NASSAU COUNTY, Florida (News release) -- Rayonier Inc. officially opened its new headquarters during a special Nassau County Economic Development Board meeting. Over 120 people, including members of the NCEDB, Rayonier executives and local community leaders attended the meeting, which highlighted Nassau County's economic growth and progress over the last year.

"Our company has been a part of Nassau County for the last 80 years," said David Nunes, president and CEO of Rayonier Inc. "Earlier this year, we took our commitment to Nassau County a step further by officially consolidating three office locations into one office in Wildlight. Our new office space was intentionally designed to build a better sense of community among our staff, inspire a stronger connection to our local community and create a lasting company culture."

Laura DiBella, executive director of the NCEDB, discussed her organization's 2016-2017 annual growth report, which included adding 1,252 jobs to the market and seeing Nassau County's unemployment rate drop by 1.6 percent. "Nassau County's growth is directly linked to the quality of its business partners," said DiBella. "We are proud to welcome Rayonier's new headquarters to Nassau County and we see it as an opportunity to attract other high-quality companies and employees to the area."

Attendees toured Rayonier's 55,000-sq. ft. headquarters building, designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. The building design was inspired by the concept of a shed, both the kind found in the woods, paying homage to Rayonier's identity as a timber company, and the watershed of the nearby St. Marys River. The building includes a variety of natural materials, including hand-selected cuts of timber from Rayonier forests.

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