Humana is negotiating to move its Northeast Florida market office from Downtown to Baymeadows by the end of the year, and a retail center will be set up in Mandarin.
Almost 100 employees will be leaving for those suburbs.
Spokesman Mitch Lubitz said Humana is working on a lease for 20,000 square feet of space for the regional office on the entire third floor of the Prominence building at 8381 Dix Ellis Trail. About 50 employees will make that move.
“We are hoping to complete those negotiations over the summer and move our regional office by the end of this year,” he said.
That space serves as Humana’s executive offices for its regional Medicare and commercial leaders along with support and administrative staff.
Humana’s lease of about 35,000 square feet of space at the SunTrust Tower at 76 S. Laura St. expires Dec. 31. It occupies space on the ninth and 10th floors of the 23-story building.
Humana also will relocate about 42 employees from the tower to a new retail customer service and sales office. Humana MarketPoint is slated to open in Merchants Walk in Mandarin by the first quarter of 2016.
The MarketPoint sales team of about 30 employees offers Medicare and individual health plans. Another dozen associates work with CarePlus Health Plans, a Humana-owned Florida Medicare Advantage HMO.
The company has opened separate sales centers in other Florida markets, including Tampa Bay and West Palm Beach.
The relocation removes the health insurer from the Downtown building it once owned.
Built in 1989 for American Heritage Life Insurance Co., Humana bought it in 1998 with the help of city incentives and remodeled it. Humana at one time occupied a large space in the 383,239-square-foot building and pledged to staff it with about 1,500 employees, but didn’t reach that number.
In 2003, it notified the city it would close its national service customer center there and lay off more than 500 employees.
Lubitz said those functions were moved to other markets.
Humana sold the building in 2004, after which the structure went through several changes in ownership and for several years operated partially as an office condo.
In March, Fort Lauderdale-based Mainstreet Capital Partners Inc. bought the tower and the adjacent parking garage under construction, restoring the building to a single ownership group.
Comedy club to open in Baymeadows
Another comedy club is coming to town.
Rising Stars Comedy Club should open in the Ramada Jacksonville/Baymeadows Hotel & Conference Center at Baymeadows Road and Interstate 95.
Hotel General Manager Paul Celnik said the club should start operating in five or six weeks.
Celnik said the headliners would be featured Wednesday-Saturday. Monday and Tuesday would offer open mic opportunities.
Rising Stars joins several other Jacksonville comedy clubs, including Latitude 360 off Philips Highway in The Avenues area; The Comedy Club of Jacksonville along Beach Boulevard near St. Johns Bluff Road; and The Comedy Zone at the Ramada Jacksonville Hotel & Conference Center in Mandarin. There’s no connection between the two Ramada comedy clubs, Celnik said.
“We’re just friendly competition. We’re just another nice venue,” he said.
Stephen Smith, creator of The Comedy Club, said people like to laugh.
“Another comedy club means Jacksonville is a happier place,” he said.
Wells Fargo leaving Capital Plaza
Wells Fargo intends to move about 300 employees from Capital Plaza in Southside to the Metro Square office park at Philips Highway and Emerson Street.
The relocation is scheduled for the fall. Wells Fargo will vacate 160,000 square feet of space at the Capital Plaza office park along Deerwood Park Boulevard.
Spokeswoman Kathy Harrison said Wells Fargo currently leases the entire Metro “D” building. “The move aligns with our continuous efforts to manage our resources, including our real estate portfolio, efficiently,” she said.
Harrison said back-office operations will move. Wells Fargo has occupied space at Capital Plaza since 2005.
Source One Direct lands new address
Source One Direct Inc. has a new address — 7357 Digital Circle.
The credit-card company is starting the first phase of renovations in the building it bought late last year in Flagler Center from Citicorp Credit Services Inc. USA.
When purchased, the building’s address was 14000 Citicards Way, which is the campus for Citi Cards.
Atlanta-based Source One Direct provides personalized credit cards for companies and businesses.
Its first phase of renovations comprises 6,300 square feet of the more than 60,000-square-foot building. It includes offices, data storage, IT, data cards and technician space.
Terry Durand-Stuebben, vice president of Auld & White Constructors, said the project is on a fast-track to be completed by September. She said future phases are being determined.
The remaining space in the one-story building includes offices, conference space, transaction services production, a warehouse, strapping and shrink wrap, a vault and more.
Source One Direct is part of Gemalto, an Amsterdam company whose U.S. headquarters are in Austin, Texas. A Gemalto spokeswoman said she could not comment.
Marriott Residence Inn planned at Bartram Park
The city is reviewing a permit application for construction of the $8.5 million Marriott Residence Inn at Bartram Park.
The five-story, 88,092-square-foot hotel is planned at 13942 Village Lake Circle.
A concurrency application last year showed a 122-room property on 2.28 acres.
Chicago group buys University center
Inland Real Estate Corp. bought the University Shopping Center in Southside on Friday for $15.75 million.
Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Real Estate, through Jacksonville Retail Center DST, acquired the LA Fitness-anchored center from RAM Realty Services LLC of Palm Beach Gardens.
University Shopping Center comprises three buildings that total 102,751 square feet and a fourth building, a McDonald’s, along with an acre of vacant commercial land. The total 11.24-acre site carries an assessed value of $3.81 million.
The property is at 3544-3600 and 3750 University Blvd. W. and the vacant land is along Morrow Street.
Three of the University Shopping Center buildings were developed in 1974, while the McDonald’s structure was built in 1993.
Inland Real Estate, based in a Chicago suburb, describes itself as a self-advised and self-managed publicly traded real estate investment trust focused on owning and operating open-air neighborhood, community and power shopping centers in well-established markets.
As of March 31, it owned interests in 134 properties with leasable space of about 15 million square feet.
RAM Realty Services sold the property through Community Reinvestment Partners LLC.
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