Daily Record Financial News &
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 259 • oNe SectioN
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
EverBank shareholders OK buyout
$2.5B deal with TIAA needs approval from regulators By Mark Basch Contributing Writer EverBank Financial Corp. cleared one hurdle Wednesday in its path to completing its $2.5 billion buyout by financial services firm TIAA, as the Jacksonville-based bank’s shareholders approved the deal. But several issues remain before the deal can be completed, including deciding the name of the merged bank — and whether that will impact EverBank’s nam-
ing rights deal for Jacksonville’s football stadium. Shareholders approved the deal Wednesday morning at a special meeting at the Downtown EverBank Center. No shareholders showed up to vote in person at the brief meeting. The buyout plan calls for EverBank to merge with TIAA’s bank subsidiary, which is headquartered in St. Louis, while keeping the headquarters of the merged bank in Jacksonville. Although the stockholder vote
was a significant step, the companies are a long way from completing the deal. They are hoping to complete it in the first half of 2017. The merger still needs approval from bank regulators. When the deal was first announced in August, Bloomberg News reported regulators may be wary because TIAA is buying a bank that is much larger than its banking subsidiary. TIAA, a nearly century-old nonprofit, is a giant company
with $35 billion in revenue last year, ranking 82nd on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies. However, its bank unit has only about $4 billion in assets, compared with EverBank’s $28.7 billion in total assets. EverBank CEO Robert Clements said after Wednesday’s meeting that talks with regulators about the merger have gone well. “We feel good about how the process is coming along at this point,” he said. EVERBANK
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Bringing big and different to library
Work is progressing on the Amazon.com fulfillment center off Interstate 295 at Pecan Park Road. This image, dated Oct. 27, and several others were included in a progress update to the city.
Amazon facility taking shape By Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor
On track to open in time for the 2017 holiday season, the Amazon.com fulfillment center is taking shape in Northwest Jacksonville off Interstate 295 at Pecan Park Road. The Conlan Co. is building the distribution facility at 12900 Pecan Park Road for the Seattle-based e-commerce retailer. Amazon.com will hire 1,500 full-time employees, along with seasonal workers, to pick, pack and ship smaller consumer items at the facility. More than 147 acres was approved for site clearing. The city issued a permit in August for the $87 million construction project. The entire project is $200 million, according to legislation for incentives to assist the deal. Hiring is expected to start about six months before opening. The building’s footprint is 855,000 square feet and will be four levels, taking it to 2.4 million square feet in capacity, plans show. USAA Real Estate Co. bought more than 170 acres for the project. Seefried Industrial Properties of Atlanta is the developer. The Conlan Co. is based in Marietta, Ga., and has offices in Jacksonville and Dallas. As part of the project, roads near the site are being realigned and widened. Amazon.com announced July 27 it would open the center to pick, pack and ship small items, such as books, toys, electronics and consumer items. To recruit the center, City Council and the state pledged $18.4 million in incentives, including $5.5 million for road improvements. Amazon.com also wants to open a 63,000-square-foot delivery station east of the center at Alta Lakes Commerce Center and is anticipated to announce soon whether it is the unidentified Project Velo that could open a 1 million-square-foot package center in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center. kmathis@jaxdailyrecord.com, @MathisKb, (904) 356-2466
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The city approved site clearing in April and construction in August for the 855,000-square-foot center that will rise several levels. This view was dated Oct. 13.
An aerial view of the site dated Sept. 28 that was cleared and prepared for construction for the area’s first Amazon.com fulfillment center.
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Makerspace will be what users make it By Max Marbut, Staff Writer It’s not certain exactly what it will be when it’s finished in about a year, but whatever it ends up being, it will be big. As in 25,000 square feet big. That’s the scale of the Jax Makerspace at the Main Library Downtown. It’s about half of the first floor of the building in the area near the Zimmerman Overlook, the Teen Library and the E-Classroom. It’s where thousands of CDs, DVDs and audiobooks were shelved until a few months ago. Those materials were moved to the second floor in an area formerly occupied by books and magazines, part of the evolution of the library at 303 N. Laura St. “This building opened in 2005 and the world has changed in the past 11 years. Our physical collection needs less space,” said Jennifer Giltrop, deputy library director for public services. With so many reference books and periodicals having transitioned to digital distribution, the floor plans were redesigned to create the open space on the first floor that will be devoted to exploration, collaboration and creation, she said. The Makerspace is in what Giltrop calls its “pilot user accessibility phase.” What it becomes will depend on what the community wants it to become. The first phase will be complete in about a year, she said, but Makerspace will constantly change to reflect the needs and interests of its users. A survey is being conducted to determine what guests would like to see in the space and what they’d like to do when they’re there. Classes and scheduled activities so far include computer coding skills, crafts, digital audio engineering, genealogy, guitar lessons, robotics, weekly workshops for people who want to write a novel and 3-D printing. One of the most popular initial offerings
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