VyStar Credit Union ready to work, play – and nap

Do you need a nap at work?

If you work at VyStar Credit Union’s Downtown Northbank headquarters, the company has your back.

VyStar installed two MetroNap EnergyPods as part of its employee amenities on the top two floors of the 23-story tower at 76 S. Laura St.

The pods enclose the reclined occupant’s upper body, leaving legs exposed. 

The pods, in a darkened room, offer “sleep music, (a) gentle wake sequence of programmed lights and vibrations,” says the MetroNaps.com site.

They’re marketed for 20-minute power naps.

“When they first moved in, they said, we want this place to really be about employees. They gave the top two best floors to the employees,” said Briehn Wildman, RS&H senior interior designer and the lead interior designer on the VyStar project.

“That’s why we have nap pods. That’s why we have rest and recharge areas. That’s why we have creative spaces,” she said.

The nap pods are reserved through VyStar’s conference room reservation system.

Employees also can use the play equipment: billiards, beanbag boards, table tennis, pinball machines, foosball, basketball hoops and more.

There are hammocks, comfortable chairs and couches, dry-erase tables and a sunken sitting area designed for a ball pit before COVID. 

There is a bookcase designed as a tree for books VyStar bought from Chamblin’s Uptown +to  support local business.

There are large eating and gathering spaces where employees can bring food or buy snacks and drinks through a kiosk. 

On the 23rd floor, there is a bank of microwaves, and a long counter with, among other offerings, complimentary soft-serve ice cream.

There is free coffee on both of the top two floors.

There are meeting areas, with technology and monitors, that can be configured as needed. There also are “breakaway” areas.

Each office floor has some amenities, too.

There are wellness rooms, also called mother’s rooms, throughout VyStar’s floors.

Wildman and VyStar Commercial Property Manager Rosalyna Avila guided a tour of the two top floors Feb. 11 for members of the Jacksonville Women’s Network.

Then there is the scenery. The building overlooks the St. Johns River and the Downtown Northbank and Southbank.

“The very best thing about this building is the views,” Wildman said. 

“All of the offices are set inward so that everyone has access to the views.”

An employee gym is on a lower floor.

“People are proud to work here and they are good stewards of the building as well,” Avila said.

Avila said about 900 employees are assigned to the Downtown campus, which includes the tower and the adjacent seven-story office building at 100 W. Bay St. 

She said COVID safety influences the number of staff members on the campus.

VyStar bought the former SunTrust Tower and a parking garage in July 2018 and the West Bay Street building in February 2019.

The credit union uses 18 floors of the tower with 709 dedicated seats, according to information presented at the tour.

There are other tenants.

VyStar has 309 dedicated seats at West Bay Street.

There is a second-floor bridge connection between the two buildings.

When VyStar bought the campus structures and redesigned them, CEO and President Brian Wolfburg said the tower-top levels were for employees.

 “The 22nd and 23rd floors are being developed as an employee lounge to enable all employees to be able to experience the best of what our tower and Downtown have to offer,” he said at the time.

VyStar developed the street-level breezeway between the garage and the office buildings with outdoor seating and gathering areas with plans to program it. 

There also are food trucks regularly on the western side of the garage along Hogan Street.

Wolfburg and COO Chad Meadows attracted The Bread & Board restaurant and Provisions marketplace of local vendors to open on the ground floor of 100 W. Bay St. in August 2021.

Broad & Board owners created the Estrella Cocina restaurant and rooftop bar, which opened in May 2021.

“I had someone ask me if our CEO or COO sit with the staff on 23, and yes they do,” Avila said. 

“They go get lunch at the food court or the food truck area or Bread and Board, they bring it over and they sit with us and have lunch, which is just amazing to see.”