by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission unanimously approved a $300,000 incentive package Thursday that could bring Memphis mortgage firm Macquarie Mortgages USA’s national headquarters to downtown Jacksonville.
The incentive package still awaits City Council approval after a short-handed JEDC board of commissioners voted 3-0 in favor of the incentives. Jacksonville has competition on Macquarie’s short list from Richmond, Va., Charlotte, Tampa and Orlando, but Chief Operating Officer Gerhard Naude said the incentives would tilt the scales in Jacksonville’s direction.
“I can categorically say yes; Jacksonville will be the location,” said Naude. “Our preference is Jacksonville based on the incentives they are offering.”
The incentives would be parceled out in $6,000 increments for each job created by Macquarie’s expansion in Jacksonville. The firm projects to add 50 jobs over the next three years at an average annual wage of $48,500.
Naude said about 40-45 of the jobs would be local hires. The rest would transfer from the firm’s current Memphis headquarters. Macquarie Mortgages USA is a subsidiary of Macquarie Bank Limited, a global investment bank with more than 6,500 employees in 23 countries.
The incentives would come from the Qualified Target Industry program. The largely state-funded program exchanges tax breaks for desirable jobs. The state would fund 80 percent — about $240,000 — of Macquarie’s incentives.
Following his presentation to the JEDC, Naude said his firm would pursue a downtown location because it would be in keeping with Macquarie’s image as an investment banking firm. The firm is looking for 10,000 square feet of office space, likely in the BellSouth tower or the Bank of America Building.
Pending City Council approval, Naude said the new headquarters should be “up and running by late first quarter,” of 2006.
Macquarie is not required to expand downtown. But locating outside the downtown Enterprise Zone would halve the tax credits for which the firm would be eligible.
Naude said the QTI program gave Florida an edge over competing locations in Virginia and North Carolina. But asked why Jacksonville stood out over in-state competitors Orlando and Tampa, Naude admitted that the local advantages aren’t all financial.
“For me it’s the golf courses,” said Naude. “I love Sawgrass. But really the quality of life in Northeast Florida is obviously something we considered.”
The unanimous approval of the Macquarie package was the exception during a spirited meeting, which featured pointed questions from the board to applicants and JEDC staff about other projects on the agenda.
Commissioner Charlie Appleby once again led the cross-examination. One small business loan package died after Appleby and board member David Auchter criticized the terms. Appleby also pointedly criticized an incentive package sought by Morris Communications to expand its Florida Times-Union building at 1 Riverside Avenue.
Appleby disagreed with the JEDC’s assessment that the building was located in a distressed neighborhood, a qualification that typically improves the chances of a development project to receive incentives.
Although the stretch of Riverside Avenue occupied by the Times-Union is also home to companies like The Haskell Company, Fidelity National and The Auchter Company, the JEDC recognizes the area as distressed because it sits inside the City’s Enterprise Zone. The zones are areas identified by the City as redevelopment priorities.
The Enterprise Zone has performed its job on Riverside. A once-struggling neighborhood is now home to some of Jacksonville’s most prominent corporate tenants. But the zone’s current borders don’t reflect the changes in demographics. The JEDC is already contemplating changes to those borders.
Although the Times-Union resides inside the Enterprise Zone, Appleby said treating the location as distressed would violate the zone’s original intent. When advised to review the project according to the established borders, Appleby questioned his role on the board.
“If our job here is just to sit here and automatically approve something if all the boxes are checked, then I don’t see any purpose to my continuing on this body,” he said.
Appleby voted against the package, which still passed 2-1.