Florida Utility JEA Selects Ryan Companies' Bid to Build New HQ

JACKSONVILLE, FL—The JEA Board of Directors has selected 325 West Adams St. as the site of the utility’s planned new corporate headquarters and is now in talks to finalize an agreement with the Ryan Companies US, Inc. of Minneapolis to build the project.

The Ryan Companies’ bid bested proposals by Jacksonville 1-C Parcel One Holding Company—an entity of the Cordish Companies of Baltimore, MD and Iguana Investments of Jacksonville— and Kings Avenue Station P3, LLC—a joint venture of Chase Properties, Inc. of Jacksonville and Parkway Property Investments, LLC of Orlando.

The new headquarters will replace the utility’s current Downtown Jacksonville headquarters at 21 West Church St. JEA, which is the 10th largest community-owned utility in the US and the largest in Florida, states that it has spent approximately $8 million to maintain its 52-year-old headquarters in the past decade.

The selection of Ryan Companies’ best and final officer comes after a six-month, comprehensive, qualitative and quantitative evaluation in which JEA’s procurement team worked in partnership with commercial brokerage firm CBRE. The utility states that the overall purpose of the development of the new headquarters is to enhance JEA’s business continuity and to improve organizational effectiveness, resulting in business strategies and daily operations that will ultimately better serve the customers and employees of JEA.

“Throughout the entire headquarters identification process, our goal was to find the best value for JEA, its employees, its customers and the community,” says Alan Howard, JEA’s Board Chairman. “I’m proud of the organized manner in which we evaluated each location’s merit using JEA’s customer, financial, community and environmental value measures as our guide. This is a transformational opportunity for JEA and the Jacksonville community it serves. The board looks forward to reviewing the final negotiated lease.”

Ryan Company’s 325 W. Adams St. site was chosen as the location to move forward into the final negotiations stage, JEA states. The Ryan Company’s proposal and site also offers the shortest turnaround time from design to occupancy.

According to its best and final offer submitted to JEA, the Ryan Cos. project at 325 West Adams St. will cost approximately $72.2 million to construct. The building will total 207,810 square feet, including a 6,340-square-foot rooftop outdoor patio. The building’s total rentable square footage will be 195,426 square feet, including the rooftop outdoor patio.

The selection process began in October 2018 when on behalf of JEA, CBRE released an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) inviting interested parties to submit responses for the relocation of JEA’s corporate headquarters.

In January, responses were received and on Jan. 22, the JEA Board short-listed three firms for the project. After presentations by the three firms to the JEA Board in February, the three firms submitted their respective best and final offers on March 11.