Citizens Property Insurance Corp. seeks 226,400 square feet of office space in Jacksonville to consolidate its four area offices and specifies the location be within 5 miles of a current office it leases at 7215 Financial Way in Southside.
Bids by landlords will be opened at 2 p.m. June 17 at its conference room in Tallahassee.
The five-mile radius from the Financial Way site, which is in the Butler Boulevard/Interstate 95 area, would stretch north to the St. Nicholas area, east and south within the Interstate 295 beltway and west to the St. Johns River. That radius excludes Downtown.
Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. is the broker representing Citizens Property in Jacksonville. Citizens Property is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt government corporation organized to provide insurance protection to Florida property owners. It insures hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and condominiums whose owners otherwise might not be able to find coverage.
The 27-page Invitation to Negotiate, issued Wednesday, says Citizens Property wants to lease existing Class A or B space preferably in a single building or buildings in an adjacent complex or campus setting. It seeks 215,080 to 237,720 usable square feet, according to the invitation document, and it specifies the size of 226,400 square feet. Citizens Property says in the document it reserves the right to consider proposals for space outside the stated range.
Citizens Property intends to shift 148 IT jobs to Jacksonville from Tallahassee and Tampa. Spokesman Michael Peltier said in April that Citizens Property will look for a 225,000-square-foot site to consolidate its Northeast Florida operations. Citizens will consolidate its statewide IT staff in Jacksonville, where it already has almost 900 employees.
Peltier said Tallahassee-based Citizens has nine facilities among Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Tampa. The company will consolidate the four Jacksonville offices into one larger location and do the same in Tallahassee. There is one facility in Tampa.
The Jacksonville and Tampa offices provide policy services and underwriting, claims and customer support.
Citizens Property leases 211,288 square feet of space in Jacksonville. Peltier said that space is in Corporate Center at 6676 Corporate Center Parkway; Cypress Point at 7215 Financial Way; Cypress Plaza at 8301 Cypress Plaza Drive; and at Cypress Point, 8120 Nations Way, Building 100.
A pre-bid conference is scheduled Thursday, responses are due 2 p.m. June 17; and the “best value determination” meeting is anticipated Sept. 9. Citizens Property expects to start relocating staff into the chosen building July 1, 2015.
According to the document, Citizens Property:
• Requires safe, well-lighted, convenient and immediately accessible surface or covered parking at no additional cost and requires at least five standard-size parking spaces for each 1,000 square feet of usable space available at all times.
• Prefers that all of the space to be powered by an emergency generator in case of a utility outage.
• Needs training rooms, conference rooms and copy/print rooms and other areas.
• Says the landlord will fund all tenant improvements as part of the rental rate and be responsible for all architectural and planning services.
• Will provide its furniture.
• Wants the option to renew the lease in five two-year renewals. After five years, Citizens wants the option to downsize, without penalty, by up to 15 percent of the space, with a notice of six months. It is a one-time down-size option.
The Jacksonville jobs focus on underwriting and claims operations. Peltier said it was efficient to consolidate IT with those functions, although each city will have IT staff as needed. Of the 148 jobs moving to Jacksonville, 130 are from Tallahassee and 18 are from Tampa.
For information, call Procurement Officer Patty Davis at (850) 521-8321 or email [email protected].
First Tennessee build-out OK’d
The city approved renovations Thursday for First Tennessee Bank to build-out offices in One Enterprise Center on the Downtown Northbank.
The bank, which has been leasing space in the Regus business center in the Aetna Building on the Southbank, will move to the 15th floor at 225 Water St. Dav-Lin Interior Contractors is the contractor for the $98,324 project. A permit application listed the estimated cost at $200,000.
Plans show First Tennessee’s space will consist of at least eight offices, an open office area, at least two conference rooms, a reception area and other office functions such as the mail room, copy room, break room, storage areas and IT.
First Tennessee, a subsidiary of Memphis-based First Horizon National Corp., said the Jacksonville office provides private client banking, wealth management through FTB Advisors, commercial banking and commercial real estate lending.
The bank’s plans call for full-service banking to be offered when the office moves to the Northbank in late spring.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466