(The following story by Christopher Calnan appeared on The Times-Union website on April 6.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The cost of CSX Corp.’s makeover is going up.
The railroad operator plans to spend $4.9 million covering its blue-tiled Water Street headquarters with 1,500 bronze-colored insulated glass panels to save operating costs.
CSX announced a year ago a plan to paint the blue tiles for $1 million. However, company spokesman Adam Hollingsworth said that was changed because of weather-proofing and energy efficiency issues.
The makeover comes as the company is cutting management jobs while facing a high cost structure and poor railroad performance.
On March 2, the city issued CSX a building permit for the exterior work. It was the same month the company trimmed its workforce by 525 employees companywide — about 325 in Jacksonville — as part of a management restructuring plan.
The plan, initially announced in November, calls for CSX to cut 800 to 1,000 non-union jobs. The fourth and final round of reductions will happen in the next four weeks, affecting the lower half of the company’s management workforce, Hollingsworth said.
The building upgrade will insulate exterior walls and make them water tight. As a result, the company expects them to reduce heating and cooling costs.
The work is long overdue, and not related to the job cuts, Hollingsworth said. “This is much needed maintenance work that has been deferred on a 44-year-old building,” he said. “Our company is focussed on improving its financial and operating effectiveness, and this project is consistent with that as it is environmentally friendly and will drive down maintenance and utility costs.”
Installing the panels should take about 15 months, Hollingsworth said.
The 17-story building was built in 1960 as the headquarters for Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, he said.
In November, the Downtown Development Authority’s Design Review Committee approved CSX’s plan to change the headquarters color.
The half-inch-thick, 9-feet-by-5-feet glass panels will be bolted to the building in aluminum frames, Hollingsworth said.
The redesign of CSX’s management is expected to save CSX $80 million to $100 million annually. It will shrink management layers from 11 to no more than eight.