Jacksonville-based Acosta Group, a 98-year-old global marketing, retailing and brand placement company, relocated its headquarters within Southside, moving from Southpoint to Southside Quarter.
Acosta Group, which includes Acosta Inc. as part of its sales and marketing agency collective, will be the name on the former McKesson building at 6651 Gate Parkway.
Acosta Group Executive Vice President Mike Smith said the move “to a newer, modern facility” supports its growing business worldwide and enhances its presence in Jacksonville.
The move is to smaller but newer space.
“Our needs have evolved as we’ve grown rapidly since 2020, and we have moved to provide a more modern workplace for our people, and to better serve our clients and customers,” he said.
Acosta Group provides services that connect consumer packaged goods, or CPG, companies with retailers to put products in front of shoppers.
The company is subleasing 60,204 square feet of space on the first and second floors of the four-story, 125,532-square-foot building, where it plans a grand-opening event for its new global headquarters when renovations are completed.
The structure, with 120,407 square feet of leasable space, was developed in 2019 for medical and surgical supplies company McKesson Corp. at southwest Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295.
The move takes Acosta 6 miles east from the 88,062-square-foot building it developed in 2001 at 6600 Corporate Center Parkway in Southpoint at northeast Butler and I-95.
Acosta Group is leaving a building that Acosta leaders sold in July 2015 to New York City-based W.P. Carey Inc.
Mil-Jax Partners Ltd., led by Charthill LLC, sold the property. Charthill was led by Acosta leaders Gary Chartrand and Robert Hill. Both served as CEO and in other positions.
Jacksonville-based NAI Hallmark is listing it for sale and had no comment.
Smith, who leads Acosta corporate communications and marketing, said the new space accommodates Acosta’s 250 Jacksonville-based staff members and will help attract new talent with its central location and amenities.
He said the JLL real estate company is its broker and Managing Director Jesse Shimp in Jacksonville is Acosta Group’s local contact.
The city is reviewing a permit application for LAY Construction to renovate space on the second floor at an estimated project cost of $445,577.
Smith said the work will enhance a corner of the space on that floor.
“We’re adding additional offices on the second floor to ensure the building is purpose-built for our business and associates,” Smith said.
He said the Acosta Group name likely will be put up on the top of building’s west side, at the main entrance, the week of July 14.
Smith said Acosta Group moved to the Gate Parkway location, near St. Johns Town Center, in the spring. He said it offers better floor plans, features and amenities that include a gym, conference center and an associate kitchen “with an in-house culinary team that will soon feature recipes using our clients’ foods.”
“As a growing global company with a nearly 100-year history in JAX, we wanted a more modern, centralized location with better workspace and amenities for our people. The facility is also an excellent showcase for our clients and customers, whom we often host in our facilities,” Smith said.
He said the lease allows room for additional staff as Acosta grows.
About Acosta Group
Acosta Group calls itself a collective of retail, marketing and food service agencies that connect “brands with people at every point in the consumer journey.”
The group comprises Acosta, ActionLink, CORE Foodservice, Mosaic, Premium Retail Services, Crossmark and Product Connections.
Founded in Jacksonville in 1927 as food broker L.T. Acosta Co. Inc., the company expanded 50 years later into the Southeast and then nationally through acquisitions.
In December 2019, Acosta, then owned for five years by marketing firm The Carlyle Group, filed for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in a bid to eliminate long-term debt and to recapitalize in the wake of consumer shifts and other marketing factors.
A prepackaged plan means it was approved by its major creditors in advance of the filing.
Acosta quickly emerged.
Acosta Inc. reported Jan. 2, 2020, that it completed its financial reorganization and recapitalization and emerged from Chapter 11 less than a month after filing.
In the reorganization, Acosta converted about $3 billion of debt into equity, with a group of fund management companies becoming the owners of the company.
It said it eliminated all of its approximately $3 billion of long-term debt, and its new investors have funded $325 million in new equity capital.
The reorganized company’s largest shareholders include funds associated with Elliott Management, Oaktree Capital Management L.P., Davidson Kempner and Nexus Capital Management.
The investor group comprised funds that managed nearly $200 billion and made a strategic decision to capitalize the business with the new equity capital and zero funded debt.
“Acosta’s new equity owners and investors recognize the long-term value the Company can create for its clients and customers and share Acosta’s interest in driving the growth and value of the Acosta enterprise and brand,” said a news release.
“We now have the strongest balance sheet in the industry. Looking ahead, our focus remains on working hard and delivering innovative advancements and industry-leading solutions in order to be the strongest possible partner for our clients and customers,” said Darian Pickett, then CEO of Acosta, in the release.
Current President and CEO Brian Wynne, with more than 30 years in the packaged goods industry, joined Acosta Group in July 2020 as the pandemic began. At the time it had 500 people in Jacksonville and 20,000 in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
The company emerged from reorganization quickly, but into the pandemic, when companies sent workers home to work remotely or adjusted for hybrid workspaces where employees worked intermittently at their desks, which reduced the need for space.
Acosta rebranded as Acosta Group in 2023 and has expanded with several acquisitions in the last five years.
Smith said the company now has 60,000 employees in North America, the United Kingdom and in other locations where needed by clients.
McKesson moved out
Real estate company CBRE, led by Senior Vice President Oliver Barakat and First Vice President Billy Kuntz, is listing the four-story “trophy building” for sublease as 6651 Gate Parkway and represents McKesson as the sublessor.
McKesson has not responded to requests for comment.
Industry sources say McKesson moved out of the building because of the coronavirus pandemic as employees worked remotely, and the building was put on the market for sublease about 2022 seeking a full tenant and then in 2023 for multiple tenants.
With Acosta Group taking occupancy, the former McKesson building appears to be fully leased.
Acosta Group is taking the first two floors.
For the third, the city issued a permit in July 2024 for LAY Construction to renovate 25,596 square feet for Selene Finance at a project cost of $313,856.
For the fourth, mortgage technology company Dark Matter Technologies, which separated from Black Knight, announced in June 2024 it moved its headquarters onto the top floor of the building.
Dark Matter Technologies announced in November 2024 that Sean Dugan, the company’s chief revenue officer, would succeed Rich Gagliano as CEO effective in April 2025.
Gagliano launched Dark Matter in 2023 after more than a decade of leadership at its predecessor, Black Knight Origination Technologies. He became executive chairman.
Dark Matter Technologies is part of the Perseus Operating Group, a division of Constellation Software Inc.