SunGard AvantGard LLC, a business software and technology provider, seeks $1.02 million in City and state incentives to create 170 jobs and consolidate its Jacksonville operations in a move from Southside to the Downtown Southbank.
SunGard intends to move from 4901 Belfort Road, Suite 160, to the Prudential Building, 701 San Marco Blvd.
It has 80 employees and wants to add 170 more in an expansion of its hosting and managed services function, according to documents.
It would increase its space to up to 65,000 square feet of space.
The company is a subsidiary of SunGard Data Systems Inc., which was organized in 1982.
City project summary documents say SunGard Data, based in Wayne, Penn., is the largest privately held software and services company, but does not specify where.
It ranked No. 480 on the Fortune 500 list for 2012, with annual revenue of $4.5 billion. The company did not place on the Fortune 500 list for 2013, but first-quarter revenue totaled $1 billion, according to the documents.
According to its sungard.com website, the company comprises four businesses: SunGard Availability Services, which has 5 million square feet of data-center and operations space; SunGard Financial Systems, which processes more than 10 million transactions a day; SunGard K-12 Education, with software solutions that support more than 8 million K-12 students in the U.S.; and SunGard Public Sector, with products that impact more than 115 North American residents.
According to the website, the company has more than 17,000 employees and serves about 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries through software and processing solutions for financial services, education and the public sector.
For the expansion, the company is requesting $1.02 million in the form of a Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund, with the City obligated to pay no more than $204,000, or 20 percent. The state would pay the remaining $816,000, or 80 percent.
The funds would be used to offset a portion of costs for the company to consolidate and expand within the Prudential Building, according to the documents.
SunGard estimates it will spend $4.4 million in private capital investment over the next five years to increase the employee base from 80 to 250.
The average annual wage of the created jobs would be $54,719 plus a benefit package valued at $12,200. Annual payroll would be up to $9.3 million, according to the documents.
The Prudential Building is within an Enterprise Zone, which allows the company to receive an additional $3,000 for each job it creates in addition to the tax refund of $3,000 per job, for a total of $6,000 per job.
The company has until Dec. 31, 2016, to create the jobs.
According to the project summary, SunGard also is considering Birmingham, Ala., for the facility.
The City and JAXUSA Partnership, the economic development division of the JAX Chamber, announced the deal early Wednesday and the legislation was filed in the afternoon.
Broderick Green, JAXUSA Partnership director of business development, said the deal illustrated Jacksonville's attraction for technology-related, higher-wage jobs.
He said SunGard handled the real estate search on its own, and said Downtown is an appealing destination for technology companies because of its information technology "backbone" and access to core services.
The incentives legislation is scheduled to be fast-tracked to City Council, which could approve it as early as Tuesday.
It must first be approved by the Council Finance Committee.
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