by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Part of the lease agreement between Parkway Realty Services and Wells Fargo bank for space at 1 Independent Square is for the right to place Wells Fargo’s logo on top of the 560-foot-tall concrete and mirrored glass structure on the Northbank Downtown.
Wells Fargo made a presentation at Thursday’s meeting of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s Downtown Development Review Board seeking exceptions to the regulations regarding signage Downtown.
The company is requesting waivers of rules regarding how large signs can be and how many signs can be installed at a property.
The request involved signage at the top of the building and at street level.
Another issue is that there will be a Wells Fargo branch bank on the first floor requiring retail signage and the company wants to identify the building as “Wells Fargo Center” through a separate signage design.
The discussion of the proposal took 90 minutes.
“If you had brought an 85-story building to the committee, you’d be headed to your car. Signage takes longer,” board member Tim Miller told the applicants about an hour into the discussion.
Thursday’s meeting was devoted to approving the concept for the design. Wells Fargo is scheduled to return at the board’s next meeting for final approval of its design and installation.
The committee was advised by Assistant General Counsel Jason Teal that “due to the uniqueness of the structure and potential for signage,” the board could at Thursday’s meeting hear the proposal and see the conceptual design and advise the applicant what would ultimately be approved.
Wells Fargo initially sought to install at the top of the building bright yellow letters spelling out its name, mounted on a bright red background, the corporate colors and design.
David Connors, representing Heritage Displays Inc. in Greenville, S.C., said the surface area of the 14-foot letters proposed for the top of the building equaled 2.3 percent of the surface area of the entire structure, which is less that the area occupied by the “modis” letters previously displayed.
He also outlined the plan for a monument sign at each of the building’s four corners identifying it as “Wells Fargo Center” and displaying the names of businesses in the building, signage to identify the new Laura Street entrance to the branch bank and signage proposed for other areas at street level.
“We want to give the pedestrian a sense of consistency,” said Connors.
Bonnie Freda, strategic planning manager for Wells Fargo’s Corporate Properties Group, spoke after Connors completed his presentation.
“What we have here today is the genesis of ideas,” she said, telling the committee that the company often faces challenges when it comes to brand signage because the logo identity is the name “Wells Fargo.”
After the presentation, board member Roland Udenze said that installing letters spelling out “Wells Fargo” at the top of the building would create a more complex look than the simpler “modis,” which represented the former anchor tenant.
He said installing the logo on a background “is probably not a good idea,” and that if every building Downtown had a background behind their skyline sign, “We’d look like the strip in Las Vegas.”
Udenze said he would not support installing the skyline logo signs on all four sides of the building and commented on the design of the monument signs at the building’s corners.
“The City spent a lot of time and money rebranding Laura Street. I’d like to see the monument signs better complement the design” of the street signs installed at the intersections along Laura Street, said Udenze.
DDRB member John Fischer said he thought the background would “overpower” the building and the skyline.
“I think the building is iconic. When you look at the skyline, do you want to be able to say ‘Jacksonville’ or ‘Wells Fargo’? I want to be able to say ‘Jacksonville.’”
Fischer also questioned the yellow color scheme. He said the blue letters of the “modis” signage complemented the colors of the building, mirrored glass windows framed with concrete.
“Bright yellow could be overpowering,” he said.
Miller agreed. “Putting yellow and red on a blue and white building is tough.”
“Color is important to us. The yellow comes from the wheels of the stagecoach,” said Freda.
Board member Chris Flagg questioned why the Wells Fargo stagecoach isn’t part of the logo signage design.
“The stagecoach is a symbol, not the logo,” said Freda. “We’re not permitted to use the stagecoach on the side of a building. That’s considered too promiscuous.”
Flagg also said he would like to see a reduction in the number of street-level signs proposed.
“This building will become known as the Wells Fargo building. You don’t need to plaster a lot of bumper stickers around,” he said.
On the subject of the street-level signage plan, board Chair Jonathan Garza said he’d like to see fewer signs than proposed.
“It’s almost overkill. It’s important to get the brand across, but too much of something can be a bad thing,” he said.
After the presentation and comments from the committee, JEDC Redevelopment Coordinator Jim Klement said he had taken eight pages of notes and “I can translate that into recommendations” for Wells Fargo as it seeks final approval of its signage plan.
The plan is expected to be presented at DDRB’s next meeting, scheduled for 2 p.m. Aug. 25 in the JEDC board room at 1 W. Adams St.
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