Atlanta Office Space Users Look to Promote Workplace Collaboration

One of the first steps to increasing your company’s productivity may be found in the design and functionality of your office space and how it is used by your employees. Many research studies have found a direct correlation between office space and productivity. Cushman & Wakefield and CoreNet Global recently sponsored a research study of corporate real estate executives thoughts on how to foster innovation in the workplace. One of the key findings was that if you promote collaboration among employees you can achieve better work results.

More than two thirds of the study respondents rated the quality of the physical environment as important and 34.7% saw a need to change their physical environment to improve face to face collaboration. Other results also point to the need for office collaboration-93.5% ranked “in-person interaction and human contact” as the most important contributor to innovation.

The Cost of Creating a Collaborative Atlanta Office Space

Your current office space design may be very traditional with rows of cubicles, offices with doors and a conference room or two. How can you transform your current office space to promote more productivity and collaboration? The cost of reconfiguring your entire office space and replacing office furniture may be unrealistic based on your current operating budget.  Or you may need to lease additional office space to effectively rework your office layout to have more collaborative spaces and conference rooms.

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RedBird LED Hires John Gilmore as Vice President of Sales

Redbird LED is pleased to announce that LED lighting industry veteran John Gilmore has joined their sales and management team as the new Vice President of Sales. Redbird LED is an Atlanta, GA. firm that specializes in the design, manufacturing and distribution of premium energy efficient LED Linear Replacement Lamp products. Previously, John Gilmore was leading the LED Lighting sales efforts for SEESMART LED. In his new role, John will spearhead the sales and marketing of RedBird LED Tube Lights to lighting distributors, major national corporations, state and federal agencies, retailers and institutional owners throughout the United States.

Jonathan Eppstein, President of Redbird LED said, "We are excited that one of the most successful sales professionals in the country of LED Tube Lights has joined RedBird LED. John's commitment to RedBird validates our belief that there is a large demand for premium quality- high performing LED Linear Replacement Lamp products. The recent certification by the DesignLights Consortium for both our 22 watt and 18 watt Cardinal Linear Replacement Lamp products, which prequalifies them for many energy rebate programs, was a key factor in John's decision to join our firm at this time. Culminating several years of development and testing, the Cardinal LED Linear Replacement Lamp has become first, second, and still the only LED tube light in the world to receive DLC Certification."

In his previous position with SEESMART, a leading LED lighting distributor, John was responsible for managing the lighting sales operations, marketing strategy development, introduction of new products and managing key client accounts. During his tenure , sales revenue increased 92% to $11.5 million in 2011. Over this same time period his personal sales volume exceeded $7 million, including two of the largest LED Tube lighting contracts, Pasadena City College and General Services Administration. His previous clients included; Department of Defense (Army, Navy, and Air Force), Homeland Security, Department of Justice (correctional facilities), Department of General Services (City of Los Angeles), airports, schools, universities, and various municipalities throughout the US.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of RedBird LED", says John Gilmore. "Jonathan is a brilliant engineer with a great vision. The fact that Redbird is exclusively focused on building the finest LED linear replacement lamps allows me to continue to build on my experience in marketing products in this category. Our plan is to leverage the Cardinal lamp's quality and DLC Certification to become the number one LED tube supplier in the world over the next year. Having the 18W tube on the DLC's qualified product list will allow us penetrate the massive fluorescent tube retrofit market, which has become a more immediate need with the recent obsolescence and subsequent unavailability of the older T12 style fluorescent tubes. Adding a rebate incentive to the basic energy savings, will allow the customer to see a complete payback in less than 1 year in many cases.

Over the past 5 years I have learned a tremendous amount about LED linear tubes. When I met with Jonathan and reviewed the RedBird LED technical data, the decision to make the move was very easy. It is truly the best LED tube in the world today!!"

About RedBird LED - Redbird LED is an Atlanta based designer and manufacturer of LED linear lights. Their company mission is to focus exclusively on providing quality LED linear light solutions to their customers. Redbird LED's core technology is in their premier linear LED light, designed and engineered specifically for retrofits of traditional fluorescent tube lights.

State Farm Leases New Office Space In Atlanta

This past friday, Governor Deal announced that State Farm, the largest insurance firm in Georgia, is expanding- leasing almost 400,000 square feet of office space at the 64 East Perimeter Center and 66 East Perimeter Center office buildings. State Farm anticipates hiring 500 employees for their new customer service/sales center.

This is great news for our city. The same day, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured a large screaming headline about Georgia ranking as the number one state for residential foreclosures. An easy headline to write, but the State Farm announcement is very important for many reasons. For the real estate industry this is one more major office space lease that takes a large available amount of contiguous office space off the Perimeter Center office market. The Atlanta economy will certainly benefit from these new jobs which will include clerical, technical and management positions.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that, "The financial, professional and business service industries account for about one-fifth of Atlanta’s 2.3 million jobs and have added roughly 11,000 positions during the last year." 

The news from State Farm represents another large increase in professional sector jobs for Atlanta. “Obviously, three years into this economic recovery we still have a very soft labor market in Atlanta and nationwide,” said Roger Tutterow, an economics professor at Mercer University. “So we readily welcome 500 jobs in any capacity.”

This is the third time in the last 12 months that State Farm has expanded and announced new job creation. “This expansion is just another way State Farm continues to adjust to meet the changing needs and preferences of our customers," said State Farm Senior Vice President Tim McFadden. State Farm is currently ranked No. 43 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies and has more than 65,000 employees.

The State farm customer service center is expected to open in the Fourth Quarter of 2012.

Terminix Saves 20% on Office Space Rental Costs Through an Early Renewal and Extension of Their Office Lease .

Memphis-based Terminix, a leading national provider of pest and termite services, recently signed a new office space leasing agreement with their landlord to remain in their current office space. Working with their leasing agent, they were able restructure their current office space lease and an early extension for 15,762 square feet for their regional contact center in Norcross. Terminix will not only reduce their rental costs by 20 percent , they will also receive capital for improvements to  the entrance and lobby of the their office.

Many companies are looking to reduce their real estate costs by taking advantage of current market pricing and conditions. A creative way to do this is to restructure your current lease through an Extend and Blend leasing agreement. The Extend and Blend is simple amendment to a current lease that extends the length of the lease and usually includes additional incentives from the building owner. These incentives can include reductions in rental rates, operating expenses and in some cases tenant improvements.

For more information on the Extend and Blend lease program please download the Extend and Blend leasing program brochure.