EverBank Center’s representative said today the owners will bid to bring Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to the Downtown tower if they can.
Citizens Property, which is a government corporation that provides insurance protection to Florida property owners, wants to consolidate and expand offices in Jacksonville into about 226,400 square feet of office space.
“We will definitely bid if they amend the boundaries to include Downtown Northbank,” said El Ad Florida LLC representative Pamela Smith, who participated Thursday in a Citizens Property pre-bid conference about the Invitation to Negotiate.
Smith asked about the company’s requirement that the office space be within a 5-mile radius of a Citizens Property office at 7215 Financial Way in Southside.
“We are not five miles,” Smith said at the 1 p.m. session. “We are eight miles and my question is how approximate is that? Can we submit a bid?”
Citizens Property Procurement Officer Patty Davis responded that Smith’s property was outside the boundaries but encouraged her to send the question in writing so it can be considered.
Smith said EverBank Center has about 250,000 square feet available.
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 intends to shift 148 IT jobs to Jacksonville from Tallahassee and Tampa.
The company will consolidate the four Jacksonville offices, which focus on underwriting and claims operations, into one larger location along with the new IT jobs.
It seeks 215,080 to 237,720 usable square feet, according to the invitation document.
Citizens Property leases 211,288 square feet of space in Jacksonville 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.
The landlord for Cypress Point Business Park will continue to evaluate the Invitation to Negotiate over the next few weeks, said broker Mark Scott, senior director at Graham & Co.’s Jacksonville office.
“Citizens occupies two buildings in Cypress Point Business Park totaling about 100,000 square feet,” said Scott, who also participated in the pre-bid conference.
“The recent ITN for Citizens is of interest to HGL Properties, the owner of Cypress Point,” Scott said.
Questions from prospective bidders are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday and answers will be posted May 27. Bids are due by 2 p.m. June 17 and the company expects to start relocating staff into the chosen building July 1, 2015.
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