Paysafe chooses Jacksonville for North American Headquarters

[Ken_FSU]

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/paysafe-planning-reverse-stock-split

[JPalmer]

^ I don't track your work history and can only go by what you post.  That aside, others may not know the interconnected web of Foley's interests so info you knew but omitted brings context to my take for many.

All I am saying is Bruce Lowthers, Bill Foley and others have a lot less loyalty to FIS than y'all want to give credit.  PaySafe was taken public through Foley's SPAC.  He clearly is interested in developing a direct competition to FIS, yet he may still own millions in FIS stock, that's just being diversified and hedging your bet.

[Ken_FSU]

A 92% drop in the stock price over the last 18 months and the just announced 12-1 reverse stock split doesn't make me feel particularly great about Paysafe's stability/ability to aggressively add hundreds of $150k+ jobs in the short term. $10 million is a lot of cash to hand out...

[Ken_FSU]

Thanks. I guess it is good news that Shad's building is getting full.

Based on the 40K sqft = 150 -200 people, they will need 120,000 to 160,000 square feet?

Or, 38,000 square feet at the Town Center 

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/apr/05/paysafe-ltd-chooses-headquarters-space-in-town-center-two/

$10 million cash grant from the city for 38,000 square feet at the Town Center.

[thelakelander]

Maybe its the way that it was covered in the media but that turned out to be a little more underwhelming than initially anticipated.

[jaxlongtimer]

Thanks. I guess it is good news that Shad's building is getting full.

Based on the 40K sqft = 150 -200 people, they will need 120,000 to 160,000 square feet?

Or, 38,000 square feet at the Town Center 

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/apr/05/paysafe-ltd-chooses-headquarters-space-in-town-center-two/

$10 million cash grant from the city for 38,000 square feet at the Town Center.

More details from the article:

Less than a month later, City Council approved a $10.1 million cash incentives package to finalize the company's North American headquarters consolidation in Jacksonville. That was in addition to $3 million from the state's High Impact Performance Incentive program.

Founded in 1996, Paysafe offers payment processing, digital wallet and online cash solutions.

Paysafe says it is bringing 600 jobs to Northeast Florida. It is posting job openings on paysafe.com.

Wonder how much the City and State would pay me to not relocate from Jacksonville  ?  Based on 600 jobs here, I figure I am entitled to at least $21,667 for staying around.  I think I am worth every penny of that, for sure  .

[marcuscnelson]

Seems not-optimal for us as a city that we're struggling to revitalize downtown and manage traffic while handing companies 8 figures to locate in the suburbs.

[Charles Hunter]

Something is missing from the story. The article says PaySafe "is bringing 600 jobs to Northeast Florida."  They aren't going to fit in 38,000 square feet - that's only 63 square feet per employee. Will there be another funding/subsidy ask for the space needed for those 600 employees?

[Ken_FSU]

Something is missing from the story. The article says PaySafe "is bringing 600 jobs to Northeast Florida."  They aren't going to fit in 38,000 square feet - that's only 63 square feet per employee. Will there be another funding/subsidy ask for the space needed for those 600 employees?

I still don't buy a universe where PaySafe is in a position to aggressively add jobs in Jacksonville.

Stock is in the tank, most of the tech/fintech sector is cutting jobs faster than they're adding them, and the company is carrying like $3 billion in debt.



The headquarters sure feels like a bait and switch too.

Per the Daily Record article, the build-out cost looks to be around $2.6 million:

London-based Paysafe Ltd. appears to be setting up its North American headquarters in Town Center Two, the St. Johns Town Center-area office building owned by Dun & Bradstreet Inc. The city is reviewing a permit for DPR Construction to demolish and build-out the 38,000-square-foot fourth floor of the six-story building at 5335 Gate Parkway. The demolition cost is $70,000 and the build-out is listed at $2.5 million.

When the $10 million incentive deal was sold to the city, PaySafe promised (https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2022/11/18/paysafe-hq-incentives.html) an investment magnitudes larger in the new HQ.

As well as creating 600 jobs with an average wage of $150,000 over the coming three years, Paysafe says it will invest $51.5 million in the HQ facility.

Seems like about a third of the $10 million is tied to job creation. $3.6 million will be paid out based on employment ($6k per job). So, at least there's some clawback opportunity there if the 600 jobs don't come to fruition. But man, I don't know how you build a $51.5 million, 600-employee HQ if your plan is to take over a single floor of a suburban office complex at the shopping mall.

[simms3]

Seems not-optimal for us as a city that we're struggling to revitalize downtown and manage traffic while handing companies 8 figures to locate in the suburbs.

THIS all day long!!

[simms3]

Something is missing from the story. The article says PaySafe "is bringing 600 jobs to Northeast Florida."  They aren't going to fit in 38,000 square feet - that's only 63 square feet per employee. Will there be another funding/subsidy ask for the space needed for those 600 employees?

Oh don't worry, they will likely all be work from home jobs, so who knows if they'll even be in Northeast FL!!

What's the point of having a "corporate HQ" if there is no real corporate presence to be had?  This city is run by fools...this whole thing was so underwhelming and should have gone downtown (along with Dun & Bradstreet).  City leaders *only* focused on throwing money at downtown apartments.  How about downtown jobs for the downtown apartment residents??  How about downtown workers for the downtown bars and restaurants?

Another bad deal for the real estate community (biased here I know), but we are a city of owner-users all across the board.  Major landowning families retain most of the development land left and don't have much need for the brokerage community.  The largest retail landlords in town are all big families that don't use third-party brokers, and never sell their assets to investors.  The largest office deals now are all done with owner-users to the exclusion of brokers, and it's all self-serving anyway (the big FIS ecosystem).  Brokers who have connections to out of state investors don't have much product to bring their clients here in Jax.

There is a lot missing here...

[Jax_Developer]

Something is missing from the story. The article says PaySafe "is bringing 600 jobs to Northeast Florida."  They aren't going to fit in 38,000 square feet - that's only 63 square feet per employee. Will there be another funding/subsidy ask for the space needed for those 600 employees?

Oh don't worry, they will likely all be work from home jobs, so who knows if they'll even be in Northeast FL!!

What's the point of having a "corporate HQ" if there is no real corporate presence to be had?  This city is run by fools...this whole thing was so underwhelming and should have gone downtown (along with Dun & Bradstreet).  City leaders *only* focused on throwing money at downtown apartments.  How about downtown jobs for the downtown apartment residents??  How about downtown workers for the downtown bars and restaurants?

Another bad deal for the real estate community (biased here I know), but we are a city of owner-users all across the board.  Major landowning families retain most of the development land left and don't have much need for the brokerage community.  The largest retail landlords in town are all big families that don't use third-party brokers, and never sell their assets to investors.  The largest office deals now are all done with owner-users to the exclusion of brokers, and it's all self-serving anyway (the big FIS ecosystem).  Brokers who have connections to out of state investors don't have much product to bring their clients here in Jax.

There is a lot missing here...

Extremely well said. There are deeper pockets outside of town, with little opportunity to be in the game like major local landowners. Not to mention DT office space is cheap and abundant.