Wells Fargo Center | |
---|---|
Former names |
|
General information | |
Type | Office [1] |
Architectural style | Modernist |
Location |
|
Coordinates | 30°19′33″N81°39′32″W / 30.32579°N 81.65888°W Coordinates: 30°19′33″N81°39′32″W / 30.32579°N 81.65888°W |
Construction started | 1972 |
Completed | 1974 [1] |
Opening | 1974 [1] |
Height | |
Antenna spire | 645 ft (197 m) [2] |
Roof | 535 ft (163 m) [1] |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 37 [1] |
Lifts/elevators | 15 [1] |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | KBJ Architects [1] |
Main contractor | The Auchter Company [1] |
Wells Fargo Center (originally Independent Life Building) is a skyscraper in the downtown area of Jacksonville, Florida, at the southeast corner of Bay and Laura streets. Standing 535 feet (163 meters) tall, it is the city's second-tallest building. [1] [3] It was formerly known as the Modis Building until 2011, when Wells Fargo acquired the naming rights. [4] [5] [6]
The tower was completed in 1974 by the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company, and was known as the Independent Life Building. Built by The Auchter Company. [4] [7] It was designed by KBJ Architects, who received the Honor Award for Outstanding Achievement in Design by the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for the design. [1] [8] The design concept included a sloping base and large corner frames to provide a distinctive image not only for the company, but also as an identifying landmark for the city of Jacksonville. [8]
Beginning in 1995 Independent Life was acquired by the American General Life Insurance Company, and operations were gradually moved to Nashville, Tennessee. [9] [10] The building was sold to Associated Capital Properties, and the Jacksonville staffing company AccuStaff moved in and acquired the naming rights, and it became the AccuStaff Building. [11] In 2002, AccuStaff changed its name to MPS Group. It renamed the building the Modis Building, after one of the company's main brands, and added Modis signage. [4] In 2009 MPS Group was acquired by the Swiss firm Adecco Group, which announced the company would relocate to Jacksonville's suburbs. [4] The move was completed in 2011 and the signage was removed, and the building was renamed Independent Square. [3] [12]
In May 2011, Wells Fargo, which had acquired the Wachovia financial services company, announced it would relocate local employees to the building. [3] [5] [13] Signage went up on the Wells Fargo Center on September 26 and the relocation completed by April 2012. [6]
The Wells Fargo Center has 37 floors, and held the title of tallest building in Florida until 1981, when One Tampa City Center was completed. [1] It remained the tallest building in Jacksonville until 1990, when the Bank of America Tower surpassed it in height. The building takes up an entire city block in Jacksonville's downtown. A notable feature of the structure is a four-story atrium of tropical vegetation where the public enters. [8] The first floor also contained an auditorium with seating for 360 patrons, a bank, restaurants, and several retail stores. [14]
Parkway Properties is a third-party service provider for the building. [15]
One major tenant in the Wells Fargo Center is the River Club of Jacksonville, a private business club that occupies the top two floors of the building. Originally known as the Jacksonville Businessmen's Club, it was established in 1954 after the fashion of similar organizations in New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C. [16] It was formerly located on the 16th floor of the Prudential Building (now known as the Aetna Building), the city's tallest building when it opened in 1955. [17] [18] It relocated to its current space in 1976, but did not offer memberships to women until 1985. [17] The club has been owned and managed by a subsidiary of Gate Petroleum since 2003. [19]
In September 2017, Hurricane Irma's storm surge caused major flooding in the downtown area of Jacksonville. The parking garage of the Wells Fargo Center was impacted by these events and the building was briefly closed. The building reopened September 29.
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and the second largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. Consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits. As of 2020, Jacksonville's population is 949,611, making it the most populous city in the Southeastern United States and the largest in the South outside the state of Texas. With a population of 1,733,937, the Jacksonville metropolitan area ranks as Florida's fourth-largest metropolitan region.
The Florida Times-Union is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the Florida Union in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when the Florida Union merged with another Jacksonville paper, the Florida Daily Times. A Southeast Georgia edition, called The Georgia Times-Union, serves the Brunswick area.
11 East Forsyth, formerly known as the Lynch Building and the American Heritage Life Building, is a historic structure in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally developed by Stephen Andrew Lynch, as its current name suggests, it is located at 11 East Forsyth Street in Downtown Jacksonville. On December 23, 2003, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Riverplace Tower is a 28-floor office building on the south bank of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest building in the state of Florida and was the defining landmark in Jacksonville's skyline. On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects's Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Riverplace Tower / Formerly Gulf Life Tower.
Baptist Health is a faith-based, non-profit health system comprising 7 hospitals with 1,168 beds, a cancer center, four satellite emergency departments and more than 200 patient access points of care, including 50 primary care offices located throughout northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The headquarter is in Jacksonville, Florida.
Eight Forty One is a 309 feet, 22-floor office building on the south bank of St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. Completed in 1955, it was the tallest building in the city for 13 years until surpassed by the Riverplace Tower. It was "The Tallest Office Building in the South" and the tallest in Florida until NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building was completed in 1965. The building's former names include the Aetna Building, Prudential Plaza I or One Prudential Plaza, and the Prudential Building.
The Barnett is a skyscraper in the downtown area of Jacksonville, Florida, at the southwest corner of Adams and Laura streets.
The Laura Street Trio is a group of three historic buildings located on and near Laura Street in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The Trio consists of two perpendicularly arranged skyscrapers, the Florida Life Building and the Bisbee Building, plus a third structure, the Old Florida National Bank, which is framed by the other two in a unique pattern. The three buildings, constructed in the wake of the Great Fire of 1901, are architecturally significant, but are currently endangered.
121 Atlantic Place, formerly the Atlantic National Bank Building, is a historic skyscraper in Jacksonville, Florida. It was built in 1909 as the headquarters for the Atlantic National Bank, and is located at 121 West Forsyth Street. It was the tallest building in Jacksonville and in Florida from 1909 to 1912, and remains an office building today.
KBJ Architects, Inc. (KBJ) is an American architectural firm based in Jacksonville, Florida. The firm designed 17 of the city's 30 tallest buildings and "created Jacksonville's modern skyline", according to The Florida Times-Union newspaper. The firm designed the first high-rise in downtown Jacksonville, the 22-story Aetna Building, which opened in 1955. It took pride in "having the second-largest number of architects of any Florida firm", according to a 1997 article in The Florida Times-Union.
TIAA Bank Center is a skyscraper in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Standing 447 feet tall, it is the city's third-tallest building, as well as the largest in terms of class "A" rentable area with 956,201 sq ft (88,834.0 m2). Formerly known as the Southern Bell Telephone Building, the AT&T Tower, and EverBank Center, it took its former name in 2012 when EverBank moved employees into the building and acquired signage rights. The building is currently called TIAA Bank Center, although no formal announcement has been made, and signage changes have not been completed, as of EverBank's rebranding, effective on June 4, 2018.
The Wells Fargo Center is part of the Metropolitan Miami complex in the central business district of Downtown Miami, Florida. It was completed in 2010 and is the ninth tallest building in Miami, as well as the tenth in Florida.
The Atlantic National Bank was an American bank based in Jacksonville, Florida. It existed from 1903 until 1985, when it was acquired by First Union. Subsequently, First Union changed its name to Wachovia Corporation when it also acquired Wachovia National Bank, then the merged company was acquired by Wells Fargo in 2008. The company constructed two significant buildings in Downtown Jacksonville: 121 Atlantic Place and the Schultz Building.
VyStar Tower is a skyscraper in the downtown area of Jacksonville, Florida, at the northwest corner of Independent Drive and Laura Street. Standing 357 feet tall, it is the city's sixth tallest building. It was formerly known as the SunTrust Tower, Jacksonville Center and the Humana Building, among other names. Completed in 1989, the building was designed in the postmodern style by the Jacksonville firm KBJ Architects.
The architecture of Jacksonville is a combination of historic and modern styles reflecting the city's early position as a regional center of business. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, there are more buildings built before 1967 in Jacksonville than any other city in Florida, though few structures in the city center predate the Great Fire of 1901. Numerous buildings in the city have held state height records, dating as far back as 1902, and last holding a record in 1981.
Two Prudential Plaza is a 305.02 ft (92.97 m) skyscraper in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the Southbank area of Downtown, the building currently serves as the regional office of Prudential Financial and is also home to other companies, including FIS and Interline Brands. The 21-floor structure was designed by KBJ Architects and completed in 1985.
The CSX Transportation Building is a 251 feet high-rise office building located in Jacksonville, Florida. Completed in 1960, the building currently serves as headquarters for CSX Corporation. The building is located in the Northbank area of Downtown Jacksonville, along the banks of the St. Johns River.
Laura Street is a north–south street in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, named for the daughter of the city's founder, Isaiah D. Hart. Historically, the downtown portion of Laura Street has been considered the financial district of Jacksonville.
The Auchter Company was established in 1929 in Jacksonville, Florida by George D. Auchter. The company was among Florida's oldest general construction contractors and built many of Jacksonville's civil and corporate buildings, including the City Hall. and ranked among the top design/build firms in the US. The Auchter Company also helped build ships needed for World War II, as part of the US Navy's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. After the war the shipyard closed in February 1946. The company went on to build many buildings and bridges until it was sold on March 26, 2007, to Perry-McCall Construction, Inc.