Advanced Disposal Services Inc. will move its expanded headquarters from Jacksonville to St. Johns County, the company announced Thursday.
Its new corporate headquarters will be at 90 Fort Wade Road in Ponte Vedra, in the Nocatee area.
The company now operates in the Baymeadows area of Southside.
The company provides solid waste collection, transfer, recycling and disposal services and is the largest privately owned environmental services company in the U.S., according to a news release announcing the move.
"The decision was not an easy one, and it ultimately came down to what was the best business decision for the company in terms of state and local financial incentives, corporate and individual income taxes, relocation expenses, negotiated office space fees and a regionwide business friendly environment," Advanced Disposal CEO Charlie Appleby said in the release.
"Advanced Disposal was created in Northeast Florida, and as we celebrate our 12th anniversary, we are proud to announce it will remain our corporate home for years to come benefiting the company and all Northeast Florida counties," he said.
The company's expansion will consolidate its headquarters and create 85 jobs. The company completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Veolia ES Solid Waste Inc. on Nov. 21 and acquired Interstate Waste Services, which tripled its size and led to the need for a new corporate headquarters facility, according to the release.
As reported, the company will receive an incentives deal just below $700,000 from St. Johns County and $200,000 from the Governor's Quick Action Closing Fund.
It reviewed, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Charlotte, N.C., Jacksonville and St. Johns County for the move, with the latter being the last reported bidder when the county's commission approved the package during its Oct. 16 meeting.
In an Oct. 17 interview about the county's incentives package, St. John's County Economic Development Director Melissa Glasgow said the deal includes a local two-year tangible personal property tax incentive of $75,460 and its local share of a $595,000 Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund. The county's portion is 20 percent, or $119,000, with the state covering the remaining 80 percent, or $476,000.
A week earlier, Jacksonville City Council approved a similar incentives deal Oct. 10 for the company to receive a $695,000 package, with $595,000 coming from the Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund program, including a High Impact Sector bonus. The City would have contributed $119,000 of the QTI, with the state paying the remaining $476,000.
An additional $100,000 from the City would have come from a Recapture Enhanced Value grant, also known as a REV grant, paid by the City for property taxes and investments already paid.
The $200,000 in the governor's closing fund would have boosted the deal to $895,000, but that portion was not up for Council vote.
JAXUSA Partnership President Jerry Mallot said that despite the company's move to St. Johns County, it is still a "win for the Jacksonville area." He said when the company made its acquisitions, it "was unusual from the beginning" and that having more assets outside of the Jacksonville area was cause for concern.
"It's a gain for our region of some very high-paying jobs. We've worked together in a partnership for Northeast Florida. Companies see the region as the marketplace, not individual cities or counties. In the end, ADS had several good options but they chose the one that made the most sense for them and that was St. Johns County," Mallot said Thursday.
"They consider it as staying here and growing in the region and that's how we look at it as well," he said.
Appleby said in an August interview with the Daily Record for the 89.9 FM First Coast Connect program that he wanted to keep the headquarters in Jacksonville.
"I am chairman of the board, but we have to report to a board and we have to make an informed business decision. I certainly hope that informed business decision points to Jacksonville," he said in the interview.
The company will have a regional office in Roswell, Ga., representing the South Region; Charlotte, N.C., representing the East Region; and Batavia, Ill., representing the Central/Midwest Region; and have some corporate functions in Milwaukee, according to the release.
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Staff writer Joe Wilhelm Jr. contributed to this report