Suburban-based Gresham, Smith and Partners will move into the top floor of One Enterprise Center Downtown by year-end.
The architecture, planning and design firm’s Jacksonville office will move from the Concourse at 5220 Belfort Road to the entire 22nd floor at 225 Water St., with a 360-degree view of the St. Johns River and Downtown.
It will bring nearly 40 licensed architects and interior designers to the urban core.
“It’s important for us as a firm to be a part of what’s going on in Jacksonville right now,” said Trevor Lee, who becomes managing principal of the Jacksonville office Oct. 1. He will succeed Joe Thompson, who will remain with the firm through the end of the year.
Lee said Gresham, Smith and Partners leased space in the suburbs for 17 years.
“We see this tremendous momentum behind Jacksonville’s renewal in its core,” Lee said.
Oliver Barakat, a member of the Downtown Investment Authority, wants to see more such movement.
“All of our design and architecture firms should be located Downtown. It is a natural fit given the type of employees they would like to recruit, young creative minds,” he said.
Barakat said he hopes the firm’s staff patronizes the food trucks, bars and restaurants there “and be highly integrated into the Downtown community.”
He is senior vice president of brokerage services at CBRE Group Inc. in Jacksonville. CBRE is the leasing and management firm for One Enterprise Center, as well as a tenant in the building.
Lee said the companies that Gresham, Smith and Partners serves are expanding and that Downtown is the firm’s most convenient base. For example, it works with Baptist Health, which has several ongoing projects Downtown and in the area.
Lee said the 10-year lease was signed a couple of weeks ago for about 10,700 square feet of space.
The top floor of the building presents architectural elements that Lee welcomes, including its exposed structure and natural light. “We don’t even have to turn the lights on during the day,” he said.
The ceiling is the 30-foot stretch of glass to the top of the structure, he said.
“We have unimpeded views,” he said.
As of June, the Class A office tower had a 44 percent occupancy rate, according to CBRE. Barakat said the lease boosts the rate to 50 percent.
Barakat said the Gresham, Smith and Partners lease, along with the pending move by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. into EverBank Center, will boost Downtown occupancy.
He said CBRE found that 23.2 percent of the Central Business District office space was vacant as of midyear. He said the large Citizens’ lease will drop that to below 20 percent, which is in line with the overall market office vacancy rate of 19.7 percent.
The Northbank has had a lower occupancy rate than the Southbank.
The city is reviewing a permit application for a $325,000 build-out for the firm by Dav-Lin Interior Contractors. Plans show offices along with a lot of open office areas, a charrette space, boardroom, team rooms, library and other uses.
The conference rooms at the front will be available for free, for use by the city, nonprofits, clubs and other groups.
“We want to be seen as Jacksonville’s architectural workshop. We would love to be that for the city and we would love for the city to come up and use our resources and be a part of what we are doing,” he said.
Gresham, Smith and Partners is headquartered in Nashville and operates more than 20 offices in the U.S. and internationally.
One Enterprise Center lost its major bank tenant four years ago and is in the hands of its lenders following foreclosure.
The more than 350,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1986. Its total leasable space is almost 319,000 square feet, Barakat said.
The building’s other major tenants include the Smith Hulsey & Busey law firm, First Tennessee Bank and Rayonier Inc. Meanwhile, the Alexander DeGance Barnett law firm will leave its 3,500-square-foot office there when it moves to its own building in Riverside today.
Barakat said a lease of 6,200 square feet to a bank has been completed but he does not have its approval to announce it.
Gresham, Smith and Partners did not negotiate signage rights. Barakat said a tenant would need to lease about 70,000 square feet to qualify for naming rights.
The location is in a prime spot near the Jacksonville Landing and adjacent to the Omni Jacksonville Hotel, which is separately owned.
One Enterprise Center and the Omni have access to a parking lot and an adjacent 10-story parking garage with more than 1,000 spaces. The lot and garage are owned by separate groups.
Meanwhile the owner of the Bank of America Tower Downtown is interested in buying One Enterprise Center.
Jim Ingram, Hertz Investment Group executive vice president and chief investment officer, said Wednesday that Hertz has made it known to CWCapital, the property’s special servicer, that it would like to acquire the building.
“They advised me that it’s not on the market until they do some leasing,” he said.
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