The city is reviewing permits for the build-out for TEA to move across the river Downtown from the Northbank TIAA Bank Center to the Southbank Riverplace Tower.
The Jacksonville-based public power services firm employs 170 people in Jacksonville and 50 near Seattle.
The Energy Authority, which calls itself TEA, provides services for public power companies.
JEA, Jacksonville’s public utility, is a founding member and one of its seven owners.
TEA has more than 60 public-power clients that use natural gas, coal, wind, hydro, nuclear, biomass, fuel oil, petroleum coke and landfill gas.
Susan Boggs, vice president of administration and chief people officer, said Nov. 30 that TEA’s lease is expiring at 301 W. Bay St. after 14 years there and the company will move to take advantage of better lease terms.
TEA is on the 26th floor at TIAA Bank Center, according to its website and state corporate records.
Boggs said TEA will occupy 2½ floors at Riverplace Tower, which is at 1301 Riverplace Blvd. along the St. Johns River.
Recent building-permit applications show build-out of 4,114 square feet on the 25th floor; 12,053 square feet on the 26th floor; and 12,200 square feet on the 27th floor. That totals 28,367 square feet.
Adams Interior Contractors Inc. is shown as the contractor.
The application shows build-out costs of $5.5 million but that could be adjusted.
TEA will occupy the top floor, previously used by anchor tenant Ameris Bank.
Ameris moved its headquarters from Jacksonville to Atlanta in 2019 and downsized to one floor in the 28-story Riverplace Tower.
The 27th floor is the top office space, which Ameris occupied after renovating the former private University Club, which closed six years ago.
The 28th floor is a partial space formerly used as a club athletic facility.
Boggs said the leased space remains similar in size to TEA’s current space at about 31,000 square feet, while the new offices will be configured to better support how TEA’s employees work now.
“We will incorporate more collaborative workspaces into our office design and utilize technology to support virtual meetings as well,” she said.
“It is important for us to have a dedicated seat for everyone so that coming to the office is easy. We didn’t want them to have to worry about reserving a seat in the office or ‘hotel,’” Bogg said.
TEA, founded in 1997, previously was in what is now VyStar Tower before relocating to TIAA Bank Center.