By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Atwell-Hicks, a 102-year-old land development firm based in Ann Arbor with a major office in downtown Grand Rapids, recently announced the opening of two South Korean offices; one in downtown Seoul and one in business incubation facilities on the campus of Daegu University.
The firm's development services include civil engineering, land planning, and environmental consulting. The new Korean offices will help the company tap into the burgeoning Asian land development market, and develop new facilities for companies looking to do business there.
"We’ve done work in Japan, Thailand, Korea, and China, and have explored possibilities of doing work in India," says Bill Henderson, vice president. "All these countries are seeing explosive growth in European and American companies."
The Korean offices currently employee three people. Henderson expects to double that by year's end. Those employees will help companies find the right locations for growth, such as urban areas that need revitalization or former military bases that are now vacant.
The focus is on program management, master planning, sustainable development support and financial analysis for existing clients working globally and to foreign clients with both Asian or domestic real estate interests.
"Our resources in South Korea have ties through memorandums of understanding allowing us to work with other Asian companies so we can help each other do business," Henderson says.
Atwell-Hicks has 500 employees in 15 offices internationally. The company established its downtown Grand Rapids office in 2006. Last year, the Grand Rapids office generated $4 million in sales.
Source: Bill Henderson, Atwell-Hicks
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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