The Duval DOGE committee spent Tuesday afternoon wading through downtown crime stats and shelter capacity reports while EverBank weighs relocating its headquarters off the Northbank. The meeting highlighted a familiar tug-of-war: business leaders pushing for a busier, safer commercial core, and city officials trying to balance enforcement with services that get people off the street.
EverBank has asked the city for roughly $10 million in tax incentives to blunt higher operating costs and keep its headquarters downtown, according to the Jax Daily Record. Bank representatives told council members the annual cost gap for operating downtown runs into the millions, and the proposal surfaced during a special committee meeting in February.
Local television coverage first floated the possibility that the city might offer roughly $9.8 million over ten years to persuade EverBank to stay, a package sources described as part of ongoing talks about security and parking costs. As first reported by Action News Jax, negotiators worry that losing another marquee employer could knock downtown’s sputtering revitalization off course.
Committee Review Shows Mixed Progress
Committee members walked through numbers that offered cautious optimism with plenty of caveats. Property crimes in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office downtown district are down nearly 12 percent year-over-year, the Homeward Bound program has reunited about 260 people with family since last October, and officials said about 650 arrests have been made since the city began enforcing its public sleeping and camping ban, according to Action News Jax.
DOGE Chair Ron Salem told the committee he believes conditions "are nothing what they used to be," but residents and service providers countered that more shelter beds and daytime services are still badly needed. Members talked about redirecting roughly $1.5 million in unspent city funds to expand bed capacity and floated creating a day center near Trinity Rescue Mission so people would have somewhere to go during business hours other than sidewalks and storefronts.
Downtown's Fragile Momentum
Downtown boosters say the stakes are crystal clear. Citizens Property Insurance pulled out of the same EverBank Center last year over safety concerns, an economic blow local outlets reported cost the core thousands of workers and a daily hit to foot traffic. The high-stakes talks with EverBank are unfolding as downtown office vacancy rates sit well above the national average, and city officials weigh whether offering richer incentives is worth the risk of setting a precedent, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal.
What's Next
The DOGE committee signaled it will follow up by bringing in representatives from downtown shelters to hash out concrete options and timelines for adding capacity and services. Expect more hearings and a staff-level push to convert unspent dollars into beds or daytime space, moves DOGE members say are aimed at steadying downtown and making it easier for employers like EverBank to keep their names on Northbank office towers.
