Early this month, Advantage Sales and Marketing (ASM), an international food broker, moved into the former US Xchange building at 56 Grandville Avenue, bringing 125 employees to downtown Grand Rapids. The company consolidated its Alpine Avenue offices and an office in the Brassworks Building, bringing employees together in 30,000 square feet of office space on the third and fourth floors of the long-vacant building.
"They wanted to be in loft space downtown," says David Wiener of CB Richard Ellis. Wiener represented the company in brokering the move. "They didn't want to be in a true Class A typical office space, they wanted to be in a more hip, edgy true loft building."
Renovations reconfigured the interior to fit ASM's need for several private offices and conference and meeting spaces.
"This has a 'big city' feel," Wiener says of the former warehouse. "It has high ceilings, exposed beams and ductwork, exposed brickwork."
Weiner cites teamwork as a major factor in getting the company downtown. The City of Grand Rapids and Ellis Parking worked with the company to reduce parking expenses, and the building owners, 56 Grandville LLC, collaborated on the lease agreement and other matters.
"ASM has a lot of young people, and the young people felt that downtown Grand Rapids was the spot to be," Wiener adds. "It's your cool city, the cool place to be."
Walter Bulkowski of CB Richard Ellis represented 56 Grandville LLC in the transaction.
Source: David Wiener, CB Richard Ellis
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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