A year after ICE Mortgage Technology Holdings Inc. of Atlanta bought the 52.23-acre Merrill Lynch Deerwood Park North campus, the company has applied for permits to renovate the first building inside and out at an estimated cost of $53.37 million.
Counting two more permits issued in 2025 for interior demolition Sept. 5 and to demolish the foundation of the Merrill Lynch bull statue March 10, the construction project so far totals $59.21 million.
ICE bought the campus Jan. 13, 2025, from Bank of America for $42 million.
That takes the total investment in the property and the permits to date to $101.21 million.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. is preparing the Jacksonville headquarters for its Mortgage Technology Division.
The campus is south of Gate Parkway east of Southside Boulevard near the commercial area known commonly as Tinseltown.
Auld & White Constructors LLC of Jacksonville is the contractor for the permits now in review for Building 1 at 4800 Deer Lake Drive E.
Exterior and site improvements total an estimated $4.76 million. That work includes replacement of curtain walls, the addition of exterior canopies and a reworking of the sidewalks and landscaping. Curtain walls are lightweight exterior building “curtains” that often are used as weather barriers.
The interior renovation of almost 140,000 square feet in the 170,098-square-foot, three-story building is estimated at almost $53.62 million.
Building 1 was developed in 1992.
Plans show the first floor with the visitors’ entrance, lobby, food service and dining, and conference and training space. The top floors comprise work areas, offices and conference rooms.
Plans indicate work on all three floors in the north and south wings and the central hub.
An atrium connects those areas.
Legacy Engineering Inc. of Jacksonville provided private plan review. Hoefer Welker in Jacksonville is the architect. JLL’s Jacksonville office is the construction manager. Skiles Engineering of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange Inc. announced in December 2024 it will spend at least $173 million to locate the headquarters of its Mortgage Technology division in Jacksonville.
ICE came to Jacksonville through an earlier purchase.
ICE, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, bought Jacksonville-based Black Knight, a software, data and analytics company that serves the housing finance market, for $11.9 billion in 2023.
Jacksonville City Council agreed Nov. 26, 2024, to $21 million in property tax refunds and cash grants for the ICE deal to create the campus.
Code-named Project Paper Company, the deal retains more than 1,500 jobs and adds 500 over seven years.
The ICE campus comprises two properties divided by a lake.
The 32.98-acre parcel at 4800 Deer Lake Drive E. comprises three office buildings totaling 464,645 square feet and a 186,500-square-foot parking garage.
The 19.25-acre parcel at 4803 Deer Lake Drive W. has a 125,918-square-foot office building and a 166,132-square-foot parking garage.
There appears to be land available for future buildings on the smaller parcel.
The Daily Record previously reported that amount of office space could accommodate at least 2,600 workers, which is more than ICE’s pledge to retain the existing 1,500 Black Knight jobs in Jacksonville and create 500 more.
Merrill Lynch developed the structures in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1998, adding the garages in 1998 and 2007, according to the Duval County Property Appraiser.
Bank of America has owned Merrill Lynch, the former Merrill Lynch & Co. Wall Street investment firm, for 16 years.
Since the 2009 acquisition, Merrill operates as the bank’s wealth management division.
The bank has been relocating functions and the bull statue, from the Merrill Lynch site to its Bank of America campus 6 miles south at 9000 Southside Blvd. The bull in Merrill Lynch’s logo is said to symbolize optimism, strength and prosperity.
The January 2025 deed said there was an unrecorded office lease between ICE and Bank of America for Building 1 at 4800 Deer Lake Drive E. and Building 4 at 4803 W. Deer Lake Drive W., although Building 1 now is identified for ICE.
The deed said there was no right of first refusal or purchase option for Bank of America in those buildings, indicating ICE controls who will rent or use the space.