As published in Toledo Business Journal - October 1, 2020
Savage & Associates’ headquarters located at 655 Beaver Creek Circle in Maumee
Savage & Associates, a financial services firm that assists individuals, families, and businesses with investment, insurance, benefit, and retirement plans, moved into its new 30,000 square foot headquarters at 655 Beaver Creek Circle in Maumee in 2019 from its previous 22,000 square foot building at 4427 Talmadge Road in Toledo.
According to J.R. Toland, president and CEO of Savage & Associates, the firm had outgrown its previous space.
“We had 22,000 square feet of space where we were at, where we basically piecemealed two buildings together. So the space was really chopped up and we had really outgrown it. We wanted to look for something where the clients had easy access to come see us,” explained Toland. “We looked at renovating our space, we looked at a number of buildings, whether it was in Toledo, Sylvania, or Perrysburg – really a number of different places – and never really found anything we were looking for. And then we saw this location in Maumee. We wanted to have expressway exposure if we could and we wanted easy on and easy off accessibility for our clients, and this had it here. It wasn’t that we were determined to have a brand new building – we just needed a new building.”
Savage began working with what is today NAI Harmon Group (NAI Harmon), a real estate and development firm headquartered in Toledo. Savage decided that they did not want to “rebrand” an older building, but instead wanted to use the new headquarters to create a new identity. This led to a decision to construct a new, modern building that would also assist recruitment efforts.
Once the location was found, Logan Creek Construction served as the general contractor and Vetter Design Group designed the building.
“Joe Vetter was phenomenal to work with. He sat us down and did a brainstorming session with us and just took a pad of paper and was asking us all these questions, ‘What we’re looking for and what do you like about this?’ And he was just kind of getting our feeling for what we were looking for in a building. And one of the things we talked about is we have a lot of activity that was in our lobby. Clients would be coming in and they commented how we were friendly and always said hi, and that impressed them. And that’s when he came up with this open concept for the lobby that is just awesome. And with all this natural light, it really brightens the place up,” explained Toland.
He also noted that Savage had different committees to provide input on the building, whether it was for the technology included, fixtures and furnishing, picking out workstations, and the overall layout of the building.
Savage & Associates’ new headquarters features natrual lighting,
an open floor plan, and an atrium in the lobby
“What’s unique is there’s obviously a lot of windows, but it’s very open. There’s a big open atrium as you walk in there, you can see from the front of the building all the way to the back. There’s a lot of space to collaborate and to gather. You see a lot of people gather around for coffee or for lunch in the atrium area. And then we have a patio in the back that has a fire pit and nice, comfortable seating. So people eat outside, but you can also just sit out there if you want,” explained Toland. “So what’s unique here is I see a lot of people and they’ll even just have client meetings where they’ll just gather some of these comfortable chairs somewhere and sit and talk in the open area. So there are a lot of small collaboration spaces that are out in the open. They’re all hooked up for technology, so you can just plug right in and you’re wired in.
“We’ve got a number of conference rooms. We’ve got a training room where probably 30 to 35 people could gather and we could accommodate them in there. You can do a Skype or Zoom meeting with somebody because it has a camera in the back of the room that faces the front to where the speaker is and they can connect with our other offices or clients. It also has two TV monitors off to the side so you can put all the slides up there,” continued Toland.
“We also have these things called enclaves, which are unique. It’s a room where if somebody just wants to get away for a few minutes or let’s say they work in an open area, but they have a private phone call and they want to be somewhere private, they can shut the door. They’re just small spaces made like that. So all of the areas have at least one of those that somebody can use,” explained Toland.
Toland also noted that the building features a gym with weights, a treadmill, an elliptical, locker rooms, and showers, as well as two café-type spaces (one on each floor) with an island counter, sink, dishwasher, and coffee pots, along with fresh fruit provided daily. There is also a full kitchen to cook meals or order catering as well.
“When you bring younger people around, these areas certainly help with recruitment. On top of that, whenever we post a job, one of the first things younger people say is, ‘I drove by your building and it looks awesome.’ It’s really helped from a recruitment of advisors, but also anyone that we’re trying to hire here,” said Toland.
The firm has approximately 110 people working in the building.
“This building, along with our culture, really sets us apart. There are really a lot of good people here. I’ve been here for 35 years and that’s not uncommon. There are a lot of people that are here and have been here for 25-plus years and they love being here and they’re good to be around. John and Bob Savage did a really good job at creating a culture when they started this place. And it’s really important and we strive to maintain that. Then you add this building to the mix, and it’s a really great location. It’s really nice back here and it’s just so easy for our clients to get in and out of here,” concluded Toland.