Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the company that announced in December it will spend at least $173 million to locate the headquarters of its Mortgage Technology division in Jacksonville, now has a place to put it.
ICE bought the 52.23-acre Merrill Lynch Deerwood Park North campus Jan. 13 from Bank of America for $42 million.
ICE purchased the property through Ice Mortgage Technology Holdings Inc. The seller was Bank of America National Association.
ICE, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, bought Jacksonville-based Black Knight, a software, data and analytics company that serves the housing finance market, for $11.9 billion in 2023.
The Jacksonville City Council agreed Nov. 26 to $21 million in property tax refunds and cash grants for the ICE deal, code-named Project Paper Company.
The deal retains more than 1,500 jobs and adds 500 over seven years.
When it announced the deal for the new headquarters Dec. 17, ICE did not reveal where it would be located.
The site
The Merrill campus ICE bought comprises two properties divided by a lake. It is south of Gate Parkway east of Southside Boulevard near the commercial area known as Tinseltown.
The 32.98-acre parcel at 4800 Deer Lake Drive East comprises three office buildings totaling 464,645 square feet and a 186,500-square-foot parking garage.
The 19.25-acre parcel at 4803 Deer Lake Drive West has a 125,918-square-foot office building and a 166,132-square-foot parking garage.
There also appears to be land available for future buildings on the smaller parcel.
The Daily Record reported that amount of office space could accommodate at least 2,600 workers, which is more than ICE’s pledge to retain the existing 1,500 Black Knight jobs in Jacksonville and create 500 more.
Merrill Lynch developed the structures in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1998, adding the garages in 1998 and 2007, according to the Duval County Property Appraiser.
Potential move
Bank of America has been preparing to potentially leave the campus.
The Daily Record reported in December the city is reviewing permits for Bank of America to move a Merrill Lynch bull statue from its Merrill campus at 4800 Deer Lake Drive E. to the bank’s campus 6 miles south at 9000 Southside Blvd.
Bank of America has been consolidating, expanding and upgrading its operations campus in the Gramercy Woods office park north of The Avenues mall.
Bank of America could keep some of its operations at the Deerwood Park North campus. The deed shows lease information between ICE and Bank of America for Building One at 4800 E. Deer Lake Drive and Building 4 and 4803 W. Deer Lake Drive.