Jacksonville-based EverBank celebrated the opening of its new Ortega branch with a ribbon-cutting Oct. 22.
The branch, known as Everbank Ortega Financial Center, is at 4211 San Juan Blvd.
The almost 2,800-square-foot building, with a 728-square-foot covered drive-thru, is on about a half-acre at San Juan Avenue and Herschel Street. It is about a half-mile west of the Ortega Bridge.
Bank leadership also announced plans to open a branch in 2025 in Jacksonville Beach.
That branch will be at 2200 S. Third St., near South Third Street and 23rd Avenue South. The site is a former Mattress Firm.
The Oct. 22 ribbon-cutting followed the opening of the Ortega branch about a month ago.
EverBank serves most of its customers online and has few branch offices.
It has two other full-service Jacksonville offices: an Oceanway Branch at 104 New Berlin Road and a San Jose Branch at 10400 San Jose Blvd., according to everbank.com.
The bank does not have a branch at its Downtown headquarters building at 301 W. Bay St. The branch at its former headquarters building at 501 Riverside Ave. had served at its main branch since 2007 until the move to Ortega.
Location ‘really special’
The bank determined the location “was really special” as it looked around Jacksonville for a new branch, Lindsay Lawrence, executive vice president, chief operating officer for EverBank, said in an interview after the ribbon-cutting.
“The EverBank staff included people who have lived and worked in the community for a long time and introduced us to this area and know these special pockets. And so they introduced us to this area, and we fell in love with it immediately,” she said.
Lawrence said they hope to open the Jacksonville Beach branch in the first quarter of 2025.
Curt Kunkle, Florida banking president at EverBank, said during the ceremony that the Ortega branch will serve as a prototype for future branches and for branch renovations in Florida and California.
“We’re going to make as many of our branches look just like this,” he said.
Third bank at site
EverBank is the third bank that has operated at the structure.
It was first used by Florida Bank and then IberiaBank, which ResidentNews.net reported was closed in 2018.
San Juan Corner LLC, led by John and Margaret Williams, owns the property. They bought it in 2019 for $607,000 from IberiaBank.
The city issued a permit June 7 for EverBank to build-out its new branch at project cost of $571,951 as it prepared to close and move its Riverside Avenue office in the Brooklyn area of Downtown.
Gensler is the architect.
EverBank filed an application March 28 with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulatory agency for nationally chartered banks, to move the Riverside Avenue branch.
EverBank has additional branches in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Cables, Naples, Fort Myers and Clearwater.
EverBank Financial Corp. said Sept. 16 it was expanding into California by acquiring Sterling Bank & Trust FSB.
EverBank announced Aug. 22 that Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, will serve as its brand ambassador and
be the focus of nationwide marketing campaigns for EverBank. Lawrence is an EverBank client.
EverBank history
EverBank was a publicly traded company before it was acquired by TIAA in 2018. TIAA sold the bank to a group of investment funds in August 2023.
In 2023, TIAA Bank announced it would change its name to EverBank and rename the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars to EverBank Stadium. In May, EverBank agreed to extend the naming rights deal through the end of the 2027 NFL season.
The Oct. 22 ceremony included a presentation of a check for $100,000 for the Touchdowns for Tomorrow program, a partnership between EverBank and the Jaguars. For every Jaguars touchdown scored in the 2024 NFL season, 100 area children will receive access to financial education, according to the Jaguars' website.
Aaron Beasley, a former cornerback for the Jaguars, presented the check for the program.