{"id":3070,"date":"2014-12-02T15:12:54","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T21:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/?p=3070"},"modified":"2014-12-02T15:12:54","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T21:12:54","slug":"lets-go-to-work-in-a-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/lets-go-to-work-in-a-mall\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Go to Work in a Mall!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Phase-III-8_1\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Let\u2019s Go to the Mall<\/del> Work!<\/h1>\n

Rackspace<\/a> converted a ghost town of a mall into the coolest office ever\u2014with a two-story slide, a basketball-court-size chessboard, and more\u2014and in doing so, it saved a struggling community<\/h2>\n

By Julie Schaeffer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\n

What most people saw as an abandoned shopping mall covered in graffiti, Rackspace envisioned as a unique corporate headquarters\u2014and today, its more than 3,800 employees work in cubicles where retailers such as JCPenney and Piercing Pagoda previously operated.<\/p>\n

\"Rackspace
Rackspace revamped a mall space in Windcrest, TX, because, by 2007, the company had 1,500 employees and was adding 600 more each year. (Photo: Kate Lemmon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt would have been easy for us to build a 500,000-square-foot office building or lease any number of properties, but we like to stay away from conventional, easy decisions,\u201d says Jamie Kinch, director of real estate for Rackspace, a $1.5 billion cloud-computing company.<\/p>\n

The business began out of a garage in the late 1990s, but by 2007, it had about 1,500 employees and was adding roughly 600 more each year. Because of this, it was already rapidly outgrowing the 200,000-square-foot office space in San Antonio that it had started leasing just two years earlier, so it needed a new facility\u2014fast. And, at the same time, the struggling suburb of Windcrest, adjacent to the decrepit Windsor Park Mall, had been losing $100,000 in tax revenue annually since the mall closed in 2005. \u201cTwenty years ago, Windcrest was the place to live around San Antonio, but over time, it really declined, and it was in desperate need of new energy,\u201d Kinch says.<\/p>\n

\"Jamie
Jamie Kinch, Rackspace\u2019s director of real estate, has been key to the firm\u2019s move into the Windsor Park Mall. \u201cWe\u2019ve created memorable sections and anchor features with each phase of development,\u201d he says. (Photo: Kate Lemmon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was Rackspace chairman Graham Weston\u2019s idea to buy the 1.2 million-square-foot mall, but pretty much everyone else thought he was crazy\u2014and not just because of the property\u2019s mammoth size. \u201cOur employees were craving a corporate campus like those of Microsoft and Google, and the idea that they had left San Antonio to get impressive degrees, only to come back and sit in a cubicle at the mall they had worked at in high school, was not appealing,\u201d Kinch says.<\/p>\n

Weston was undeterred, however, and Rackspace signed a 30-year lease for the former mall. It turned out to be a win-win deal for everyone. In exchange for providing high-paying jobs in the area, Rackspace receives development grants from the State of Texas and favorable tax treatment on its property. And, since Rackspace\u2019s lease began, Windcrest\u2019s tax revenue has increased 10 percent every year\u2014an outcome that Kinch says sits well with the company\u2019s core values. \u201cWe want to be part of the community in which we\u2019re based, and it felt like a good fit for us to have a positive impact,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

There was initially some concern that Weston, who is known for his frugality, was simply seeking bargain-basement office space to save money, but that wasn\u2019t the case. He envisioned a technology center comparable to Austin, Texas\u2019s Silicon Hills, home to Dell, and he hired noted architect and urban planner Andr\u00e9s Duany to develop a master plan.<\/p>\n

The result is what must be one of the coolest office spaces in existence today. \u201cThere\u2019s no forgetting that you\u2019re in a mall,\u201d Kinch says, but it may be the best mall ever. A soaring metallic half-arch over the entry greets employees, and inside they have conference rooms named after television game shows and breakfast cereals. There are also more unusual features, including a two-story slide, a chessboard the size of a basketball court, and a coffee shop.<\/p>\n

\"One
One of the headquarters\u2019 newest themed areas is the Bookstore, which is outfitted with leather furniture, low lighting, and actual shelves full of old and new tomes. (Photo: Kate Lemmon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBecause of how spread out the space is, navigation has been a consistent challenge, so we\u2019ve created memorable sections and anchor features with each phase of development,\u201d Kinch says. A recently opened phase, for example, used books as a theme, and it\u2019s anchored by a breakout space called the Bookstore, which is designed to look like an old-fashioned shop, with low light, leather furniture, and materials repurposed from the old mall. Conference rooms are named after books, including the Alice in Wonderland conference room, which has strange-shaped chairs and other psychedelic features to create the sensation of being at the Mad Hatter\u2019s tea party, and the Murder on the Orient Express conference room, which is designed like the inside of a train, with a whiteboard that looks like a window onto passing scenery.<\/p>\n

\"The
The former mall comprises 1.2 million square feet in total, and Rackspace is already getting close to filling it, so the firm next plans to buy up neighboring land for a larger plaza. (Photo: Kate Lemmon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next phase, which is expected to open in June, will have a toy-store theme, and when employees enter, they\u2019ll pass through the fa\u00e7ade of an old-fashioned toy shop. Conference rooms will look like display windows, and they will be named after different toys such as the Slinky and Legos. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly getting feedback from employees to ensure that we\u2019re creating usable as well as cool spaces,\u201d Kinch says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured we\u2019d use a third of the [mall] space,\u201d Kinch adds, \u201cbut it became apparent to us two years ago that we might run out.\u201d So, soon, the company plans to break ground on a neighborhood plaza comprising the several acres around its new headquarters. The extra room will allow Rackspace to incorporate jogging trails, a performance venue, and other features, which will enhance the employee experience and revitalize the community that much more.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0http:\/\/americanbuildersquarterly.com\/2014\/rackspace\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s Go to the Mall Work! Rackspace converted a ghost town of a mall into the coolest office ever\u2014with a two-story slide, a basketball-court-size chessboard, and more\u2014and in doing so, it saved a struggling community By Julie Schaeffer What most people saw as an abandoned shopping mall covered in graffiti, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[785,784,783],"class_list":["post-3070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-blog","tag-cool-construction-projects-in-tx","tag-mall-turned-corporate-headquarters","tag-rackspace","post_format-post-format-image","column","twocol"],"yoast_head":"\nLet\u2019s Go to Work in a Mall!!!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What most people saw as an abandoned shopping mall covered in graffiti, Rackspace envisioned as a unique corporate 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