Archive for January, 2008
Initial Floorplan
After we decided how much of our space to peel off, the next step was getting an architect on board. I’ve known Jeff Bogart for a long time, and knew I wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time explaining what it is I do. The conversation went something like this…
Doug: Hey Jeff, it’s Doug Hardman.
Jeff: Doug! How are you man?
Doug: I’m great, I’m moving our offices to Cleveland and we need an architect.
Jeff: Where are you moving?
Doug: Tyler Village…it’s at 36th and Superior.
Jeff: Nice. When do you want me to stop by?
Doug: I’m here now. Can you come by?
Jeff: I’ll be there in 40min.
Jeff came out, measured a few things, asked a few questions, and he was off to his office.
Some of the things we were looking for in a space are…
#1: Wide-open area for our developers to collaborate.
#2: I giant-sized conference room where we can sit 10 people and not have to worry about it.
#3: Nice-sized offices for Geoff and I. (I wanted a ginormous one.)
#4: A nice Kitchen with lots of counter space and cabinets.
#5: A lounge where everyone can relax, watch some TV, and play some video games.
#6: Storage for now, and later.
Past that, it’s up to Jeff how he lays out the space.
2 days later, I got an email with this preliminary drawing.
Nice, and close to what we were looking for. We talked for a bit and we’re waiting to see what the changes look like.
SparkBase & Tyler Village article Crains!
Here’s the article that was printed in this week’s Crain’s Cleveland Business. Too bad they don’t know about this site!
Data services biz plots Tyler Village move
By CHUCK SODER
4:30 am, January 21, 2008
Data services company SparkBase LLC of Solon is planning to move its headquarters to Tyler Village in Cleveland.
The company, which processes transactions for businesses that sell gift and loyalty cards to retailers, is in the process of finalizing a lease to take 3,500 square feet on the third floor of Building 44 of the sprawling industrial complex, which was once the home of Tyler Elevator Products.
SparkBase will have the option to take another 2,400 square feet nearby, and it might need it, said company president Doug Hardman. The company, which aims to move in by March 1, will have seven or eight employees by the time it leaves its 1,000-square-foot headquarters on Bainbridge Road in Solon. It aims to employ 13 by the end of 2008.
“My company’s growing like a weed right now,” Mr. Hardman said, declining to give revenue or profit figures.
Mr. Hardman said he is moving the company to Cleveland because of the growing number of technology companies located downtown. He chose Tyler Village, which is just east of downtown on Superior Avenue, partly because interactive marketing company DigiKnow Inc. already is there.
“They gave it a lot of credence,” Mr. Hardman said.
Cleveland developer Graystone Properties Inc. is recruiting technology companies to Tyler Village in its effort to revitalize the 1.2 million-square-foot complex, which consists of more than 20 interconnected buildings.
The developer offers high-speed and wireless Internet access at the location, and it is trying to build community among tenants by adding more common space, said David Fleming, Graystone leasing agent.
The developer also is interested in recruiting biotechnology companies, Mr. Fleming said. For instance, Analiza Inc., a company that analyzes potential drugs for pharmaceutical companies, moved to Tyler Village from Solon last fall.
“We’re close to the Clinic, we’re close to downtown, we’re close to the freeways,” Mr. Fleming said.
If you get a chance to bust Dave’s chops about “adding more common space”, you are more than welcome. Everyone else in the office is. Overall, I think it was a pretty good read. I had some better quotes, but these will work. ;)
Tyler it is!
So after a few weeks of hunting/looking, we settled on Tyler Village.
(:: insert fanfare ::)
We felt that the overall direction of the developers and community were in line with what we were looking for. Geoff and I see this as being one of the next hot-spots in Cleveland, so we put it all together and started working on getting plans to build the space.
In other news, I got a call from a reporter for Crain’s Cleveland today. They were very interested in talking about the impending move, and about relocating to Cleveland. We talked for about an hour, and I’m excited to see what it is they find to write.
So…now the fun part starts!
Ikea Trip
Anyone that knows me knows that I’m quite impatient.
Angie and I had an afternoon to kill, so we headed out to Ikea in Pittsburgh to look for random ideas for the new space. Since this is a family affair…I figured I’d get her involved. She reluctantly agreed to throw Garrett in the car and trek to Pittsburgh with me. Here’s what we saw.
You’ll notice a lot of green stuff. That’s because we’re finishing up a Re-Branding of SparkBase. More on that later…
