Aetna has its name on a Southbank building. The health-care institution has more than 900 employees there, too.
However, the business wants assistance to stay — and possibly grow — in the building where it’s been since 1999, according to a report filed with the city.
The city and JAXUSA Partnership are working with the landlord, GV-IP Jacksonville, and the company to ensure Aetna remains Downtown.
The company has requested $45 per square foot for 160,000 square feet of office space to help pay for improvements. The landlord is offering $30 per square foot and asking the Downtown Investment Authority and city to make up the difference.
That amounts to $1.5 million that could be funded through a Recaptured Enhanced Value grant over 12 years, according to the report. Those grants are paid after expansions and provide tax breaks for property improvements.
As part of any incentive deal, the report said the company could add 150-300 new jobs.
Authority CEO Aundra Wallace said he’s talked with the landlord about the deal, but has not spoken with the company. With Aetna’s lease expiring sometime in 2017, he said there is time to work out something.
He acknowledged Aetna’s importance to the Downtown workforce and said keeping those jobs in the core is critical.
Likewise, authority board Chair Jim Bailey said retaining those jobs — and possibly adding more — would be “huge.”
If the city provides $1.5 million over 12 years, Bailey (who is publisher of the Daily Record) said it would a good investment for keeping Aetna and its employees Downtown.
A call left for GV-IP seeking comment on negotiations was not returned Wednesday.
Aetna is the primary tenant in the building that was developed in 1955 for Prudential Insurance Co. of America. At that time, it was the tallest building in Florida.
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