SparkBase
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. ;)