Article by: Mark Basch | Jax Daily Record | To view the full article, click HERE.
ETM was honored to be the Civil Engineer on this FIS project.
When Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, began planning its new headquarters building in 2019, company officials had no idea the concept of office work would change by the time it opened.
“Would you build a new corporate headquarters in the middle of a pandemic?” CEO Gary Norcross said after an Oct. 12 ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening the building at 347 Riverside Ave.
When plans for the financial technology firm’s 12-story, 300,000-square-foot office were unveiled three years ago, FIS promised to add 500 jobs to the 1,216 workers it already had in Jacksonville.
The $156 million project included $29.9 million in city and state incentives.
“I am proud to say we’re 75% of the way there (to adding the jobs) as we open our headquarters today,” Norcross said during the ceremony.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, FIS did not anticipate employees spending at least part of their workweek at home and part in the office, and Norcross said it’s difficult to determine just how many employees the new building could accommodate.
“We’re still trying to figure out exactly what that looks like in the future,” he said.
Norcross said the office along the St. Johns River was built to withstand a 500-year flood with hurricane-proof windows. And it is environmentally friendly.
“We aspired to have the greenest building in the state,” he said.
FIS is a global company with 65,000 employees in about 120 locations. It ranks 268th on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. companies, based on its 2021 revenue of $13.9 billion.
The company was spun off from title insurance company Fidelity National Financial Inc. in 2006 and had maintained its headquarters in the same Riverside Avenue office complex since then.
Deputy City Administrator Charles Moreland said FIS’ decision to build a new headquarters and expand its local employment solidifies Jacksonville’s reputation as a leader in the financial technology industry.
“This is very big for our city,” Moreland said. “It’s a big win.”