Hurricane Debby damage in Jacksonville, Florida
Hurricane Debby came ashore in Florida’s Big Bend area on Monday morning. Here’s how the storm affected Jacksonville.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which is one of downtown Jacksonville’s biggest employers, is considering a move to the Southside suburbs.
Citizens moved more than 1,000 employees into EverBank Center in 2015 in a major win for bringing more activity into downtown. The organization’s time in the downtown office tower could end in 2026.
The government-created property insurance provider is seeking proposals for 225,000 square feet of space, and the solicitation is limited to office buildings in a portion of the Southside that doesn’t include downtown.
“Citizens is seeking to negotiate with vendors for Jacksonville office space that provides greater access in bad local weather conditions and enhances its emergency response capabilities by housing equipment and other response assets at a single site,” said Michael Peltier, spokesman for the agency. “Citizens is also seeking a more centralized location for its employees living in the Jacksonville area.”
Based on the solicitation, Citizens would keep Jacksonville as one of its two office locations along with Tallahassee. Citizens told prospective bidders it is seeking a 10-year lease of space for about 1,240 employees with renewal options for another 10 years.
Citizens began advertising the solicitation on July 26 and the deadline for submissions is Sept. 10. Citizens anticipates that after negotiating with interested building owners, it will post a decision on Nov. 4.
Citizens wants to start moving to its new facility in January 2026 and start commencement of the lease term on June 1, 2026.
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Citizens has been in the suburbs before. When it picked EverBank Tower, Citizens consolidated several sites by leasing 232,000 square feet in the office tower.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a drop in downtown office workers because companies allowed many employees to work remotely. While companies have been bringing workers back to the office since the pandemic, remote work continues to have an impact on downtown Jacksonville. Like many other downtowns, Jacksonville has seen a sharp increase in vacant office space.
The state created Citizens Property Insurance Corp. in 2004 as a non-profit government entity that acts as an insurer of last resort for property-owners unable to get insurance in the private market.