The company is moving its HQ from New Jersey to Jacksonville.
Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc. has been providing business data to Wall Street and beyond for more than a century and a half.
Its roots trace to companies founded in New York and Cincinnati in the 1840s that merged in 1933 to become Dun & Bradstreet.
The company was bought out in 2019 by an investor group with strong ties to Jacksonville and after an initial public offering in 2020, Dun & Bradstreet announced in May 2021 it was moving its headquarters from New Jersey to Jacksonville.
The move made sense because Anthony Jabbour, CEO of Jacksonville-based Black Knight Inc., took on the additional role of CEO of Dun & Bradstreet after the 2019 buyout. Black Knight was part of the investor group.
Dun & Bradstreet bought a 218,700-square-foot office building June 30 for $76.6 million for its headquarters. The building, called Town Center II, is across Butler Boulevard from the St. Johns Town Center.
Dun & Bradstreet is receiving $25 million in city and state incentives to move to Jacksonville, with the promise of hiring 500 people.
By Mark Basch
The homebuilder saw an IPO price surge and bought a Texas company.
Dream Finders Homes Inc. is an established homebuilder in Northeast Florida, with a marketing partnership with the Jacksonville Jaguars, which highlights its brand in the market.
However, the Jacksonville-based company caught the attention of Wall Street with an initial public offering in January.
With its strong growth potential, Dream Finders more than doubled its $13 IPO price in the first few weeks of trading.
The company made another splash Oct. 1 by acquiring McGuyer Homebuilders Inc., which expanded its presence in Texas with the potential to grow the company’s home closing activity and revenue by more than 50%.
However, the supply chain issues affecting all businesses have slowed down home construction activity and forced Dream Finders to lower its forecasts.
The slower growth has cooled the company’s stock. After trading as high as $36.60 in the spring, Dream Finders has been trading in the teens for the last three months.
The company is hoping to resume its growth path when conditions return to normal.
By Mark Basch
VyStar’s investment was a key in the firm relocating to Downtown.
VyStar Credit Union’s $20 million April investment in banking software company Nymbus Inc. was an early factor in the company’s decision to relocate its headquarters from Miami Beach to Downtown Jacksonville and bring with it 673 jobs.
Nymbus Chairman and CEO Jeffery Kendall announced Oct. 5 that the company already had begun moving into the VyStar corporate campus at 76 S. Laura St., but he said discussions of expanding the partnership began in January.
The deal was awarded $4.53 million in state and city tax incentives to create the fintech jobs in Jacksonville.
VyStar’s investment was in the Nymbus Credit Union Service Organization.
The deal was one note in a year of growth for VyStar as its acquisition of Georgia-based Heritage Southeast Bank will make it the 13th largest credit union in the country. VyStar says it will have 850,000 members in Georgia and Florida, 88 branches and $12.5 billion in assets.
By Mike Mendenhall
The company, founded in Jacksonville, sold for $1 billion.
As Firehouse Subs grew into a significant national restaurant chain over the past quarter century, many business people anticipated the Jacksonville-based company eventually would go public or agree to a buyout.
That happened in November when Restaurant Brands International, the publicly traded parent of Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons, agreed to buy Firehouse Restaurant Group Inc. for $1 billion.
The buyout closed Dec. 15.
Significantly, the agreement keeps Firehouse headquartered in Jacksonville led by current management, including CEO Don Fox.
Firehouse has grown from a single sub shop in Jacksonville in 1994 to a chain of 1,206 restaurants in 46 states, Puerto Rico and Canada.
Revenue is expected to be about $1.1 billion this year.
The chain should grow even more under the new ownership. RBI Chief Executive Jose Cil said he is particularly interested in expanding the Firehouse brand into new international markets.
By Mark Basch
Sales and gas tax increases will fund $3 billion in Duval projects.
In November 2020, voters approved 15 years of an additional half-cent local sales tax that began being collected Jan. 1.
The revenue is dedicated to a $1.9 billion plan to repair Duval County Public Schools’ aging buildings and other facilities, build new schools and improve safety and security.
In May, City Council voted to enact, effective Jan. 1, 2022, a 6-cent local option gasoline tax to pay for infrastructure improvements and for projects supervised by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Revenue from doubling the tax from 6 cents per gallon to 12 cents will allow the city to budget nearly $1 billion for transportation, stormwater management and other needs in Duval County:
• $483 million for road, bridge, drainage and gutter repairs.
• $102 million to resurface 3,682 miles of roadway.
• $247 million to modernize the Downtown Skyway system by building the Ultimate Urban Circulator autonomous vehicle project.
• $132 million for the 30-mile urban neighborhood Emerald Trail network.
By Max Marbut
The Downtown hotel sold for $35.1 million and will become a Marriott.
The Omni Jacksonville Hotel was sold Feb. 25 for $35.1 million to LR Jax LLC, a subsidiary of Wyoming-based Jackson Hole Trust Co.
Peter Strebel, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts, said the company was selling five of its properties that “no longer align with the strategic direction of the corporation.”
In March, Dallas-based Prism Hotels & Resorts took over management of the hotel that first opened in October 1987 at 245 Water St. It has since been operating as Jacksonville River City Downtown Hotel.
In early August, the hotel was listed on Marriott’s website as the Marriott Jacksonville Downtown. The transition will happen in early 2022 and the hotel is working toward a complete renovation.
The most recent update at the hotel was in 2015 when the 354 guest rooms and suites were redecorated. The ballrooms and meeting rooms on the second floor were refurbished in 2012. The lobby, J-Bar lounge and Juliette’s restaurant were reconfigured in 2013.
By Max Marbut
