Citizens Property Insurance Corp. selects new headquarters space out of Downtown

After drawing seven bids from its invitation to negotiate for "turn-key" office space in Jacksonville, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has selected a property in South Jacksonville.

The state insurer chose a bid for space in the former Florida Coastal School of Law building at 8787 Baypine Road.

The selection puts Citizens on a path to leave its Downtown offices in the 30-story high-rise at 301 W. Bay St.

It plans to move into its new offices in January 2026.

Action News Jax reported in August that Citizens was seeking a move because of safety concerns regarding the homeless Downtown, saying workers had been threatened and harassed.

While Citizens has not confirmed that, the mayor's office wants to address it.

About 4:30 p.m. March 7, Mayor Donna Deegan released a statement referring to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Sheriff T.K. Waters:

"The City of Jacksonville remains committed to making every reasonable effort to retain this anchor employer. I have spoken to Sheriff Waters, and we will work together to place a JSO stop station in the building for extra security," she said.

"There is a window still open for Citizens Property Insurance to remain downtown. We are hopeful their Board of Directors will reevaluate this decision given the progress that's been made, not only in terms of safety, but also the many exciting projects that are coming out of the ground."

Citizens reported that the winning bid, which was submitted by Jacksonville IV FGF LLC in care of Boyd Watterson Asset Management, for 8787 Baypine Road, attained a 78.18 rating in the bid scoring process.

The other scores were:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. for 4800 Deerwood Campus Parkway, 77.88

Amkin West Bay LLC, for 301 W. Bay St., 76.55. The current Citizens headquarters.

Jax LC Owner 2 LLC for 14000 Citicards Way, 76.47. Citigroup's Southside Jacksonville campus.

The Atlantic Land and Improvement Co., in care of CSX Transportation Inc., for 550 Water St., 51.89. A Downtown building north of the CSX headquarters.

Rosecrans 2004 LLC for 225 Water St., 39.11. A Downtown building east of the Marriott Jacksonville Downtown.

841 Prudential MLB LLC for 841 Prudential Drive, 44.02. Ont he Downtown Southbank.

In 2022, Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC bought the former Florida Coastal School of Law building in Baymeadows for $13.5 million from New York-based Angelo, Gordon & Co. L.P.

The five-story, 231,867-square-foot building was developed on the 9.7-acre site in 1990 for AT&T Universal Card Services Corp. It also has a parking garage.

Citizens' pending move comes at a time of high vacancy in Downtown office buildings, mainly driven by work-from-home policies that prompted employers to downsize workplaces. According to Downtown Vision Inc., Downtown's vacancy rate was 28% in the last three months of 2024.

On Jan. 31, the Downtown Investment Authority approved a proposal to offer 10% discounted parking in the Water Street Garage to help keep Citizens Downtown.

In 2015, Citizens signed a 10-year, $41.7 million lease for space at 301 W. Bay St. At that time, the Daily Record reported that Citizens was consolidating offices and moving 1,038 jobs into about 232,000 square feet of space.

With its lease there set to expire in June 2026, Citizens issued an invitation to negotiate with requirements that included 203,000 to 215,000 square feet of space, a minimum of 1,107 parking spaces, offices either in a single building or within the same campus, and a lease with an initial 10-year term and renewal options.

In August 2024, Citizens launched an invitation to negotiate seeking a space outside of Downtown in South Jacksonville. The insurer did not act on that invitation and instead released a new one Dec. 19 seeking space in South Jacksonville or Downtown.

Miami-based Amkin West LLC acquired the 301 W. Bay St. building in 2014 for $47.4 million.

A marketing brochure for the high-rise by Ciminelli Real Estate Services says more than 360,000 square feet of space is available for new tenants in the 962,000-square-foot building. It shows eight complete floors as available, each between 34,000 and 35,000 square feet of space.

Tallahassee-based Citizens was created by the Florida Legislature in 2002 as a not-for-profit tax-exempt government entity to provide property insurance to Florida homeowners insurance policyholders unable to find coverage in the private market.

Florida Coastal School of Law closed in 2021.

Editor Monty Zickuhr contributed to this report.