The new building, which is planned to rise by 2020 from what is now a large vacant lot on the north end of Beach Street facing the Halifax River, would be a powerful catalyst for revitalizing the downtown area.

DAYTONA BEACH — Insurance giant Brown & Brown, Inc. plans to build a new 10-story, $25 million riverfront headquarters and bring 600 additional employees to downtown, company officials revealed to an excited group of local leaders Friday afternoon.

The announcement, made at an invite-only event at the company's current South Ridgewood Avenue offices, was met with thunderous applause from dozens of public officials and business leaders.

The project will plant even deeper roots in the community for the publicly traded company that began here nearly eight decades ago and now has more than 8,600 employees worldwide.

The additional jobs, which will pay an average of $40,000 to $45,000 annually, will spread an economic jolt across Daytona Beach and throughout Volusia County.

The new building, which is planned to rise by 2020 from what is now a large vacant lot on the north end of Beach Street facing the Halifax River, would be a powerful catalyst for revitalizing the downtown area.

"Where in the world can you get 10.5 acres that has that kind of a view? It's not available," said company Chairman of the Board J. Hyatt Brown. "It is really a wonderful place to have a campus and a home office of a company that was started in the back room of an old office building in 1939. That's a long trail."

Local leaders said the project is the best news in decades for the city and especially the downtown, which has struggled to revitalize since the 1970s, when businesses big and small began pulling out of the riverfront area.

"It's absolutely one of the biggest things that's happened to downtown Daytona Beach in the 13 years I've been here, and probably longer than that," said City Manager Jim Chisholm. "It's a game changer for the downtown area."

"It's a huge deal," said Kent Sharples, president of the group of local executives who have stimulated new job creation and capital investment in Volusia County. "It's the biggest and best thing that's happened since General Electric (had a plant in Daytona Beach) in terms of the number of jobs created, salary and impact on our community."

But bringing the project to fruition will require government help. The company is asking for financial incentives from the city, county and state. Company leaders have been talking to state officials for several months about corporate tax credits that could be given in exchange for creating an agreed upon number of jobs in a particular salary range.

No specific ask has been made yet to the city or Volusia County, but J. Hyatt Brown said he's had a "very, very favorable response from the city and county."

A NEW STRATOSPHERE

The new Brown & Brown building, coupled with other new development being pursued for the riverfront, could catapult the heart of downtown into a new stratosphere.

Volusia County officials are looking at consolidating court services and a few other county offices in two new buildings just west of Beach Street, a move that could bring an additional 450 new employees downtown in five years.

A developer is interested in building a hotel, apartments, shops and restaurants around Jackie Robinson Ballpark on City Island. And the large city block on the northeast corner of Ridgewood Avenue and International Speedway Boulevard has captured the attention of a developer looking at putting a mix of apartments, restaurants and shops there. City officials have not yet named those developers.

Brown & Brown's new world headquarters is hoped to be on vacant North Beach Street land that had been the home of car dealerships from the early 1930s until 2007. The idea to use that location was born 18 months ago in conversations between J. Hyatt Brown and J. Powell Brown, his son and president and CEO of Brown & Brown.

With the company operating out of offices spread across 43 states and four locations outside the U.S., the Browns looked closely at Atlanta and several other Florida cities for the new headquarters the constantly growing corporation needs. They ultimately decided their best option was less than a mile from their current headquarters, located on Ridgewood Avenue on the south edge of the downtown area.

"A lot of us travel all over the country and all over the globe, but at the end of the day we're always coming home to Daytona Beach," J. Powell Brown said.

Their love for the city and its laid back beach town lifestyle factored in, but it was also a business decision.

"This wasn't done just out of nostalgia," said David Lotz, Brown & Brown's chief corporate counsel. "We're looking at the long-term best interest of the company."

If all goes as the Browns hope, the new building on the west side of Beach Street between Main Street and International Speedway Boulevard could be open in about three years. The plans call for a structure offering 150,000-200,000 square feet, double the current 75,000 square feet the company has in its five-story office tower at 220 S. Ridgewood Ave. built in 1987.

That building, which the Root Company has rented to Brown & Brown for 30 years, holds 325 employees. The new structure could accommodate at least 550 more workers, and additional new employees could go in the company's other local rented space on Clyde Morris Boulevard, where about 35 more Brown & Brown employees work.

"We're kind of busting at the seams," J. Powell Brown said.

The general idea is to move the company's top leadership and many of the new employees to the new building, and keep most of the existing employees in their current offices. Company officials said the new jobs will be a combination of organic growth and some relocation.

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES

To make the project reality, Brown & Brown officials are talking to city leaders about property tax abatement and possible help with costs for new water, sewer and storm water systems.

Lotz said "there's no specific ask yet" for city help. But Chisholm said more than $1 million in property tax abatement over 10 years has been in discussion. Because the site is in a redevelopment area, an agreement could allow the city and county to keep property taxes for the current value of the land and give Brown & Brown a pass on paying taxes on any increased value their building would create, Chisholm said.

Lotz said talks with the county have included ideas involving impact fees, tax abatement and ECHO funds, which are targeted for environmental, cultural, historic and outdoors projects.

County Manager Jim Dinneen said tax abatement is "off the table," and said he couldn't share more details because of a confidentiality agreement. He said he's still negotiating with the company.

"We've been working with them behind the scenes on an incentive package," he said.

Dinneen said county financial help could prove to be a great investment for taxpayers.

"Other communities would kill for this," Dinneen said. "We have to compete."

The plan is to have financial assistance measures before both the City Commission and County Council at their meetings in early October. Then both bodies would consider final approval to those measures at their second meetings in October.

MORE ABOUT THE SITE

Brown & Brown has had the Beach Street land it wants under contract for a few weeks now. The sale could close by the end of the year, depending on whether government assistance comes through. Brown & Brown is also still inspecting the land, a brownfield site that's been undergoing a cleanup of automotive fluids that leaked when car dealerships operated there.

Two automobile dealerships were fixtures on the riverfront for decades. Massey Motors shut down in 2004, and Lloyd Buick-Cadillac closed in 2007.

When the buildings were no longer in use, they were plagued by code violations and homeless people who slipped into the empty structures. A special magistrate ordered them to be leveled in 2012.

The site between Mullally Street and Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard has changed hands several times and been targeted for various new developments. Five years ago, there were plans to build an upscale assisted-living facility. At one point the city was interested in buying the property and reselling it for development.

In 2006, South Florida partners bought the properties for $15.5 million. In mid-2007, city officials approved a plan for them to build two 22-story towers with 510 condos, three-level parking garages and retail space. Then the Great Recession hit.

In 2009, the property changed hands in a $13.6 million foreclosure judgment. In 2012, a Deerfield Beach-based group of investors envisioned the property becoming a mix of retail, commercial, office and residential uses.

Dan Silvestri, who has invested in several Volusia County properties, bought the 10.5-acre car dealership property a little over a year ago for $2.1 million. The Browns declined to share the price they're offering.

DEEP LOCAL ROOTS

Brown & Brown now has 8,600 employees who will generate an estimated $1.8 billion in sales this year. But the company’s beginning was humble.

J. Adrian Brown and his cousin, Charles Covington Owen, started in a tiny, cramped Daytona Beach office cooled by a fan. Their building between Ridgewood Avenue and Beach Street was a quick walk to the river when they wanted to catch a breeze.

J. Hyatt Brown was 2 years old when his father started the company in 1939 and moved the family to Daytona Beach. His mother worked in the office, and eventually so did he.

Brown & Brown remained in that original location for 48 years, until its 1987 move around the corner to Ridgewood Avenue. At some point, the company's first building at 118½ Volusia Ave., now called International Speedway Boulevard, was razed. Only photos remain.

Brown & Brown went public in 1993. It originally was one of several tenants at 220 S. Ridgewood Ave. But as the company grew, it slowly took over the building. By 2014, the corporation was the sixth-largest independent insurance intermediary organization in the United States and seventh-largest in the world. The company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and it provides a variety of insurance products and services to businesses, governments, professional organizations and individuals.

Locating on the old car dealership site would complete a personal historical loop for Brown & Brown Executive Vice President and General Counsel Bob Lloyd. Lloyd's grandfather, J. Saxton Lloyd, ran Lloyd Buick Cadillac and other dealerships on that site for more than 60 years. Soon, Bob Lloyd could go to work on the same piece of property.

He's thrilled with the company's choice to stay in his hometown.

"Folks in the community have wondered if Brown & Brown would commit to Daytona Beach," the attorney said. "We could be anywhere in the world."

BROAD SUPPORT

Numerous local leaders told The News-Journal they are ecstatic that Brown & Brown plans to expand right where it started.

"I am just absolutely delighted," said Mori Hosseini, chairman and CEO of ICI Homes.

Hosseini's company — which includes a collection of land holding, construction and development companies with projects across Florida — is also headquartered in Daytona Beach.

"It's terrific to see that our own homegrown institutions such as Brown & Brown have decided to bring more employees to our community," Hosseini said. "It's tremendous, and that clearly shows some of our county and city leaders working together and making our community a place for our children, for our children's children and for people to have jobs and a great, tremendous community that is thriving and doing well."

John Albright, president and CEO of Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co., said the new headquarters would be "an important spark to the redevelopment of downtown." Consolidated-Tomoka, which is also publicly traded and headquartered in Daytona Beach, has been involved in several recent redevelopment projects itself including the Tanger Outlet mall and new oceanfront restaurants.

"It will create a great amount of new activity," Albright said. "It's great news for rejuvenation of that area. It will help many of the stores and strengthen them, create residential demand. Hopefully the vacancies will dissipate. It will have a lot of domino effects."

J. Powell Brown said the company's next goal is to hit $2 billion in annual revenue, and to do that the company's going to eventually need 1,400 new employees and plenty of space to house them. There will be space left over for a second building on Beach Street if it's needed in the future, he said.

J. Hyatt Brown, who celebrated his 80th birthday in July, sees the business and new building lasting for generations to come.

"I would like to be able to look down from someplace and see what it's like 200 years from today," he said. "I wish my father and mother could be here."

Brown & Brown Inc. is an insurance agency based in Daytona Beach ranked as the sixth-largest nationally and seventh largest in the world based on annual revenue.

Its lines of business include personal insurance, business insurance, employee benefits, wholesale brokerage services, financial services, trade credit services, surety bonds and risk management.

Brown & Brown is also one of four locally based public companies. Its common stock shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BRO.

BY THE NUMBERS

Year founded: 1939

Number of employees companywide: 8,600+

Number of employees in Daytona Beach: 353

Number of offices nationally: 240+ in 43 states

Locations in Daytona Beach: 2

Number of offices in other countries: 4

First year annual revenues topped $1 billion: 2011

2016 revenues: $1.76 billion (record high)

2017 revenues year-to-date (through first two quarters): $931.4 million

Number of acquisitions so far this year: 7

Year it became a public company: 1993

Stock symbol on the New York Stock Exchange: BRO

Chairman: J. Hyatt Brown

CEO: J. Powell Brown (Hyatt's eldest son)

KEYS TO GROWTH

Brown & Brown has steadily grown its revenues over the years through a combination of “organic growth” as well as acquiring other companies.

LOCAL PRESENCE

In addition to its headquarters at 220 S. Ridgewood Ave. in downtown Daytona Beach, Brown & Brown has an office at 1717 N. Clyde Morris Blvd. for MacDuff Underwriters, a wholesale brokerage operation. It occupies but does not own the entire 75,000-square-foot, 5-story office building that currently serves as its headquarters. Its landlord is The Root Organization in Ormond Beach. Brown & Brown moved into the building in 1987.

The company’s original location on International Speedway Boulevard today is now the parking lot for Exit Beach Realty and the WHOG/WVYB radio stations.

The company is actively involved in the community. J.Hyatt Brown is a member of the CEO Business Alliance, a private group of business leaders that recruits companies to Volusia County. He is also a former state lawmaker who served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1972 to 1980, including a stint as House Speaker. He and his wife Cici are also supporters of the Museum of Arts & Sciences and are the namesakes for MOAS’s Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art.

DID YOU KNOW?

Brown & Brown’s mascot is the cheetah.