Everything in its Right Place: Economic developers relocate downtown HQ to Ledyard Building

After nearly 20 years at its fourth floor Waters Building office space, the economic development nonprofit The Right Place, Inc. opened its new downtown Grand Rapids headquarters last month in the historic Ledyard Building at 125 Ottawa Avenue NW.
 
"It’s a great historic building," says Tim Mroz, vice president of marketing and communication at The Right Place, Inc.  "The architecture is unique, the core layout is more interesting and it provides for an interesting experience for our business prospects both inside West Michigan and those visiting West Michigan."
 
Though its Waters Building office played a faithful host to The Right Place, Inc., Mroz says for nearly a decade now, they've not been able to centralize its entire 22-member staff and since it was established in 1985, they also have not been able to accommodate the entire Board of Directors around one table – that is, until now.
 
"One of the best things about our new headquarters is that over the years, our organization has continued to grow and for the last eight years of our existence, we’ve actually operated in two separate suites at the Waters Building - our organization was literally split in half," he says. "This new office, for the first time again, brings our entire organization back together…Now for the first time in 30 years we’ll actually be able to hold a board meeting at our facility and be able to seat all members."
 
With a large part of the organization's mission centralized around hosting business prospects from outside of the West Michigan region, Mroz says they wanted the new headquarters to reflect both the history and the vibrant forward motion of the Grand Rapids community. So, with help from architects at Progressive AE, construction crews at Triangle Associates, Inc., state of the art audio-visuals by Custer and furniture provided by Steelcase, Mroz says The Right Place, Inc.'s new 10,280-square-foot office space maintains the building's history while creating a more flexible work environment than ever before.
  
"It’s an interesting mix," he says. "We obviously tried to stay true to some of the historical significance of the space, so much of the existing original trim work and molding and doors remained throughout the remodel. The finished office is an interesting mix of acknowledgment to the original historic elements of the building with a very modern, sleek finish."
 
For more information, visit www.rightplace.org.
 
By Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of The Right Place, Inc.