After getting a thumbs down from Mayor John Delaney and Jacksonville Economic Development executive director Michael Weinstein to entice Cendant Corp. to move its mortgage headquarters to Jacksonville through City incentives, State Sen. Jim King focused his attention on Northside elected officials.
Cendant bought Merrill Lynch’s mortgage lending division last year, which is located in the city’s burgeoning Southpoint area. In letters sent to State Sen. Betty Holzendorf, State Rep. Denise Lee and Northside City Council members dated Sept.19, King outlined Cendant’s intention to expand its current facilities in town as well as possibly move its mortgage headquarters here.
“This is a last-ditch effort,” said King. “We’re talking about 2,500 jobs for the entire operation.”
Other cities, including Tampa and Orlando, are courting the move, too, and are willing offer financial incentives to secure the deal. Jacksonville’s economic development policy dictates any and all economic incentives will be invested north and west of the St. Johns River, leaving Cendant’s Southpoint location far off the mark.
As it expands its mortgage operation, Cendant would add an unspecified number of jobs. King assembled a potential package of perks that would assist in relocation assistance, training dollars and other expenses in conjunction with Enterprise Florida. The catch: it requires a local contribution of 25 percent. With the cost of training each employee somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000, it could be a tough sell to shoehorn another wealthy company among Southside office parks.
Despite trying to encourage more Southside business, King believes the Northside could benefit, too. He explained that 17 percent of Cendant’s employees are minority and is sure that Jacksonville could get an in-writing commitment to hire a certain percentage of minorities pending a deal.
“What I really want to do, if the policy is designed to hire Northside minorities, would that change the attitude of Northside representation?” asked King.
District 8 Council member Gwen Yates’ attitude did not waver.
“If he wants to put a company on the Southside where the traffic is rutty, go ahead. Don’t ask me to lend my support to commitment of local dollars,” she said. “That means minorities on the Northside have to drive to the Southside adding to the traffic.”
Council member Warren Alvarez, whose District 11 sprawls over sparsely populated and underdeveloped northern Duval County didn’t appear moved.
“I don’t see why we need to change our incentive program,” he said. “I think our policy is pretty right now. If we’re going to go with this, then the incentive program is no good.”
Added Yates: “We keep saying the Northside is the best kept secret but if we don’t start getting companies there, it will always be the best kept secret.”