After drawing seven bids from its invitation to negotiate for “turn-key” office space in Jacksonville, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has selected a property in South Jacksonville.

The state insurer chose a bid for space in the former Florida Coastal School of Law building at 8787 Baypine Road.

The selection puts Citizens on a path to leave its Downtown offices in the 30-story high-rise at 301 W. Bay St.

It plans to move in to its new offices in January 2026.

Citizens reported that the winning bid, which was submitted by Jacksonville IV FGF LLC in care of Boyd Watterson Asset Management, for 8787 Baypine Road, attained a 78.18 rating in the bid scoring process.

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. for 4800 Deerwood Campus Parkway, 77.88

• Amkin West Bay LLC, for 301 W. Bay St., 76.55. The current Citizens headquarters.

• Jax LC Owner 2 LLC for 14000 Citicards Way, 76.47. Citigroup’s Southside Jacksonville campus.

• The Atlantic Land and Improvement Co., in care of CSX Transportation Inc., for 550 Water St., 51.89. A Downtown building north of the CSX headquarters.

• Rosecrans 2004 LLC for 225 Water St., 39.11. A Downtown building east of the Marriott Jacksonville Downtown.

• 841 Prudential MLB LLC for 841 Prudential Drive, 44.02. Ont he Downtown Southbank.

In 2022, Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC bought the former Florida Coastal School of Law building in Baymeadows for $13.5 million from New York-based Angelo, Gordon & Co. L.P.

The five-story, 231,867-square-foot building was developed on the 9.7-acre site in 1990. It also has a parking garage.

Citizens’ pending move comes at a time of high vacancy in Downtown office buildings, mainly driven by work-from-home policies that prompted employers to downsize workplaces. According to Downtown Vision Inc., Downtown’s vacancy rate was 28% in the last three months of 2024.

On Jan. 31, the Downtown Investment Authority approved a proposal to offer 10% discounted parking in the Water Street Garage to help keep Citizens Downtown.

In 2015, Citizens signed a 10-year, $41.7 million lease for space at 301 W. Bay St. At that time, the Daily Record reported the Citizens was consolidating offices and moving 1,038 jobs into about 232,000 square feet of space.

With its lease there set to expire in June 2026, Citizens issued an invitation to negotiate with requirements that included 203,000 to 215,000 square feet of space, a minimum of 1,107 parking spaces, offices either in a single building or within the same campus, and a lease with an initial 10-year term and renewal options.

In August 2024, Citizens launched an invitation to negotiate seeking a space outside of Downtown in South Jacksonville. The insurer did not act on that invitation, and instead released a new one on Dec. 19 seeking space in South Jacksonville or Downtown.

Miami-based Amkin West LLC acquired the 301 W. Bay St. building in 2014 for $47.4 million.

A marketing brochure for the high-rise by Ciminelli Real Estate Services says more than 360,000 square feet of space is available for new tenants in the 962,000-square-foot building. It shows eight complete floors as available, each between 34,000 and 35,000 square feet of space.

Tallahassee-based Citizens was created by the Florida Legislature in 2002 as a not-for-profit tax-exempt government entity to provide property insurance to Florida homeowners insurance policy holders unable to find coverage in the private market.

Florida Coastal School of Law closed in 2021.

Editor Monty Zickuhr contributed to this report.