by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Real estate sources report that Wells Fargo, which merged with Wachovia Corp. almost two years ago, is considering where to operate its Downtown administrative offices.
Wachovia’s Jacksonville executives have not returned telephone calls for comment.
The real estate sources, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the negotiations, said Wells Fargo/Wachovia is considering whether to stay in One Enterprise Center at 225 Water St. or move into the Modis Building, which is also known as Independent Square.
Sources say a decision is expected by early next year.
In either event, Wells Fargo is expected to put up new signs within the year to replace Wachovia’s name.
A move to the Modis Building would mean the potential replacement of the Modis name atop the building with Wells Fargo.
Independent Square is the name of the building at 1 Independent Drive that features the Modis name on top. Modis is the name of a predecessor company to Adecco Group North America, a staffing company that will move from the building for Southside in the spring.
Wachovia has occupied the One Enterprise Center Building Downtown from the building’s beginning, first as Florida National Bank and then as First Union before it merged into Wachovia.
It’s likely that a move would not greatly affect real estate occupancy rates Downtown because Wells Fargo, if it moved, would be relocating from one Downtown building to another.
Cushman & Wakefield reported that the third-quarter office vacancy rate on the Downtown Northbank was 22.5 percent.
Chuck White, president and CEO of NAI Commercial Jacksonville, represents Enterprise Center, but said he could not comment.
Eola Property Trust owns the Independent Square building. Senior Leasing Associate Michael Loftin declined Monday to talk about a deal and said he was “unable to comment on it at this time.”
Wachovia also has its name on the Riverplace Tower building on the Southbank Downtown. Building representative Ed Washington could not comment on Wachovia’s deal at Riverplace, including how much space it leases and when the lease would expire.
Interest in what happens with the signature Modis Building, known for years as the Independent Life Building, began when Zurich-based Adecco bought Jacksonville-based MPS Group Inc. early this year.
Modis is a subsidiary of MPS Group and occupies 115,000 square feet of space among about five floors, in the Modis Building.
In July, when Adecco announced it would move to Southside, Loftin said a move had been anticipated.
“We’re working with users to back fill the space,” Loftin said at the time. “The opportunity for the signage for this building is very attractive to a lot of companies.”
Loftin said that “knowing we were going to get it back, we’ve been working on a lot of things for awhile.”
He said in July that Adecco used five full floors, part of another and various other space. “We don’t have a done deal yet,” he said of a prospect.
“We have been working forward with a couple of groups to try to progress things along,” he said.
He also said a tenant of 120,000 to 150,000 square feet could be an anchor tenant and that signage is a negotiated deal.
Loftin said in July the building was just under 95 percent leased and that Adecco used 16 to 17 percent of the leasable space.
Duval County Property Appraiser records show that One Enterprise Center at 225 Water St. is a 21-story, 365,800-square-foot building constructed in 1986. Its 2010 taxable value is $33.3 million.
Records show Independent Square at 1 Independent Drive W. as a 37-floor, 992,501-square-foot structure built in 1975 with a 2010 taxable value of $50 million.
Orlando-based Eola Property Trust recently filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering to sell common stock.
In that filing, it said Independent Square has 647,251 square feet of leasable space, which is 92.2 percent leased with annualized rent per leased square foot of $22.14. It said the metro area average is $21.38.
Eola also said that it owns a parking garage adjacent to the building.
Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said Monday he was not aware of the Wells Fargo/Wachovia office considerations.
Meanwhile, Barton said that when Wells Fargo wants to put up new signage Downtown, it would need approval by the commission’s Downtown Development Review Board.
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