Bank of America announced Aug. 10 that it has invested $155 million into buying five buildings and two parking garages that it had been leasing at its Southside Boulevard operations center campus.
The move reinforces “the company’s long-term commitment to Northeast Florida, its employees and the local community,” Bank of America said in a news release.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said the sale closed Aug. 6. The deed had not been recorded with the Duval County Clerk of Court as of 8 a.m. Aug. 10.
“This investment reflects our confidence in Jacksonville and our commitment to the teammates who live and work here,” said Bank of America Jacksonville President Mark Bennett in the release.
“We have already invested significantly in the campus through a multi-year renovation and modernization effort, and this purchase further demonstrates our long-term commitment to the region and our continued presence in Northeast Florida,” he said.
Bank of America said it bought about 822,000 square feet of space across Buildings 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 at the campus at 9000 Southside Blvd., north of The Avenues mall. The park’s entry sign is Gramercy Woods.
The bank said the purchase includes two of the campus’s four parking garages, Nos. 1002 and 1003.
Bank of America said it is acquiring the property from Ladder Capital of New York City.
According to the release, the Southside campus serves as one of Bank of America’s major operations hubs and supports more than 7,100 employees across its businesses, including consumer banking, wealth management, operations, technology, and staff and support functions.
As part of the transaction, Bank of America will continue to lease about 78,000 square feet across three floors in Building 100, which is owned by Glenfield Capital of Atlanta.
The deal does not affect Bank of America’s “client-facing locations” in the Jacksonville market, including offices in the 42-floor tower it historically anchored at 50 N. Laura St. in Downtown Jacksonville, at 824 Florida A1A N. in Ponte Vedra Beach and at 60 Cathedral Place in St. Augustine.
The bank said it has “maintained a significant presence in Jacksonville for over a century and remains one of the region’s largest private-sector employers, supporting local economic growth through its business operations, community partnerships and philanthropic efforts.”
Bank of America said previously it has invested at least $230 million into renovating the properties it bought Aug. 6, including construction of parking garage No. 1003 at the north end of the office park.
Bank of America remains the largest bank in metro Jacksonville with $63 billion in deposits and a 53% market share, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and its presence includes 25 branch financial centers. The FDIC regulates banks. Data was as of June 30, 2025, the latest period reported.
A bank spokesperson said July 30 that there are 23 branches, which are called financial centers; two Private Bank offices; four Merrill Lynch offices; and 80 ATMs.
Bank of America traces its Jacksonville connection to Barnett Banks Inc., which was founded in 1877 by William Boyd Barnett.
Jacksonville-based Barnett was sold in January 1998 to NationsBank Corp., which then bought BankAmerica Corp. in September 1998. NationsBank changed its name to BankAmerica Corp. in July 1999 and then became Bank of America.
With the Barnett purchase, NationsBank/Bank of America bought the 42-story Downtown Barnett Center tower and the Barnett Operations Center along Southside Boulevard, then sold both properties to investors and leased back space within them.
It has downsized in what became the Bank of America Tower from a peak of 188,000 square feet to 49,000 square feet, now using 2.5 floors in a five-year lease through 2029.
That space is used by Bank of America’s executive offices and Merrill Lynch, its wealth management division. In 2009, Bank of America bought the former Merrill Lynch & Co. Wall Street investment firm.
The downsize in the 730,000-square-foot tower, opened in 1990, dropped it from anchor-tenant status, and the building now is marketed by Cushman & Wakefield as Jax Tower at 50 North.
The Jacksonville Operations Center
A deed recorded in July 2003 shows that Bank of America sold the “Jacksonville Ops Center” to investors for almost $140.2 million.
The business park became known as Gramercy Woods.
Bank of America leased back a large portion of it for its customer contact operations call center and technology-operations support from New York City-based Ladder Capital Finance LLC.
As it downsized Downtown, it invested in the Jacksonville Operations Center that was developed in 1989 for Barnett Banks.
Bank of America said in October 2021 it would renovate and update 800,000 square feet of space among Buildings 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 over several years.
Auld & White Constructors and Marand Builders Inc. of Jacksonville Beach are the contractors for the renovations.
The investment included construction of a six-tier, 1,447-space parking garage at a project cost of $24.66 million on the northernmost parking lot. The city issued a permit in November 2023 for Gilbane Building Co. to construct the 383,565-square-foot garage.
Also in Gramercy Woods, Bank of America has remodeled space in the 10-story Building 100, which it leases from another landlord, Glenfield Capital, at the entrance of the business park, and has put its name on the top. Another tenant, Aetna, also has installed signage.
Bank of America leases three floors and 78,700 square feet of space in Building 100.
It made another move into the park too.
Bank of America also owned the 52.23-acre Merrill Lynch suburban office park in Deerwood Park North, which is 6 miles up Southside Boulevard.
The bank sold that property in January 2025 to Intercontinental Exchange Inc. for the ICE Mortgage Technology Division headquarters.
Bank of America consolidated functions from there to Gramercy Woods.
In so doing, the bank also relocated the bull statue from the Merrill Lynch site and installed it at Building 400 for “Merrill A Bank of America Company.”
The bull in Merrill Lynch’s logo is said to symbolize optimism, strength and prosperity.