The truth is, downtown Cleveland has the available space to revise, remodel and rehab to suit the needs and personality of any type of business. It’s a greener choice because it’s already built, which translates to less impact on the environment. And let’s face it: The existing space has an ideal location — smack in the middle of the infrastructure where the city is most vibrant.
Three brand-management companies are good examples of companies that understand the benefits they get from the downtown location. Each was recently in the position of moving or expanding their offices. They were already downtown and knew the advantages. The challenge was finding space they could turn into custom-designed expressions of their business personality. In the branding business, it’s all about making a good impression on your client. That’s part of the package, and it must be achieved immediately upon entering the door.
Brokaw
Brokaw is in the Warehouse District. When its lease was expiring in the Lakeside Building, the company looked at a number of locations, including University Circle and West 25th Street. Then a business on the first floor of its building moved out, and Brokaw saw an opportunity to expand and stay.
“We were one of the first tenants in the Warehouse District,” says Tim Brokaw, director of business and creative development. “We’ve seen and been a part of the transformation of this area. We are really glad we found a way to stay.”
The company wanted a ground-level retail presence, and the space opening up on the first floor gave it that, plus a little room to expand. “We were able to transform our space and make it new and fresh without incurring the costs of a big move,” Brokaw says.
Designing a new space also gave the company an opportunity to reflect big changes happening within: “This company was founded by my father. While I came to work here, my brother opened his own firm in Chicago,” explains Brokaw. “Recently, we’ve merged with his company and moved it to Cleveland. It’s an extremely exciting time.”
The new space reflects the company’s quirky nature. “We can use the first floor to capture our brand personality: open, inviting and a little off the wall,” says Brokaw. For instance, there is a huge “Free” painted on the lobby wall that mimics the famous Free Stamp. “We have a sense of humor with everything we do,” he says.
The first floor is a collaborative, light and bright space with a view of Lake Erie. The second floor houses the “cube farm,” with a combination of private offices and collaborative workspaces. There is an air hockey game on site for workers spending long hours in thought. “A sense of play is important,” Brokaw says. “Especially with creative thinking.”
Brokaw left the basic structure of the space intact, going for an updated warehouse feel. “The space was already gorgeous. We didn’t want to change that.” The company recycled old pieces of work for clients as décor for the lobby and left some workspace visible to passersby on the street. “We’re in a fishbowl here, so why hide it,” says Brokaw. “And people on the street seem to like seeing us stare back at them. It’s very interactive.”
“Cleveland is important to us. It’s part of our DNA,” Brokaw says. “We feel to make it here you have to be tough and resilient. And have a great sense of humor. It’s anything but boring, and we think our new space helps us express all that.”
Liggett Stashower
Liggett Stashower has been a staple in the PlayhouseSquare district for decades. “We have really established a personal connection to downtown,” explains Mark Nylander, president of Liggett Stashower. “We believe the vital central business district is key to a strong region, and we enjoy being a part of that.”
When a furniture store closed down the street, Liggett Stashower saw an opportunity to not only expand its space, but to gain street-level access to its offices — a huge coup in recognition for any company. The company took over the first three floors of the building, secured rights to fly company flags outside the windows, and today Liggett sits pretty in the heart of Star Plaza.
It’s not just the external features that impress — the interior is attention grabbing as well. Liggett Stashower vowed to keep as much of the existing structure as possible and work around it to create a happy marriage of modern style and steel-era gumption. Three floors of office space sing with soaring ceilings, metal and glass elements, curvy walls and staircases. It’s contemporary, but with a softness that welcomes.
Clients are greeted on the first floor, where conference rooms await for presentations and meetings. The second and third floors house staff offices (with glass walls and no doors) and public workspaces where employees gather to share ideas. “So much of what we do relies on collaboration,” says Nylander. “We want to encourage that by letting our space invite frequent interaction.”
A mezzanine level houses an employee kitchen and lounge area that resembles a hip Starbuck’s café. “We believe in work-life balance and want to make our employees really love being here,” says Nylander. “We expect the best from them and give them the best in return.”
Clients love being there, too. They say they appreciate the cool offices, but what really attracts them is the experience outside. PlayhouseSquare is buzzing these days with restaurants and entertainment.
“This location helps provide a great customer experience with our brand,” says Nylander. “We think in terms of the entire package, and this is a proud and important part of it.”
Wyse Advertising
This fall, Wyse Advertising is taking up residence in new digs on Euclid Avenue. The new space will totally rehab and reuse what was once the ground floor of the old William Taylor department store building. The upper floors will be residential space.
Michael Marino, Wyse Advertising’s CEO, says it’s going to be nice to be in the mix with such a residential building. “We’ll be the only commercial enterprise in the building. It’s like we’re moving into a neighborhood.”
Marino says Wyse employees will have access to some of the building’s residentially geared amenities like an atrium, sundry shop, restaurants and green space.
One of the features that drew Wyse to the space is the 17-foot ceiling. “It was once a department store,” Marino says. “So what we are taking over is a huge, unobstructed floor plan.” Its street-level access contributes to the feeling of flow and energy, connecting the advertising firm with the vibe of the city.
In fact, the new location is about 50,000 square feet of blank canvas space. Wyse is using that canvas to paint a picture of collaboration and creativity. “We’re using the architecture and design to encourage our creative staff toward interaction.” People who need to work together most often will be grouped, and public spaces — libraries, food service areas — will dot the center of the space to foster gathering, conversation and teamwork. Since the ceilings are so tall, a mezzanine level provides workers with a great central space to come together and look over the activity and energy below.
Dedicated conference rooms not only serve as a place to meet with clients, but also as situation rooms for teams working together on specific projects. “They can leave their materials in the room and ideas on the board for days or weeks at a time,” explains Marino. “This gives time and dedicated space for creativity to flourish.”
Getting people to come out of their offices and away from their desks is the secret to being creative and to bringing back the fun of the ad business,” Marino says. “Face to face is the right way to do advertising.”
Interaction with passersby will be another aspect of the new space. The first-floor location and those lofty 17-foot windows will make the new office impressive and noticeable, securing Wyse’s connection to the city.
“This space and location make us feel like part of downtown Cleveland’s revitalization,” Marino says. “We have a largely young workforce at Wyse with incredible enthusiasm about what the new space will mean to us. It’s like we’re urban pioneers.”
PR Newswire had been operating through a number of smaller bureaus throughout the country for years. But recently, the service decided it made sense to consolidate into two large hubs and have an additional office in Washington, D.C. The big question was where to settle the main hubs. PR Newswire decided to establish one in Cleveland.
“A lot of what went into that decision had to do with securing the employees we would need,” explains Angela Scalpello, senior vice president of human resources. Other factors included the cost of doing business and how hospitable the location was for negotiating business. But the most important consideration had to do with the quality and quantity of available talent.
“We knew we would be able to attract great talent here,” says Scalpello. “Cleveland had a surplus of people with college degrees and good experience — a must for our new hires.”
Another consideration was selling the location to employees coming in from all over the country. “When we made our decision, we had to be sure new hires would want to move to Cleveland,” Scalpello explains. “And since we already knew the city well, we believed it would be no problem.”
Since the decision, PR Newswire has moved people from Miami, San Francisco and Chicago, to name a few places. There have been no complaints. Scalpello says Cleveland has a lot to offer prospective employees, including every major sport, great health care and affordable housing.
The friendly climate for doing business in the city was impressive, too. “There is a strong commercial real estate market here, and the city offered us some very attractive incentives,” Scalpello says. “City representatives were willing to work with us to make this happen. They were very encouraging and accommodating.”
Scalpello says downtown Cleveland had a lot of prime office space, which made the decision easier. PR Newswire found office space in the Penton Building, remodeling and creating an open floor plan and efficient, but comfortable, working environment. “It’s open, bright, airy and cheerful,” Scalpello says.
PR Newswire began increasing its Cleveland staff in the spring and fall of 2006 and moved into the current space at 1300 E. Ninth St. in December of 2006. Today, the company employs upward of 165 people here.
Cliffs Natural Resources was given the opportunity to relocate its international headquarters but decided to stay in Cleveland.
The company, originally known as Cleveland Cliffs, has been working with steel companies to manage their iron ore mines for 160 years. But when the steel industry began to go from boom to bust in the early 2000s, Cliffs had to find new ways of growing. The answer was diversification. The company changed its name to Cliffs Natural Resources and began to acquire shares of natural resource companies. It negotiated partial ownership with clients that were declaring bankruptcy.
“We didn’t want to have all our fortunes tied to the North American steel industry,” says Steve Baisden, director of investor relations and corporate communications. Cliffs bought mines in Australia and also closer to home in West Virginia and Alabama. As the company acquired business in other parts of the country and world, it grew from a small-cap to a mid-cap company that employs nearly 6,000 people across the globe, with 180 in Cleveland.
With the new growth, Cliffs needed to review the best location for its international headquarters. “The board and CEO took a look at where we have operations and growth and evaluated if it made sense to stay here. After factoring things like accessibility and talent pool, they made the decision to keep Cliffs here,” says Baisden. “Considering Cleveland’s Continental hub, we can get anywhere we need to be via Newark or Houston.”
Cleveland also offers accessibility to plenty of quality professional service firms — PR, legal, accounting firms and the like. “The city itself is very corporate,” says Baisden. “It’s as competitive as any other major metropolitan area in the Midwest.”
Plus, Cliffs has an attachment to the city. “We have really grown up with the steel industry in this town,” says Baisden. “We’ve been here for 160 years.”
Baisden mentions that the historic steamship Mather, docked just outside of the Great Lakes Science Center, is one of Cliffs’ ships that used to carry iron ore across the Great Lakes. “There’s always been a great relationship of cooperation between us and the city of
Cleveland.”