ICE has listed One Enterprise Center at 225 Water St. as a planned site for new or expanded office space. Here’s what to know.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be looking to expand its presence in downtown Jacksonville — this time through a planned office lease on the Northbank.

A WIRED report published Tuesday shows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has listed One Enterprise Center at 225 Water St. as a planned site for new or expanded office space, part of a quiet nationwide buildup of immigration enforcement facilities.

But a senior broker with NAI Hallmark, which operates commercial leasing for the property, told the Business Journal on Tuesday they are unaware of any deal with the agency, raising questions about how far the plans have progressed locally.

“ICE will not confirm office locations as our officers are facing a coordinated campaign of violence against them including an 8,000% increase in death threats against them and a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them,” an ICE spokesperson told the Business Journal Wednesday morning. “Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel that they need more space? Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country. That’s a 120% increase in our workforce.”

WIRED compiled a database of planned and expanded ICE leases from federal records that detail more than 150 properties nationwide under review or development, including the Jacksonville location. The listings include ICE offices slated for growth and new facilities the agency expects to occupy.

According to the report, ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, have embarked on an aggressive and largely undisclosed real estate expansion aimed at increasing the physical footprint of immigration enforcement operations across nearly every state. Other media, such as sister-publication the Milwaukee Business Journal, have earlier found indications that the agency was looking for space in their cities.

The documents reviewed by WIRED outline properties being evaluated to support two core divisions: Enforcement and Removal Operations, which handles arrests and deportations, and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, which manages immigration-related legal proceedings.

In Florida, the agency identified several sites for new or expanded office space, including One Enterprise Center in Jacksonville, One Riverview Square in Miami, 75 Vineyards Blvd. in Naples, 12249 Science Drive in Orlando and 1551 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway in Sunrise.

One Enterprise Center sits on the Northbank of downtown, about a half mile from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and adjacent to the Marriott Jacksonville Downtown.

A memorandum dated September and cited by WIRED described an “unusual and compelling urgency” to expand office space, noting that the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor is growing its legal operations in Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and Tampa.

The expansion effort has been coordinated in part through the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings and leases. According to the report, DHS instructed the agency to bypass standard federal procurement procedures and conceal certain lease listings for “national security concerns” to accelerate ICE’s growth.

Following publication of this article a GSA spokesperson shared the following statement with the Business Journal: “GSA is committed to working with all of our partner agencies, including our patriotic law enforcement partners such as ICE, to meet their workspace needs. GSA remains focused on supporting this administration’s goal of optimizing the federal footprint, and providing the best workplaces for our federal agencies to meet their mission. GSA is following all lease procurement procedures in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

WIRED reported that owners and property managers associated with the listed buildings either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for information.

Locally, the possible ICE lease emerges as downtown’s office market continues to face headwinds. Several major employers have reduced their footprints in recent years, and large blocks of space remain available in core Northbank towers. The potential federal tenancy also comes as properties such as the EverBank Center work to stabilize occupancy and retain tenants amid shifting workplace trends and ongoing redevelopment efforts in the urban core.

The potential lease comes amid heightened fears over ICE enforcement that has taken a toll on immigrant-owned businesses as videos of immigration arrests go viral and customers stay home.

For now, the Jacksonville listing remains more paper trail than signed deal.

Editor’s note: This story was first published by our news partners, The Jacksonville Business Journal.