CSX Leaving AT&T Tower

[thelakelander]

Don't worry, they all aren't going to the Southside. 

CSX Corp. will move 800 employees from the Downtown AT&T Building to the nearby 550 Building and its other two facilities next spring, spokesman Gary Sease said Wednesday.

The 15-year lease is for 11 floors, or 172,000 square feet in the 550 Building, Sease said. Some of the employees moving from the AT&T Building will move to CSX’s Southpoint facility and 500 Water St. headquarters, but Sease said the majority will relocate to the 550 Building, which is located adjacent to the company headquarters, fronting .

“With that move, we will bring our downtown Jacksonville employees together in a campus-like setting,” Sease wrote in an e-mail statement. “Our commitment to downtown Jacksonville remains as strong as ever, and our total downtown employment will be about 1,750 employees following the relocations.”

Sease said employees were informed of the move “a few weeks ago.” Pamela Smith, spokeswoman for Elad National Realty, which owns the AT&T Building, said they expect CSX to be out by mid-2011.

The 30-floor, 1 million square foot AT&T Building is 75 percent occupied with CSX as a tenant, Smith said. Once the company moves out, it will be 50 percent occupied.

Read more: CSX to move from AT&T Tower | Jacksonville Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2010/10/11/daily27.html

[vicupstate]

Well, some of the employees are going to Southpoint. 

Ideally, the large chunk of space in the AT&T building would allow for a major corporate HQ relocation into that building.

[Lunican]

“Everything is very negotiable,” Smith said. “It comes down to a situation of supply and demand, and there’s too much supply, and we’re in that stage where we want to make deals.”

So then why did they just let CSX move out?

[simms3]

AT&T Building is literally a crappy building compared to other office buildings.  Maybe a corporate HQ of a smaller or local or emerging firm or large offices for a telecommunications firm.  The AT&T building is like an 80s version of an owner occupied building (Bellsouth in that case).  It is much like the 1970s AT&T building in Atlanta, though much smaller.

And 500 Water Street is a smaller, older building that is closer to CSX HQ, so leases would be even cheaper than in the AT&T building and the location is more convenient.  The owner of AT&T building may have another tentative tenant (which would be great) or they are taking their chances that they will fill that space at market rates before it would have been more profitable to slash rates enough to keep CSX.

[thelakelander]

I wonder if they are banking on the future Duval County Courthouse?  The same goes for the parking garage across the street from it with all the empty retail spaces on Forsyth, Julia and Adams.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Thought I saw something earlier this year that the 550 Building as offering unusually low lease rates because of its being largely empty.

[CS Foltz]

550 Water St does not have a whole lot of parking...........makes me wonder just how and where the CSX tenants will be parking at? There is not alot of parking in the parking lot...............T Mobile switch was located there when T Mobile Jax first geared up.........was allways getting an earfull about parking and I was never there long........just long enough to pick up parts to fix things!

[thelakelander]

My guess is that they will be parking in the surface lots surrounding it or the largely empty Water Street garage, directly across the street from 550 Water.  DT Jax is half empty as is.  One problem not worth worrying about is parking availability.

[reednavy]

550 just received some descent renovations by the company that bought it a few years back, the most visible being the nice revamp of the front entrance plaza.

Now, if only the owners of the AT&T Building would reclad the tower's exterior and completely renovate the plaza facing Bay, it'd be a more appealing structure, and not some giant gray wall.

[CS Foltz]

lake.....not a lot of parking around it.........unless they have added to it since I was there last? Parking has caused more than one business demize and unless they have a deal with the Water St garage......well you know where I am going here!

[thelakelander]

There's a ton of parking around it.  Between the asphalted blocks of parking around it and the CSX building, you also have the huge Water Street garage, asphalt lots and another garage between it and the Omni and acres of grass parking between it and the Prime Osborn.  If anything, its too much available parking in the immediate area.

[CS Foltz]

OK lake...............will take your word for it! The parking then will cause them to leave from downtown then! Better too much then not enough! 10 years ago plus ....was not that way!

[fsujax]

There ae some local companies that are committed to Downtown..I would say CSX is on of them. Kudos to them.

[hooplady]

Ah, don't read too much into this announcement.  CSX moves people around all the time.  They emptied out the  550 building a few years ago and moved over to AT&T...some of these folks are just going back home.

I'm sure parking is always a factor in the decision-making, but it's just one of many.

[RiversideLoki]

Between the CSX surface lot, the lot behind 550, and the Water's street garage, there's plenty of parking. CSX has had staff in 550 for a loooonnngg time. Mostly CSX Technologies guys. So it makes sense that they'd consolidate them between downtown and Southpoint (either the office building or the data center). Especially if they're getting a sweet deal on the lease.