Ameris Bank announced June 9 it opened a Downtown Jacksonville branch at 200 W. Forsyth St. on the Northbank of the St. Johns River, offering retail banking, business banking and mortgage lending.
The bank, a subsidiary of Ameris Bancorp, said it renovated the ground-floor 5,250-square-foot space. The location employs more than 10 people, bringing a total of more than 330 Ameris employees to metro Jacksonville.
“Our investment in the new branch demonstrates our commitment to the development of downtown while also expanding services to businesses and individual customers across Jacksonville,” said Ameris Bank State President for Florida Emily Dawkins in the release.
“Locating a branch in the emergent downtown area allows us to be even more accessible and responsive to the needs of our customers and community partners.”
Ameris Bank anchors Riverplace Tower on the Southbank and continues to maintain a branch there.
The city issued a building permit April 16, 2025, for Ameris to renovate at 200 W. Forsyth St. in the former Truist Tower that several banks had anchored on the Northbank.
Choate Construction Co. of Atlanta was the contractor for the $502,970 project to build-out a teller office, collaboration offices and break room areas on the 17,265-square-foot ground floor.
Warner Summers of Atlanta was the architect.
The 18-story building, developed in 1975, is at Forsyth, Hogan, Bay and Julia streets. Jacksonville-based Ash Properties bought it and a parking garage for $24.47 million in July 2018.
Among the tower’s previous anchors were BB&T Corp., which merged with SunTrust Banks Inc. in 2019. They chose Truist as the name for the new company. Truist Bank then posted its name on the top of the tower before relocating to Hanania Place on the Southbank, where it established a first-floor branch and administrative offices on the fifth floor.
City Council enacted an ordinance in March that allows for an exception to Downtown zoning codes that allowed Ameris to include a drive-thru in its plans.
The banks.AmerisBank.com site shows 20 branches in Baker, Clay, Duval and St. Johns counties.
Ameris Bancorp is a state-chartered bank headquartered in Atlanta. Ameris says it operates financial centers in five Southeastern states and serves consumer and business customers nationwide through lending channels.
It managed $26.5 billion in assets as of March 31, 2025, and provides traditional banking and lending products, treasury and cash management, insurance premium financing, and mortgage and refinancing services.