FRIDAY February 8, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 3
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
VyStar, city reach deal Record onDaily arena naming rights JACKSONVILLE
SunTrust, BB&T plan $66 billion merger
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
SunTrust, BB&T plan $66 billion merger
BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Special to the Daily Record
An artist’s rendering of VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The city-owned venue at 300 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. opened in 2003 and has not had a naming-rights sponsor.
Council must approve 15-year, $9.76 million agreement. BY DAVID CAWTON ASSOCIATE EDITOR
VyStar Credit Union has agreed to a 15-year, $9.76 million naming-rights sponsorship deal to rebrand the city-owned Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. If approved by City Council, the arena would be called VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Legislation was introduced Thursday. According to a draft of the contract between the city, VyStar and arena manager SMG, the deal allows the Jacksonville-based credit union to become the first naming rights sponsor of the city-owned facility since it opened in November 2003. The arena is Downtown at 300 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. Mayor Lenny Curry’s office made the announcement in a news release Thursday.
Both companies have a major presence in Downtown Jacksonville.
“In coordination with veteran leaders, my staff and VyStar, we have an agreement that is good for taxpayers and at the same time creates new program funding for veterans in our City,” Curry said in the release. “This is a win for everyone involved, and I will work with the City Council to earn their approval,” he said. The agreement says VyStar will pay the city $525,000 in 2019, with payments increasing about 3 percent each year until 2033. The final payment is $794,110. VyStar also will make a one-time payment of $50,000 to create a new “veteran memorial element” inside the arena during the first year of the contract. The credit union pledges to match donations
What: Credit union open to residents of Central to North Florida and Southeast Georgia. Headquarters: Jacksonville Assets: $8.2 billion Members: More than 640,000 CEO: Brian Wolfburg Locations: 49 full-service branches, 14 high school branches, more than 230 ATMs Source: VyStar Credit Union
SEE VYSTAR, PAGE 2
Two Southeastern banks with large operations in Jacksonville, SunTrust Banks Inc. and BB&T Corp., announced a $66 billion merger Thursday morning. The companies described the deal as a merger of equals and said they will come up with a new name for the merged bank, which will be headquartered in Charlotte. SunTrust is headquartered in Atlanta and BB&T is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. SunTrust has 24 branches in the Jacksonville metropolitan area, the fourth-largest branch network in the market, and BB&T is the eighth-largest with 14 offices, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. Both companies have a major presence in Downtown Jacksonville. SunTrust is working on plans to move its main Jacksonville office from a 23-story building that bears its name at 76 S. Laura St. to the nearby Bank of America Tower at 50 N. Laura St. BB&T’s main local office is in the BB&T Tower at 200 W. Forsyth St. The combined bank will be the sixth-largest U.S. bank with $442 billion in assets, the companies said. “It’s an extraordinarily attractive financial proposition that provides the scale needed to compete and win in the rapidly evolving world of financial services,” BB&T Chief Executive Kelly King SEE MERGER, PAGE 2
The Players goes for the gold The Players Championship tournament officials unveiled Thursday the new sterling silver and 24-karat gold vermeil trophy that will be presented to this year’s winner. Designed by Tiffany & Co., and inspired by the “swinging golfer” image from the PGA Tour logo, the computer-designed trophy incorporates aspects of the 38 previous tournament champions and the signature 17th hole island green. The Players is March 14-17 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.
VOLUME 106, NO. 59 • ONE SECTION