A formerly foreclosed building will soon become the state-of-the-art home for a Gainesville incubator graduate that’s gone global.
Optym held a “build-out” ceremony Monday to officially announce its plans to move into the space at 7600 NW 5th Place, nicknamed the Hillside property.
CEO Ravindra K. Ahuja said the renovations are slated for completion by December, and the expansion will create positions for 100 more employees.
He said the new designs for the building include reception/waiting room space, a spacious marketing office, a meditation room and a floor of sleek, modern cubicle space — all decorated in the company’s signature white, blue and green color scheme.
Optym, which provides scheduling and data analysis services for companies in the transportation and mining industries, graduated from the local GTEC incubator about nine years ago. It opened a branch office in Armenia in 2009 and another in India in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Hillside facility was finished in 2008 but sat vacant while the recession battered the Gainesville real estate market. It eventually went into foreclosure, according to a news release from Coldwell Banker Commercial M.M Parrish Realtors, the company that brokered the deal with Optym via the Beery/Rainsberger Group.
The Chamber of Commerce was instrumental in aiding the company’s expansion as well.
Chamber president Tim Giuliani said enabling Optym to grow and create more local jobs was a group effort that relied on a network of local support.
“It takes a company that is committed to the community and a community that is behind the company,” he said. “In this case, we have both.”
