The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Jacksonville District is assessing its next step as it prepares for its lease expiration in 2027 at 701 San Marco on the Downtown Southbank, where it has 700 employees.
The Corps has a five-year renewal option that could keep it there through 2032.
The district offices opened there Dec. 1, 2007. The lease was renewed in 2022 through Nov. 30, 2027, at 701 San Marco Blvd.
“There is one remaining 5-year renewal option that, if approved and executed, could keep us here through 30 Nov 2032,” said Corps Jacksonville District Corporate Communications Chief Michelle Roberts in an emailed statement May 27, referring to the agencies that would enact the lease extension.
“We have a request currently at OSD seeking approval to engage GSA about space options beyond 30 Nov 2027,” Roberts said.
Roberts said May 29 that “GSA would do an assessment of our space requirements and look at all available options to meet our requirements.”
It’s a change of outlook from February, when the General Services Administration notified the landlord the Corps would terminate its lease Aug. 31.
GSA quickly rescinded that notice and told landlord Bradford Allen San Marco LLC in a letter March 5 the lease remained “in full force and effect.”
The notices came as the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency was terminating leases and then reversing some decisions.
GSA manages the federal government’s leased real estate, oversees contracts and delivers technology services to agencies.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the public engineering organization within the U..S. Department of Defense. USA.gov explains that the Corps “provides public engineering services in peace and war to strengthen national security, energize the economy, and reduce risks from disasters.”
The Office of the Secretary of Defense within the department oversees the Corps.
Of the 1,000 Corps employees in the Jacksonville District, the bulk of them work in the San Marco offices.
Roberts said the current lease is for 196,716 square feet of rentable square feet, including 171,059 usable square feet, on three floors and a small presence on the first and sixth floors.
Roberts said the Corps uses office space on the third, fourth and fifth floors in both of the adjoined buildings.
The 701 San Marco buildings comprise a set of multistory structures, with a 19-story tower on the east linked by a pedestrian walkway over San Marco Boulevard to a seven-story wing to the west.
Chicago-based Bradford Allen Investment Advisors paid $70 million in August 2022 for what was then called the Prudential Building and rebranded it as 701 San Marco.
Bradford Allen acquired the property through Bradford Allen San Marco LLC from The Prudential Insurance Company of America.
The Class A office building is marketed as about 700,000 square feet.
The building and its adjoining parking garage were built on 14.5 acres in 1985, property records show.
JLL represents the landlord.
The Haskell Co. is moving its headquarters into four floors – 11th through 14th – in 2026. It already leases temporary space on three lower floors.
The February notice of the lease termination appeared to be connected to the Department of Government Efficiency’s nationwide push to terminate federal office space leases. It then removed structures from its list of lease terminations.