New York-based Gramercy Property Trust Inc. has been positioning the suburban Bank of America office park for an opportunity.
That would be opportunity for large tenants to lease up to 330,000 square feet of space, which makes the park one of just several properties that could accommodate a big employer, and to provide signage and enough parking.
The future was signaled Thursday at the Jacksonville Planning Commission meeting.
“We’ve got some new users coming in there,” Emily Pierce, a lawyer with Rogers Towers, told the commission. She represents the property owner, and did not say who was moving in.
A Gramercy executive declined comment after the meeting about those users or any other update for the park.
The Bank of America office park, which is being rebranded as Gramercy Woods, comprises 90 acres at 9000 Southside Blvd.
Gramercy Property Trust has been working through the regulatory process to rebrand the park as its lead tenant, Bank of America, consolidates and makes room for more companies to lease space.
It also has been seeking approvals to build a parking garage on the south end of the property, on an existing parking lot, to handle a potential influx of employees.
The commission approved a minor change for the Planned Unit Development to modify the written description and the site plan.
As explained in a Planning and Development Department report, the Bank of America Office Park was part of The Avenues Planned Unit Development and Development of Regional Impact approved in 1986. A 1992 city ordinance separated the Bank of America parcel from The Avenues PUD.
The Avenues mall is south of the park.
The modification allows shared parking among the tenants, allows valet parking to satisfy parking requirements and creates a unified master sign plan for re-branding.
Bank of America continues to lease much of the park, but its consolidation opens the doors for other companies to move in.
Gramercy Property Trust began opening the park to new tenants, and positioning it to capture some of the companies seeking larger blocks of space, more than a year ago.
In December 2014, Colliers International Northeast Florida started to market two buildings – the 10-story, almost 260,000-square-foot Building 100 and the five-floor, almost 122,300-square-foot Building 700.
Tax Defense Network has leased 50,000 square feet on the top two floors of Building 100.
Bank of America has occupied the park through predecessor companies since it was built for Jacksonville-based Barnett Banks Inc. in 1989. The campus has expanded to almost 1.24 million square feet of office space.
The additional space puts Gramercy Woods in a competitive position.
The Colliers International Northeast Florida first-quarter office report states there are only 14 existing Class A properties in the area that had available contiguous space of at least 25,000 square feet.
Gramercy Woods has more than that.
At Gramercy Woods, eight floors, totaling almost 207,000 square feet, is available in 10-story Building 100. The entire five-story Building 700 is available, totaling almost 123,000 square feet.
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