The 187,000-sq. ft. facility in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. will consolidate the organization’s 800 employees inside one building, on property the Tour owns near TPC Sawgrass. It is scheduled for completion by 2020 and in exchange for $2.8 million in incentives provided by St. Johns County (Fla.), the Tour has promised to create over 300 new jobs by 2030.
The PGA Tour started in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., in 1979 with three people working out of a house in the Sawgrass community, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Daily Record reported.
Today, the Daily Record reported, the organization has about 800 employees working in 17 buildings in and around the TPC Sawgrass golf club. But it officially announced on January 19 that it will consolidate all of its employees—and eventually add 300 more jobs—into one 187,000 sq.-ft. headquarters building on property it owns near TPC Sawgrass.
“We’re going to have an awesome facility in which to work,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said during the announcement in the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass.
Although the PGA Tour had not yet announced its plans, St. Johns County Commissioners approved $2.8 million in incentives for the $81 million project in October 2017, the Daily Record reported.
In exchange for the incentives, the PGA Tour promised to create 307 new jobs by 2030, with an average wage of at least $79,442.
Monahan said the new facility, scheduled for completion in 2020, will make it easier for employees to communicate and work together, the Daily Record reported. Spreading out the workforce in 17 buildings can be difficult, he acknowledged.
“Yes, it’s been a challenge. It’s been inconvenient,” he said.
The new building was designed by the London, England-based architecture firm Foster + Partners, which Monahan said has designed buildings for major corporations such as Apple Inc. and Comcast Corp.
Monahan called the new building “a treasure and a piece of art,” the Daily Record reported, and said it, and the additional jobs, are needed because of the international growth of golf. The PGA Tour has employees in eight countries.
“We have grown mightily. We’re now a global organization,” Monahan said.
The nonprofit organization provides benefits to the communities where it holds tournaments, generating $180 million for charities last year, he said. That includes $8.7 million generated by the annual Players Championship tournament at TPC Sawgrass.
Although the PGA Tour is in St. Johns County, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said Duval County and the region benefit from having its headquarters there, the Daily Record reported.
“This is part of our city. We’re grateful,” Mayor Curry said.
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