SJC Commissioners greenlight PGA Tour’s campus expansion to include broadcast media building

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tuesday the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners gave The PGA Tour the green light to move forward with expanding their campus on Palm Valley Road.

The organization will be re-locating its broadcast media building to Ponte Vedra Beach.

Action News Jax Courtney Cole spoke to St. Johns County and the PGA Tour about the impact it will have it will have beyond the green.

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The PGA Tour’s footprint in St. Johns County continues to grow. Their Global Home, a modern workspace extraordinaire just opened it’s doors this January of year. Their broadcast media building is set to open next to it in three years.

“So we’re actually bringing our employees from our existing PGA tour entertainment facility to our campus, so that all of us who work for the PGA tour will be together in one space,” said Kirsten Sabia, the Vice President of Integrated PGA Tour.

She went on to say that the building is going to be 150,000 square feet.

“We couldn’t be more excited and appreciative of the St John’s County Commissioners and the staff, and, you know, continuing to support the growth of the PGA tour in this wonderful community,” Sabia told Action News Jax.

It will also bring 45 new jobs with an annual average salary of $79,442.

“The creation of new technology and content industry jobs that really are going to put again, Jacksonville on the map as just the most influential media center— basically between Atlanta and Orlando— something for us to all be proud of!” Sabia said.

In addition to jobs inside the building, Sabia smiled as she explained construction jobs will also be needed to make sure building is ready to open in March 2024.

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“The economic impact of the PGA Tour in general is huge here on the First Coast. I mean, look at what The Players Championship does every year with supporting local communities. But then you look at our employees who are based here and what they bring to the table as it relates to being taxpayers, owning homes, both in St. Johns and Duval County and just being good corporate citizens. So this building alone is going to bring an annual benefit of over $300 million a year,” Sabia explained to Cole.

St. Johns County also plans to give the PGA Tour about $16.7Min incentives. Joy Andrews, the St. Johns County Deputy Administrator, said although this decision is different from their current incentive program, she says it was well though out and will benefit the community, overall.

“So not only is it financial incentive for our community, but it’s the awareness, it’s the vibe that they add positively to our community,” said Andrews.

Cox Media Group