dunnhumbyUSA kicked off the renovation of its new U.S. headquarters, The Offices at 444 West Third Street, with a ceremony yesterday morning.

Simon Hay, CEO of London-based dunnhumby, manned a backhoe that eliminated an adjacent city-owned 10,000-square-foot maintenance building that will provide more employee parking.

"It's a very exciting future for dunnhumbyUSA, and we're really proud of what we're doing together to make this corner of southwest Cincinnati downtown come alive," says Hay.

The demolition was the first step in Al. Neyer, Inc.'s $17 million renovation of the three-story, 150,000-square-foot office building, designed by BDHP Architects to include open floor plan office space on the top two floors with covered parking beneath.

Employing nearly 300 within its 60,000-square-foot offices at 302 West Third Street downtown, the consumer goods and retail branding and customer service company needed the additional space for the expected addition of up to 150 new jobs.

Last November, dunnhumbyUSA received a 12-year, 75 percent job creation tax credit from the City of Cincinnati to help fund the renovation and signed a 10-year lease to occupy the space.

"We wanted to create an amazing work environment and be part of a vibrant downtown," Hay says. "We never expected to outgrow that space, but today we're reaffirming our commitment to downtown. It's the right thing for our business, our employees, our partnership with Kroger, and for our clients too."

Commonly known as the Hennegan Building and built in the 1920s for the U.S. Postal Service, The Offices at 444 West Third Street had been vacant for at least 10 years.

"For far too long, this sitehas been a non-contributing asset to the southwest corner of downtown," says David Neyer, president and CEO of Al. Neyer, Inc. "And now, its time has come."

dunnhumbyUSA had revenues of $200 million in 2008 and operates offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Portland, Oregon.

Soapbox, 3/10/2009
Writer: Kevin LeMaster