Keeping EverBank Downtown

For a few months this spring, downtown Jacksonville's skyline had a question mark on it. EverBank — whose name tops both a Bay Street tower and the Jaguars' stadium — put hard numbers behind an uncomfortable claim: operating its headquarters downtown costs roughly $1.4 million more per year than a suburban campus would. Seven security personnel instead of one shared guard. Parking. The premium of the urban core, itemized.

Negotiations with the mayor's office produced a proposed answer: a $9.8 million retention package — $980,000 a year across a ten-year lease. Then came the twist. In February, the Downtown Investment Authority board voted 6–2 against endorsing the grant, unwilling to set the precedent of paying tenants to stay.

And in July, EverBank renewed its lease at 301 W. Bay Street anyway.

What changed between February and July isn't in the public record — sharper terms from the building's Miami-based owner, Amkin West, a different internal calculus, or a decision that the address is worth the premium. What matters for the city is the outcome: an anchor employer looked hard at the exits and chose downtown, incentives or not. In a year when every downtown in America is fighting for its office tenants, that's not a small story.

Source: Jacksonville Daily Record, February–July 2026.