The proposed Fidelity National Information Services Inc. world headquarters in Brooklyn was awarded unanimous conceptual design approval Jan. 9 by the Downtown Development Review Board.
Representatives from Houston-based project development manager Hines and project architect Gensler answered DDRB questions about the $145 million, 12-story project and provided new details about its design.
The headquarters building at 323 Riverside Ave. is now 350,000 square foot – 50,000 square feet larger than what was announced by FIS CEO Gary Norcross’ when the project was unveiled Nov. 1.
Gensler Design Director and Principal Kristopher Stuart said the headquarters is designed to meet the demands of a technology company and work as a “piece of infrastructure” for Downtown Jacksonville.
The Gensler designer said his team worked to give the building a maritime feel to honor Jacksonville’s role in commercial shipping.
The building’s status as the headquarters for a global company with $12 billion in annual revenue “puts a different type of burden” on the design team, Stuart said.
“It really needs to express the functional needs as well as the aesthetic desires and the brand of the tenant. … They wanted a modern building and we feel we’ve given that to them,” he said.
Much of the discussion at DDRB meeting focused on the 3,600 square-foot mixed-use office and retail place planned for the project’s eight-story, 1,603 space parking garage.
Hines Senior Managing Director Lane Gardner said the mixed-use bays are about 45 feet wide by 20 feet deep. The bays are connected to the 570,000 square foot garage on Riverside Avenue, but don’t take away space that could be used as parking.
Because of the “unconventional size” of the bays, the DDRB will require Hines and FIS to identify a retail user by the time a certificate of occupancy for the headquarters building is issued.
“We felt that this space that they are proposing may not meet exactly what we would like to see regarding retail space,” said Lori Radcliff-Myers, Downtown Investment Authority redevelopment director. “We really felt like they need to have a user already in place to ensure that it doesn't just end up being a glass box on the corner.”
Stuart said FIS plans to use the bays as amenity space for FIS employees. He said the company is considering a bike shop, employee cafe or as a facility for Amazon.com delivery lockers or for UPS.
Several DDRB members, including Trevor Lee, said limiting the ground-floor retail to FIS employees would be “a missed opportunity.”
“My comments are to encourage you to think about not only your employees who are going to be there but other employees that are on that side of Riverside (Avenue),” Lee said. “Where are they going to go, where are they going to eat and shop? You have a great opportunity.”
The city’s Department of Public Works is beginning a project to realign Forest Street across Riverside Avenue south of the proposed FIS headquarters. City officials said the work will improve access to FIS and any future riverfront development and Sidney J. Gefen Riverwalk Park.
Lee said, coupled with a future Riverside Avenue road diet, the FIS headquarters could make the corridor more pedestrian-friendly. A road diet creates narrower roadways with wider sidewalks.
DIA Operations Manager Guy Parola told board member Fredrick Jones that keeping the development’s future retail closed to the general public would not violate Downtown’s design zoning overlay code.
“But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to see the same hallmarks as if it were,” Parola said. “We want to see entrances from the street. We want to see transparency. We want to see people in it. We’re certainly agnostic as to who the people are, where they work or who their employer is.”
Working with the neighbors
Gardner said that they are collecting input from neighboring buildings tenants.
M.C. “Ceree” Harden of Riverside Avenue Partners GP Inc., which is in the TIAA Bank building south of the FIS site, said his company has concerns about traffic flow and logistics because of the development.
He also said there are concerns about how the proposed river view corridors will affect access to the surrounding buildings.
Harden said Hines and his company have an open dialogue and said he believes the parties will reach a solution.
Urban space and the Riverwalk
A 21-foot-wide urban open space along the garage’s Forest Street side will have public seating called the “Garden Walk.
Gensler representatives said a living wall in the open space will rise two stories up the parking garage.
DDRB members asked project architects to add an uninterrupted connection from the Riverside Avenue sidewalk to the Riverwalk before returning for final approval.
Other features
Stuart said the building will feature a 13,000-square-foot employee café with terrace seating and a view of the St. Johns River.
Hines representatives said it's still not decided if a dock proposed on the St. Johns River will be public or private.
The development is on 5.71 acres. The majority will be built on a 4½-acre parking lot now owned and used by insurer Florida Blue.
FIS, which has been in Jacksonville for more than 15 years, acquired Worldpay Inc. in July for $43 billion and needs more space.
Norcross and Gov. Ron DeSantis said Nov. 1 the new Downtown headquarters will create 500 jobs.
FIS provides technology for financial institutions and Cincinnati-based Worldpay provides financial services. The combined company will have more than $12 billion in annual revenue and 55,000 employees worldwide in 40 countries. It has clients in 110 countries.
As part of a $29.9 million incentives deal with the city and state, Fortune 500 company FIS will retain its 1,216 Jacksonville employees. Norcross said its three Jacksonville facilities will be consolidated into the new headquarters, expected to be completed in June 2022.
Gardner said Jan. 9 the building will be developed to anticipate future job growth of up to 1,800 employees.
