JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two years after a fire seriously damaged the W.W. Gay building in Mixon Town, the company made a fresh start Wednesday by breaking ground on its new headquarters.
W.W. Gay has been in Jacksonville for 60 years.
It’s evolved several times over the decades and while its latest transformation was not planned, it does open new opportunities for the company to turn a page.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 31, 2020, firefighters worked to save what they could of the company’s Stockton Street building.
It was one of several tragedies the company had to deal with that year -- from the pandemic to the death of its founder.
“The fire was devastating, and we had recently loss Mr. Gay in March of 2020 and then the fire happened Aug. 31 of 2020,” said Emily Andrews, director of marketing for W.W. Gay. “We’re excited to be starting fresh and starting a new chapter with it.”
Andrews said that new chapter includes hiring more people.
W.W. Gay specializes in commercial and industrial heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
“Serving the community has always been something super important to us, especially Mr. Gay,” Andrews said.
The company’s new, two-story headquarters comes with an $11 million price tag. The project is expected to create 60 high-paying jobs by 2028.
The company already has 600 employees in Jacksonville, and it hopes to reunite colleagues who were forced to split up and work at other locations because of the fire.
“Once this new building opens next year, we’re hoping the majority of the employees who were in the old building will be back together in one new building,” Andrews said.
The building project is slated to wrap up sometime next year.
