Advanced Disposal chooses Nocatee for HQ

Advanced Disposal is keeping its corporate offices in Northeast Florida, but it's moving out of Jacksonville. The company announced Wednesday that its expanded headquarters will be in the former offices of MDI off Nocatee Parkway in north St. Johns County.

The company has said it expects to expand from 37 to about 120 employees.

Advanced Disposal's parent company announced in July that it had reached an agreement to purchase Veolia ES Solid Waste, a Milwaukee-based company, for $1.91 billion. A third company also was being combined with those two, all under the Advanced name.

The company considered locating in Milwaukee - where Veolia has 59 employees - Charlotte, Atlanta and Jacksonville.

In October, Jacksonville approved an $895,000 incentive package, including $219,000 from the city and $676,000 from the state. A week later, the St. Johns County Commission approved a similar package: $476,000 from the state, $119,000 from the county along with the potential for several hundred thousand more from the state.

Mary O'Brien, chief marketing officer for Advanced Disposal, said Milwaukee, Atlanta and Charlotte all offered incentive packages. Atlanta's was the highest, she said, but the company was under confidentiality agreements not to reveal the figures.

Florida's corporate tax and lack of a personal income tax were key factors in the decision, she said.

"North Florida is our home," she said, "and we already have a great staff here."

O'Brien said about half of the new positions, particularly the higher-level ones, are likely to be filled by those already working at the other two companies. The rest will be new hires and all positions should be filled with a year or sooner, she said.

The average salary of 85 new jobs is expected to be about $112,000.

The reason Advanced chose Nocatee was more because of the building itself than St. Johns County versus Jacksonville, O'Brien said. She said the company looked at downtown Jacksonville, particularly the SunTrust Tower.

"It's a fine building and they have space," she said. "But once you added in parking, the cost just wasn't competitive."

Advanced is leasing 56,000 square feet at 90 Fort Wade Road, just across Nocatee Parkway from the Nocatee Town Center.

MDI moved the last of its employees out of the Nocatee building last month, not long after a judge ordered MDI Holdings, one of its companies, into receivership and to repay Wells Fargo $30 million it had borrowed.

The building, O'Brien said, is move-in ready with even the furniture in place. Many of the buildings the company looked at in Jacksonville would have required extensive build-out.

The company will occupy the second and third floors of the building, with the first floor remaining vacant.

Staff will begin moving the week after Christmas, she said, and the move needs to be complete by the end of January, when the lease expires on its current headquarters off Baymeadows Road.

Advanced will continue to have regional offices in Roswell, Ga.; Charlotte and Batavia, Ill. Some corporate functions will remain in Milwaukee.

Roger Bull: (904) 359-4296