In the News | FIS Submits Building Permit Application for $145 Million Headquarters

Article by Karen Brune Mathis | Jax Daily Record

The Jacksonville-based financial services technology firm is expected to break ground in May for completion in June 2022.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. submitted building-permit plans to the city April 15 for construction of its $145 million riverfront world headquarters and garage along Riverside Avenue.

The Jacksonville-based financial services technology company submitted the plans a day after the Downtown Investment Authority awarded development rights for the project.

DIA CEO Lori Boyer said April 8 that FIS would start construction in May.

The permit application shows FIS intends to build the foundations and structures of its 12-story, 376,414-square-foot headquarters office tower and eight-story, 552,693-square-foot parking garage with 1,647 parking spaces on 4.5 acres at 347 Riverside Ave. in Brooklyn. The property is along the St. Johns River.

No contractor is listed.

An air-conditioned garage elevator lobby will connect to the office tower on the first and second levels.

The Riverside Avenue side of the garage will have retail space.

Tenant improvements will be done separately.

The majority of the FIS headquarters will be built on a 4½-acre parking lot owned by Florida Blue. FIS intends to buy the land from the insurer.

Plans dated April 15 show FIS, based nearby at 601 Riverside Ave., as the client; Gensler of Tampa as the architect; Hines of Jacksonville as the development manager; and England-Thims & Miller Inc. as the civil engineer.

Jacksonville-based FIS will develop an eight-story parking garage next to its headquarters building.

Other services are HWA Parking of Austin; Entuitive of Vancouver for the exterior building enclosure; One Lux Studio of New York, New York, for lighting; HMA Consulting Inc. of Stafford, Texas, for security; Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates of Atlanta as the structural engineer; I.A. Naman & Associates of Houston for mechanical, electrical and plumbing services; IMEG Corp. of Austin, Texas, for audiovisual and information technology; Cini-Little International Inc. of Fort Lauderdale for food service; and Lemon Brooke of Concord, Massachusetts, for landscaping.

DIA awarded development rights for Phase I of the project, allocating 377,000 square feet of office and 6,000 square feet of commercial retail development rights for the project on 5.71 acres.

DIA Operations Manager Guy Parola told board members the retail rights are intended to allow the ground-floor retail planned for the FIS parking garage facing Riverside Avenue.

Lane Gardner, Hines senior managing director, said April 6 that he expected the project to be completed in June 2022.

FIS CEO Gary Norcross and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the headquarters project Nov. 1.

The Fortune 500 company bought Cincinnati-based Worldpay in July for $43 billion and needs more space. The DIA resolution approved April 15 said the project will bring more than 1,200 jobs to Downtown Jacksonville.

Norcross said in November FIS will create 500 jobs and retain the company’s 1,216 employee workforce.

The Downtown Development Review Board approved final designs Feb. 13.

The Jacksonville City Council approved a $29.9 million city and state-backed incentives package Sept. 10 for the code-named Project Sharp, comprising:

  • A $3 million Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund, of which $600,000 is from the city and $2.4 million from the state. The incentive has a 10-year payout. The amount is $6,000 per job, with $1,200 of that from the city. By 2029, FIS will create the 500 new jobs, paying an average $85,000 a year. FIS will create the positions at a rate of 50 per year starting in 2020.
  • A city Recapture Enhanced Value Grant of up to $23.4 million paid from tax increment district funds by 2043, or 20 years after the improvements are made. That indicates the structure would be completed by 2023.
  • A $3.5 million city closing grant upon completion of the improvements, which must be at least $130 million.
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