Work at new JEA headquarters nears completion

Government

Construction and staging crews continued to run wire and to wheel in furniture Nov. 18 at JEA’s new Downtown headquarters to meet the utility leadership’s goal to open the building for customers by February.

During a media tour of the seven-story, 153,000-square-foot facility, JEA Special Projects Director Nancy Kilgo said the office building is in a state of “not quite completion.”

“There’s still construction going on for interior stuff,” she said.

“Just punch list items and, as you’ve seen, lots of furniture coming in. There’s already a lot of furniture in here but just getting the balance of it delivered and set up.”

Officials with the city-owned electric, water and wastewater utility remain confident that information and technology employees will begin moving into the $100 million headquarters at 225 N. Pearl St. in December.

That’s the target CEO Jay Stowe set at JEA’s October board meeting. He expects the remaining employees at the existing 19-story headquarters at 21 W. Church St. will move in February.

Workers have made progress on the office building since JEA last allowed access to media in August.

Drywall, carpeting and wallpaper installation is nearly complete. Bar and booth seating, full refrigerators and built-in microwaves are in the break rooms on three floors that have usable balconies.

Wi-Fi is being installed that will be accessible from the building terraces for outdoor work opportunities.

Some furniture, including tables, chairs and couches, are ready, while others remain in boxes.

Motorized sit-stand desks have been installed and chairs placed for the unassigned “hoteling” spaces.

Hoteling workspace is a post-pandemic office trend used by companies such as Fidelity National Information Services Inc., which adopted the concept for its new $156 million world headquarters in Downtown’s Brooklyn neighborhood.

JEA employees will be able to reserve the unassigned desks using an in-house mobile app that is nearly complete, Kilgo said.

“The great thing is you don’t have to sit in the same place every day,” she said.

“There are a lot of really cool places to work here.”

The open workspaces are meant to accommodate a hybrid home/office model JEA put into place in response to the pandemic.

On the seventh floor, there are designated offices for C-suite executives.

Each office floor includes private collaboration “huddle” rooms with soundproof doors.

JEA’s new headquarters is designed to allow up to 800 employees to work in the building at once, Kilgo said.

At its peak, JEA’s Church Street high-rise housed 900 employees and contractors, she said.

JEA officials hope the workplace design will lead to more interdepartmental collaboration.

“When you change where you’re sitting, you’re collaborating with different people and different departments,” said JEA Media Relations Manager Karen McAllister.

JEA officials said customers will be able to pay their bills at kiosks in the first-floor lobby or work with employees at a table setup similar to those in showrooms of major wireless carrier providers.

A window in the lobby is reserved for builders and contractors to apply for new water and wastewater connections.

The headquarters also has a media room, a training classroom for call center workers and a kitchen for catered events.

The JEA boardroom will have a retractable partition for use as a multipurpose room.

Solar panels on the top floor of the 657-space parking garage will provide power for electric vehicle charging stations, as well as light and HVAC systems for the garage elevators.

Real Capital Solutions and Ryan

The tour was also the first time JEA has opened the building since previous owner and developer Ryan Companies US Inc. sold the building to Colorado-based Real Capital Solutions for $95 million.

Ryan Real Estate Manager Caitlin Lee said Ryan signed a long-term management agreement with Real Capital Solutions to manage the property.

Lee said Real Capital does not have an in-house real estate manager, and Ryan has existing management agreements with the company for other properties in the U.S.

JEA had a right of first offer clause in its 15-year, $153 million lease with the Minneapolis-based Ryan that Kilgo said JEA decided not to exercise.

That right remains in what is an identical lease with Real Capital Solutions, Kilgo said.

Ground-floor retail

Kilgo said plans for the lobby include a small coffee shop, but an operator has not been identified.

JEA has not started its search for businesses that could lease the 10,690 square feet of ground-floor retail space in the parking garage.

“The real estate group is going to hopefully put out something for interested parties,” Kilgo said. “We’ve had several inquiries.”

Cyndy Trimmer of the Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow law firm represented Ryan when the building design went before the Downtown Development Review Board for final approval in 2020. She said at the time it could include shops, restaurants and services such as a fitness center or credit union that likely would cater to JEA employees.

At the time, JEA wanted to have the spaces leased when the headquarters opened.

“It’s just been a big effort to try to get us in here,” Kilgo said.