By mid-May, KBJ Architects is expected to occupy the top floor of Jacksonville’s tallest building, the 42-story Bank of America Tower Downtown.
Originally the executive offices for Barnett Banks Inc., the space served several purposes, including as a restaurant.
“It is going to be the coolest office space in Jacksonville,” said Traci Jenks, senior director of Cushman & Wakefield. She represented KBJ in the negotiations.
Jacksonville-based KBJ sold its 510 N. Julia St. property in December to a Missouri-based real estate investor. The sale came a year after Landrum & Brown, a global aviation planning company based in Cincinnati, bought KBJ in November 2016.
Founded in 1946, KBJ is an architectural and interior design firm. It will lease about 13,000 square feet of space in the structure at 50 N. Laura St.
KBJ President Tom Rensing said the global firm is scheduled to move in May 13.
He said about 20 people will move and the company is hiring four to five more people.
“We have a lot of work around the world,” Rensing said.
Jenks said KBJ will not modify the offices much. “They wanted to keep the beautiful timeless finishes that were already in the space,” she said.
The tower was built in 1990 for the legendary Jacksonville-based Barnett Banks Inc.
The KBJ space will include the office suite of the late Charles Rice, the chairman and CEO of Barnett Banks who led the company for about 20 years, ending with its sale in 1998 to NationsBank, which became Bank of America.
After the offices no longer were used for banking, the Skyline Dining and Conference Center operated a café on the 42nd floor. Parts of the floor also are used as conference center space.
News about the move came from JLL, which is Jones Lang LaSalle, as it reported in its first-quarter Office Insight that Landrum & Brown signed a lease to move into the top floor of the tower.
Michael Loftin, executive vice president of JLL, said Friday that Landrum & Brown signed a lease in January.
He said the move allows KBJ “to be able to look out over all the Downtown buildings they designed.”
KBJ’s designs include 27 Downtown projects, such as the Duval County Courthouse, CSX Corp. headquarters and First Baptist Church of Jacksonville.
To prepare for the move, the shared office stairwell between the 41st and 42nd floors was removed to separate the tenants. The Nelson Mullins law firm leases the 41st floor.
Loftin said the Nelson Mullins reception area where the stairwell was removed is receiving new finishes to match the rest of its reception area.
Loftin and former JLL Associate Jamie Alteri represented the tower’s landlord, Hertz Investment Group. The California-based real estate investment and management group bought the tower in 2014 for $88 million.
Loftin said Colliers International Northeast Florida now handles leasing for the tower. The real estate company operates on the 17th floor.
Colliers International’s property listing online does not list the 42nd floor of the tower as available. It shows available space on 19 floors.
