Wednesday, January 12, 2000
Office Suites Plus geared to flexibility, convenience
BY JOHN J. BYCZKOWSKI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Kris Calvert Ricketts and her partner split up their public relations business, she didn't want to have to worry about leases and utilities and all the other headaches that come with opening an office.
“I wanted to come in and unpack my boxes and plug in my computer and get down to business,” she said.
Ms. Ricketts, of Lexington, Ky., signed on with Office Suites Plus, which operates what resembles a combination office building and full-service hotel, without beds. And when she travels to Cincinnati, she knows she has access to the Office Suites Plus in Blue Ash.
Services available
For her monthly rent, Ms. Ricketts gets an office with access to a copy center, office help, fax, Internet access, meeting rooms and a receptionist. “I only pay for the services I actually need,” she said.
That the Lexington-based Office Suites Plus resembles a hotel isn't a coincidence. The company was founded by Norman Cowgill Jr., who founded Studios Plus, the first suites hotel to go public. After it was acquired by Extended Stay America in 1996, Mr. Cowgill began working on his office suites concept.
Mr. Cowgill, chairman and CEO of the company, said businesses need offices for the same reasons that their executives need hotels on the road. “The business trends have changed. All the companies that are moving forward today are keeping themselves flexible,” he said.
Companies moving into a new market don't want long leases or lots of new employees.
“A major corporation can come in or out of a market very quickly. Hopefully, they come in and stay. They might want to test the market first before they go into traditional office space,” he said.
Office Suites Plus has opened seven business centers, in cities such as Lexington, Indianapolis and Charlotte, N.C. The latest opening was in Blue Ash in October.
That $2.1 million building offers 60 offices. The company is planning further expansion, funded by a $21.5 million private investment completed in October. It aims to have 20 centers by 2001.
According to the Executive Suite Association, there are 5,500 office business centers in the United States.
“For the most part, they're locally owned and operated,” said James Baughman Jr., Office Suites Plus's executive vice president. “There are a lot of high-quality operators, but they don't all offer the same services.”
Office Suites Plus is hoping to create a brand in the industry, aiming at Fortune 2000 companies, particularly technology companies, by loading their buildings with extras such as high-speed Internet access, he said.
“Here in Blue Ash, we hope to attract companies that want a presence in this area, with just one or two people,” Mr. Baughman said.
Typical lease: 1 year
Typical leases are one year. A basic package with an office, telephone, voice mail and reception service is about $1,000 a month. That includes access to conference rooms.
A typical tenant is Lewis Mead of Lexington, who sells for D&K Healthcare Resources, a St. Louis-based drug wholesaler with $1.2 billion in sales. When he took the job last year, “I did not want to relocate to St. Louis,” but needed an office and administrative support. Office Suites Plus “allowed me to stay in Lexington and not have to move, and still function in my new job,” he said.
He said he spends about $1,500 monthly for an office and support. If he had opened a conventional office, he said he'd be spending $2,000 a month just for an administrative support person.
“I think we're in a time where employers are rethinking where people have to work,” Mr. Mead said. “A lot of what I do is on the phone with prospects or flying, so where I'm based is not as important as people thought in the past.”
Office Suites Plus “is a very cost-effective way to do it,” he said. “If anybody looks at this as a real-estate play, they're missing the point. I haven't found one service I need that's not available here.”
Place for contacts
Not to mention a water cooler. For sole practitioners such as Ms. Ricketts, a business center such as Office Suites Plus helps eliminate some of the isolation of working alone.
“When I first came here, I felt like I was moving into a commune,” she said. “My (office) neighbor said it's more like a college dorm. We've made a lot of friends and a lot of contacts.”
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