by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Workspace: The Visit Jacksonville offices
You used to be able to find the Visit Jacksonville offices without too much difficulty — that is if you had a phone book and knew where the 550 Water Street building was located. Oh yeah, you also had to get to the 10th floor.
No more.
Visit Jacksonville’s new offices and its uber-modern welcome center are now in the Greenleaf Building on Laura Street in the heart of Downtown. While most of the offices are on the second floor, it’s the welcome center that lures in the curious as well as those looking for something to do in the Jacksonville area.
The center has two flat screen TVs, comfortable chairs, four computers, hundreds of brochures, an employee, a “director of first impressions” and huge mural depicting some of the area’s top attractions.
“We really wanted street level retail to have a visitor’s center,” said Lyndsay Rossman, director of corporate communications for Visit Jacksonville.
The organization formerly known as the Jacksonville and the Beaches Visitors & Convention Bureau moved into the new space in mid-July. An open house saw about 200 people visit the new space, which Rossman said really just needed some new carpet and a paint job. Visit Jacksonville also went from having about 7,000 square feet to over 10,000.
“We looked at several buildings and had a relocation task force,” said Rossman.
That task force was headed by former Zoo Director Dennis Pate. He’s now at the Omaha, Neb. zoo, but wanted to see the move come to fruition before he left.
“We really wanted to have more street traffic and be here for Art Walk and Jazz Fest and other large signature events in this area of town,” said Rossman. “This is great for our tourism partners.”
Rossman said the open house proved the move to the new space was the right decision. She also said people love what they see.
“They are amazed. They think this is great,” she said. “We think this is a great representation of what Jacksonville as a destination has to offer.”
Overall, Visit Jacksonville has five welcome centers across the area: The Landing, the airport, the Beach, at the cruise terminal at the port and now Downtown on Laura Street.