the budget.
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/government/2024/08/23/affordable-housing-homelessness-initiatives-cut-from-jacksonville-budget-deegan-diamond-salem/74901816007/
Good job guys. Please make sure to include in your list of accomplishment for the mayoral run, along with trying to sabotage the UF land swap and fighting for six months to get Donna Deegan to reimburse the city for that $9 Blooming Onion she charged on a Jax AMEX in error.
REALLY hope the city can find a way to keep Citizens downtown. We're dangerously close to some real change downtown, if they can just stick it out a little longer.
It seems the easiest solution to increasing safety is to position JSO officers on, say, every other block during working hours or more. I don't know if DVI funding could cover that but given the ever growing size of the JSO force and funding it is getting to add hundreds of new officers, I would think the ROI on a dozen or so officers committed to Downtown full time would be pretty good.
If you want more residents, they too will want the increased presence. The property taxes from increased Downtown values could also support this effort. Someone needs to run a business evaluation.
Even Town Center and many malls/big box stores have full time security clearly present so why not Downtown?
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on February 28, 2025, 10:53:48 PM
It seems the easiest solution to increasing safety is to position JSO officers on, say, every other block during working hours or more. I don't know if DVI funding could cover that but given the ever growing size of the JSO force and funding it is getting to add hundreds of new officers, I would think the ROI on a dozen or so officers committed to Downtown full time would be pretty good.
If you want more residents, they too will want the increased presence. The property taxes from increased Downtown values could also support this effort. Someone needs to run a business evaluation.
Even Town Center and many malls/big box stores have full time security clearly present so why not Downtown?
I agree wholeheartedly; maybe put them on bicycles or scooters?
The perception is changing....Its a work in progress.....This is already happening. Check out News4Jax's story on increased JSO patrolling in the downtown area:
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/02/19/downtown-residents-say-jsos-beefed-up-bicycle-and-mounted-patrols-are-making-the-area-safer/
It sounds like we now have a full time team of JSO committed to patrolling downtown on foot, bicycles, and mounted, which is great! I think more is likely to come as more residents move downtown.
Perception and transformational change will not happen overnight, but real positive change is imminent.
Citizens has a lot of support to remain downtown, they can almost get what they want....Almost seems like they need to invest in their own private security and work with JSO for patrolling the area more effectively...
Quote from: heights unknown on March 01, 2025, 01:14:22 PM
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on February 28, 2025, 10:53:48 PM
It seems the easiest solution to increasing safety is to position JSO officers on, say, every other block during working hours or more. I don't know if DVI funding could cover that but given the ever growing size of the JSO force and funding it is getting to add hundreds of new officers, I would think the ROI on a dozen or so officers committed to Downtown full time would be pretty good.
If you want more residents, they too will want the increased presence. The property taxes from increased Downtown values could also support this effort. Someone needs to run a business evaluation.
Even Town Center and many malls/big box stores have full time security clearly present so why not Downtown?
I agree wholeheartedly; maybe put them on bicycles or scooters?
More JSO presence and JSO collaboration with organizations/agencies in downtown Jax:
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/03/03/jacksonville-officials-attempt-to-address-downtown-shooting-at-sulzbacher-center-in-january/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wjxt4&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3ws6x5_uwQm6ezflVYtmws8rcbqJNtDVjONXmyd57gPzoA9QhijzTvZr8_aem_JOF0s4ZrxzjDihd_otpKCg
Maybe Citizens should be advocating for and asking for city incentives in the form of Security provided by JSO... just some thoughts..
I been involved with the homelessness plan the city launched. It definitely has been disappointing that City Council voted to launch it piecemeal rather than in one fell swoop as the administration proposed, especially as the plan was developed from work the council was involved, some of which happened even before we got here. But it is what it is and things are definitely improving on the ground, particularly in Downtown and other areas with high concentrations like that. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction for the future.
Adios Citizens: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/03/07/citizens-property-insurance-announces-decision-on-jacksonville-office/81911607007/
I think we all saw the writing on the wall.
Heres some of the problems they had they ranged from a naked man entering a nearby building, a man being stabbed Downtown, a bullet going through one of the EverBank building's windows, and a homeless man exposing himself and then urinating on himself in front of a Citizens employee.
Regardless of the outcome of Citizens, I would hope City leaders will now better appreciate the need for security and safety Downtown. Maybe that newfound priority will pay dividends from future opportunities.
I will add that the JSO presence for cultural events Downtown such as the vicinity around the Performing Arts Center and Arena have also been lacking over the years. Big difference between Jags games and everything else. More JSO should boost attendance at these, MOCA, and other events.
FYI, I am not sure the suburbs or anywhere nowadays are fully immune from the issues that Citizens is concerned about but everything is relative.
Adding things up for Downtown (exclusive of Brooklyn) losses:
- Citizens - 1,000
- Army Corp (maybe) - 800
- IRS/Federal jobs (maybe) - ??
- HD Supply/Interline - 400-600??
- Wells Fargo - ??
Gains (over time):
-Vystar
- Hanania
- Haskell
- Everbank
- UF Grad Campus
It is notable that gains are mostly coming from local companies and losses are mostly from non-locally controlled entities.
It's still a bummer... it's like the city takes a step forward in the right direction then something happens and takes us 3 steps back ... never ending cycle...Hopefully the building can be leased out again sooner rather than later...one thing fasho, Jax can attract a corporate headquarters...
Quote from: thelakelander on March 07, 2025, 03:55:16 PM
I think we all saw the writing on the wall.
Let's not pretend Citizens had 1000 employees showing up to work in that office everyday. The real number was closer to less than 100. The biggest loser here is the landlord and the loss rent, not downtown viability.
Quote from: Joey Mackey on March 07, 2025, 09:31:22 PM
Let's not pretend Citizens had 1000 employees showing up to work in that office everyday. The real number was closer to less than 100. The biggest loser here is the landlord and the loss rent, not downtown viability.
Valid.
A major blow to downtown - thanks Ronald and Rory for killing the mayor's plan to aggressively fight homelessness and a lack of affordable housing! - but downtown isn't losing 1,000 daily employees.
Up until just a few months ago, the average Citizens employee was working maybe 1.5 days a week in office. The very recent RTO mandate was wildly unpopular and led to a ton of attrition.
So, definitely a bummer, but we're losing closer to 200 workers max a day in the CBD vs 1,000.
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on March 07, 2025, 06:04:56 PM
Regardless of the outcome of Citizens, I would hope City leaders will now better appreciate the need for security and safety Downtown. Maybe that newfound priority will pay dividends from future opportunities.
I will add that the JSO presence for cultural events Downtown such as the vicinity around the Performing Arts Center and Arena have also been lacking over the years. Big difference between Jags games and everything else. More JSO should boost attendance at these, MOCA, and other events.
FYI, I am not sure the suburbs or anywhere nowadays are fully immune from the issues that Citizens is concerned about but everything is relative.
Adding things up for Downtown (exclusive of Brooklyn) losses:
- Citizens - 1,000
- Army Corp (maybe) - 800
- IRS/Federal jobs (maybe) - ??
- HD Supply/Interline - 400-600??
- Wells Fargo - ??
Gains (over time):
-Vystar
- Hanania
- Haskell
- Everbank
- UF Grad Campus
It is notable that gains are mostly coming from local companies and losses are mostly from non-locally controlled entities.
JWB is also building out their HQ in the Greenleaf & Crosby building which will add a few hundred employees right in the heart of DT
Move to the Southside confirmed:
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/03/12/citizens-property-insurance-board-approves-moving-jacksonville-office/82336789007/
Downtown has its problems, but I can't imagine a hell worse than working 40 hours a week off Baymeadows and Phillips Highway.
No more beautiful views of the river and definitely not walkable to anything.... I'm sure you can hear the highway less than 1000 ft away too at the old Florida Coastal School of Law property... But I guess it's closer to their employee base and it's closer to the suburban oasis that many Jaxsons prefer.
Quote from: Ken_FSU on March 13, 2025, 01:03:55 AM
Downtown has its problems, but I can't imagine a hell worse than working 40 hours a week off Baymeadows and Phillips Highway.
Quote from: Ken_FSU on March 13, 2025, 01:03:55 AM
Downtown has its problems, but I can't imagine a hell worse than working 40 hours a week off Baymeadows and Phillips Highway.
To be honest, that location would make me resign from Citizens lol. But to each their own. It's heavy traffic congestion over there for a reason.
Quote from: thelakelander on March 13, 2025, 07:23:44 AM
Quote from: Ken_FSU on March 13, 2025, 01:03:55 AM
Downtown has its problems, but I can't imagine a hell worse than working 40 hours a week off Baymeadows and Phillips Highway.
To be honest, that location would make me resign from Citizens lol. But to each their own. It's heavy traffic congestion over there for a reason.
100% agree.
I don't think I could ever do suburban office park.
Wow. Regrets, great regrets on the horizon. Brings to mind a song by "Hall and Oates," 1976, called "She's Gone." Yep, She (Citizens) is gone.