JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Downtown Investment Authority rejected a plan to spend $9.8 million to incentivize EverBank to remain in its downtown location on Wednesday afternoon.
The decision likely pushes EverBank one step closer to relocating its more than 700 downtown employees into the suburbs.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
The Downtown Investment Authority Board spent roughly an hour and a half considering the incentive proposal that would have seen the city give up $9.8 million over ten years, in exchange for EverBank promising to keep at least 800 employees in its downtown location for the next decade.
The building owner would also have agreed to invest $5 million over the next three years in improvements to the office space.
EverBank cited concerns over security and parking costs as justification for its intent to leave downtown.
Similar concerns were cited by Citizens Insurance last year when it recommended pulling its nearly 1,000 downtown employees out of the same building.
Still, the DIA board ultimately decided the precedent the deal would have set was untenable and voted 7-2 against the incentive package.
“I think it looks bad. I think what we’re doing is we’re paying someone to tolerate being downtown, when instead they should want to be here,” said DIA Board Chair Patrick Krechowski.
The vote doesn’t mean the deal is entirely dead.
City Council could still choose to take it up.
But Councilmember Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) said he shares the same concerns as DIA about precedent-setting.
He also questioned the legitimacy of the downtown safety concerns cited by companies like EverBank and Citizens.
“I think the homeless situation has tremendously changed. I walk through downtown all the time,” said Salem.
Salem plans on calling representatives from homelessness organizations before the next meeting of the Duval DOGE committee to dig into the issue further.
“I want to get some numbers. I want to have a presentation. I hope EverBank will be watching, and I just want to make sure the facts are facts,” said Salem.
While the Mayor’s Office was supportive of the incentive package and spoke in support of the deal during the DIA meeting, it declined to comment further following Wednesday’s decision.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
