Citigroup Inc. is cleared for a $19 million renovation to the space it leases at the campus it sold in a sale-leaseback in Flagler Center in South Jacksonville.
The city issued two permits Oct. 1 for Cross Management Corp. to renovate all three floors of Building C and the first floor in Building B at 14000 Citicards Way. Building C is considered Unit 100 and Building B is Unit 200.
Cross Management Corp. of New York City is the construction management company.
A Citi spokesperson said July 9 that the permits are related to the 250,000 square feet of consolidated space that Citi will lease and occupy.
“The Building C project is the larger of the two permits,” the spokesperson said.
“The work in Building C involves modernizing the workspace with an emphasis on an open working environment, sustainability, and wellness for our employees.”
That project is $18.83 million.
Building B work includes installing doors and dividers on the first floor to separate the Citi space from future tenants on the second and third floors at $190,246.
ASD | SKY of Tampa is the architect. Goodson Bergen & Associates of Jacksonville is the consulting engineer. Meskel & Associates Engineering of Jacksonville provided private plan review.
A business decision
New York City-based Citigroup said through a spokesperson Jan. 23 that the sale Jan. 17 of its 20-year-old Jacksonville office campus was a business decision, and not a cut in its employment as workers continue hybrid schedules.
“As part of this agreement, Citi will lease back a portion of the facility from the new owner. While our employees continue to enjoy a hybrid working environment, this decision allows us to rationalize our space, creating an optimal work environment when our teams are in the office together.”
Citigroup, which has operated a major credit card operations center in Jacksonville for almost 30 years, said it will retain its 4,000 employees here “with plans for growth in the next two years.”
At the time, Citigroup said it would continue occupying about 230,000 square feet of office space. That has increased.
Citigroup will lease Building C and the first floor of Building B for 15 years, with four five-year renewal options, lease agreements show.
Citi in city 27 years
Citigroup has operated a major credit card operations center in Jacksonville since 1997, when it bought AT&T’s Universal Card business.
In 2005, Citi Cards moved its operation from Deerwood Center to a new campus built in Flagler Center, which is south of Old St. Augustine Road between Interstate 95 and Philips Highway.
The Citi campus comprises four buildings that total more than 530,000 square feet of space with 2,652 parking spaces.
Citi will retain its name on the building it occupies.
Chuck Diebel at Colliers International is handling leasing for the remainder of the property.
All of Building A and two floors of Building B are available for lease, while Building D is an amenities building. The available leasable space is about 230,000 square feet, according to a Colliers brochure.
The Wideman Co. of Orlando announced Jan. 22 that it bought Citigroup’s 73.4-acre campus. The recorded deed shows a purchase price of $24 million and a mortgage of $27.81 million.
The Wideman Co. announcement said that the three three-story buildings, totaling 491,386 square feet, are used for offices, and the fourth is an amenity center with a food hall, outdoor dining and a conference facility.
The Wideman Co., an affiliate of Susquehanna Holdings Ltd., is a real estate investment firm that focuses on Class A single-tenant office and industrial assets with large, high-profile, stable tenants.