EverBank Center Downtown, Regency Square Mall, Three Oaks Plaza and Prominence are leading the pack in Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s site search for a consolidated Jacksonville Operations Center.
Citizens Property, the Tallahassee-based insurer, will notify representatives about the next step — presentations and demonstrations to Citizens that further show the details of their bids for the project.
The presentations and demonstrations are expected Oct. 6-8. The committee is scheduled to recommend the vendor or vendors for negotiations Oct. 13. Anticipated negotiation dates are Oct. 17-31, followed by a decision Nov. 3.
The company wants to start moving staff into the space
July 1 and start the lease Jan. 1, 2016.
A Citizens Property Insurance evaluation team decided Monday morning that representatives of EverBank Center at 301 W. Bay St.; Prominence in Baymeadows at 8935 Freedom Commerce Parkway; Regency Square in Arlington at 9501 Arlington Expressway; and Three Oaks Plaza at 7960 Arlington Expressway will be asked to take the next step to compete for the bid to fill Citizens Property’s need for about 226,400 square feet of office space.
The four were among six properties submitted for the project in a second round of bids after the evaluation team rejected bids in the first round.
A fifth, 7215 Financial Way, where Citizens Property current leases some of the space for the existing area offices, was discussed as a reserve location. Graham & Co. is the landlord.
“Graham was not moved forward, but could be pulled in later if the team determines to do so. That would require a public hearing,” said Citizens Property spokesman Michael Peltier.
A sixth bid by CRT Baymeadows Ltd. for 8800 Baymeadows Way W. was not discussed by the committee for further review, citing parking requirements necessary for the project.
“CRT has been disqualified for not meeting mandatory requirements,” Peltier said.
Amkin West LLC owns EverBank Center. Nathan Lee Head represents the proposal for Regency Square Mall. Crocker Partners owns the Prominence business park, formerly known as Freedom Commerce Centre. Ivy Investments LLC bid on behalf of Three Oaks Plaza.
EverBank, Prominence, Three Oaks and 8800 Baymeadows also had been submitted in the first round.
Citizens Property, a state insurer, now leases 211,288 square feet among four buildings in the Baymeadows area and wants to consolidate into a single building or among several buildings at a single site. The offices comprise underwriting and claims operations.
Citizens Property intends to consolidate its Jacksonville operations, which have 800 employees, and move another 148 IT jobs into the space.
The bid documents say it is interested in bids for 215,080 to 237,720 square feet of space.
Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. represents Citizens in seeking the lease opportunity.
Citizens Property was created by the Legislature in 2002 as a not-for-profit tax-exempt government entity to provide insurance protection to Florida policyholders unable to find property insurance coverage in the private market.
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