In an early 2012 news conference, Web.com Group Inc. joined with a group of City and JAX Chamber officials to announce the creation of 200 additional jobs at the company’s Southside Jacksonville headquarters.
It was hailed by Mayor Alvin Brown and others as a big win for the city.
As it turned out, Web.com didn’t follow through on that plan. Instead, the company added far more jobs than it originally thought at its headquarters in the Flagler Center office complex.
“We’ve blown through that,” said David Brown, chairman, president and CEO of the company that provides website development services for businesses.
Web.com employed about 450 people in Jacksonville in January 2012 when it announced its intention to add 200 jobs.
In an interview Wednesday following Web.com’s annual shareholders meeting at the company headquarters, Brown said employment at that office has grown to 780, and it expects to add another 100 by the end of this year.
That means the company will have basically doubled in size in the two years since that big January 2012 announcement.
“We fulfilled our expectations and have continued to grow,” Brown said.
Web.com employs 2,200 people in 16 offices, and Brown said it expects to add 60 to 80 jobs outside of Jacksonville.
The company has grown significantly with the acquisitions of competitors Register.com in 2010 and Network Solutions in 2011. Those deals helped increase revenue from about $100 million a year to $500 million.
With the big increase in jobs, Web.com has outgrown its 112,306-square-foot headquarters building at 12808 Gran Bay Parkway W.
Brown said about 120 employees had to be put into conference rooms because there was no other space.
“We’ve grown that much so quickly,” he said.
Because of that, Web.com has taken a lease on 17,094 square feet of additional space in a nearby building at 12854 Kenan Drive. Once it is built out, the company will move those employees out of the conference rooms and into regular cubicles.
According to a building-permit application, Web.com plans to renovate space at a project cost of $504,081 for offices, conference use, training and vending on the ground floor of a two-story building.
The contractor is shown as C. Harrison Construction of Callahan and the architect is Rolland, DelValle & Bradley of Jacksonville. Brown said the company also has an option to take another 18,000 square feet in that building as growth continues.
“We fully expect to take that space,” he said.
After the big acquisitions in 2010 and 2011, Brown knew Web.com was beginning a growth spurt when it announced the new jobs in 2012. He just didn’t realize how many employees the company would need.
“It’s even surprising to me,” he said.
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