OFFICE DEPOT's NEW $ 100Million HEADQUARTERS !

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzodp1119sbnov19,0,2004360
Office Depot’s new $100 million headquarters in Boca Raton is designed to foster interaction
After 17 years in Delray Beach, the nation’s largest office-supplies retailer built a $100 million corporate headquarters less than three miles away in Boca Raton.The first of about 2,000 employees began moving in earlier this month, and the arrivals will continue through the first week of December.Office Depot’s new concrete structure rises above Military Trail at Clint Moore Road, overlooking a golf course. Employees now are housed in one building instead of three, as they were on Old Germantown Road and Congress Avenue in Delray Beach.The company considered moving out of South Florida but “we felt we would suffer a tremendous loss of talent if we moved away,” said David Fannin, former general counsel who served as project manager for the new headquarters.The new home office has been more than two years in planning. A previous site, at Blue Lake in Boca Raton, was scrapped in October 2004, and that property was sold back to the developer.

Then another Boca Raton site became available in 2006, and Office Depot agreed to a “build to suit” proposal from Flagler Development Corp., which owns the new building in a partnership with TIAA-Cref, the teachers’ pension fund. Office Depot has a 15-year lease on the building, with options to extend.Office Depot sold its Delray Beach campus for $80 million to Lincoln Financial, an insurance firm based near Philadelphia.

The new headquarters has a more flexible design so it can be reconfigured to accommodate either Office Depot’s future needs or a new tenant.”From an economic standpoint, it’s not a real burden,” said Fannin, though he admitted the new headquarters was an easier decision in November 2006, when Office Depot’s stock was trading above $41 a share. The stock has plummeted this year, along with many consumer stocks. It closed Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange at $1.93.

A new corporate home gives Office Depot the opportunity to ensure work groups are together and encourages brainstorming.A wide hallway runs the length of the building and overlooks the golf course of Broken Sound Country Club. Along the hallway are “huddle” areas, with casual chairs and tables, where employees can chat. Or, they can book one of the many conference rooms.”We want to encourage people from all disciplines to interact with their peers,” Fannin said. “When you look at the most creative companies in the world, the key is openness and interaction.”

Other features Fannin considers an improvement are high-speed elevators, a cafeteria with an outdoor patio to take advantage of South Florida’s sunny days, and standard-size offices and workstations so no one is fighting over the “corner office.””It is not a Taj Mahal,” said Fannin, responding to some employees’ reaction to a grandiose structure in frugal economic times. “Several of the executives have smaller offices than they had at the former headquarters, and they’re all uniform.”Employees also will find new amenities in the building: covered parking, a gym with exercise equipment and pilates classes, and “mothers’ rooms,” for women who are breast-feeding.The interior decor comes right from an Office Depot store — paper clips and shredded paper are enclosed in partition walls. “Fun facts,” such as “who invented the power calculator,” adorn the walls.

Phil Rault, an analyst for merchandising, said the difference between the old and new building is unbelievable. “It’s easier to find people, to schedule a meeting,” he said.Though his workstation is “a little tighter,” Derek Sall likes the sunlight the building lets in.”I didn’t know whether it was sunshine or raining,” in the former headquarters, said Sall, who also works in merchandising.

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November 26, 2008 at 2:05 PM