Ideal Concepts is ecstatic to announce the moving of its company headquarters to downtown Allentown effective October 1st, 2022! This has been a long time in the making, and although slowed by the pandemic, is now finally being realized with the new headquarters opening in center city. The company has grown to over 400 employees, with almost half its staff located within the Lehigh Valley, and this new headquarters will update the company’s office space to compliment the growing business.
Having this new modern customized office space allows the company to provide a physical presence for employees, potential candidates, and business partners. It also enables the company to more effectively achieve the innovation it is known for. “We envision a space that is used flexibly by staff, while providing for collaboration, creativity, and the innovation which is sometimes only possible through the most innate of human interactions: in person communication,” says Ideal Concepts President John Pequeno. Providing this workspace, in combination with continued work-from-home flexibility through the remainder of the pandemic, allows the company to achieve the best of both remote and in person work.
Ideal Concepts is leasing the top four floors of the Butz Corporation 842 Hamilton St. Phase III building, which equates to approximately 40,000 square feet in total space. This space allows the company to provide office space for all needed staff. Ideal Concepts worked with Butz to achieve its goals for the new headquarters, including:
- A more spacious and efficient layout than its previous office
- High quality and corporate branded commercial space
- Dedicated partitions included, to help provide safe and separate workspaces
- Pod based team workspaces which are private, while allowing for easy collaboration
- Large space capable of supporting the entire local company workforce
By relying on their many generations of local real estate and building construction knowledge, Butz provided a space that met all of Ideal Concepts’ needs. They’ve been a great partner and supporter of helping Ideal Concepts open its new downtown office location. It was evident throughout interactions with Butz Corporation that their first priority was promoting the continued growth of downtown Allentown, in particular the Hamilton District, to provide continued benefits to all local businesses and residents. “We are very happy to have such a great company like Ideal Concepts move into our building, and into downtown Allentown; this will further stimulate the ongoing revitalization of the city,” said Greg Butz, President of Butz Corporation.
Ideal Concepts was provided great support from the city as well. In a meeting with Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, he made it a point to identify how he and the city can support businesses like Ideal Concepts. “The foundation of my career has been to help businesses like Ideal Concepts create jobs that provide opportunities for our residents to build wealth and achieve healthy outcomes,” said Tuerk. The expansion of Ideal Concepts’ office space to downtown Allentown was also made possible by the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ), a special district established to encourage development. “The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority is gratified to see the extent of Ideal Concept’s commitment to downtown Allentown, and welcome the company and its employees,” said Steven Bamford, Executive Director of ANIZDA, the development authority for the NIZ.
Ideal Concepts expects to further the goals of the NIZ as it continues development planning on its new building project, a flagship facility in downtown Allentown to be called Ideal Tower. The tower will be located at 801 Hamilton St. Ideal Concepts initiated these plans by acquiring four adjacent properties addressed 801-813 Hamilton Stz., located across from the Phantoms Hockey Arena, over the past five years. These properties will allow for the building of one of the only high-rise towers in Allentown which is completely open on all sides. “Since the half-block area is surrounded by three city streets, and the fourth side has a 20-foot easement, it’s a prime location for building a tower with amazing views in all directions of Allentown and the surrounding Lehigh Valley”, says Pequeno.
The company recently expedited these plans with the hire of its new Director of Property Development, James Buckley, who is enthusiastically working to move this new building project forward. “We are actively engaged with programming the development of the new project, and building our project team to create a future workspace and company headquarters for Ideal Concepts that considers post-pandemic business needs, world class business space amenities, and a project that the City of Allentown and the Lehigh Valley can be proud of,” says James. “We will accomplish this by working with our partners at ANIZDA and the City of Allentown, and building a team committed to bringing the city a 20-story or higher tower that is expected to be the tallest in the Lehigh Valley.”
Although Ideal Concepts will provide the anchor tenant for the building, it will look to achieve this goal by attracting other medium to large businesses as tenants. The unique location of the building, in the center of downtown Allentown, with panoramic views in all directions, and in the middle of the third largest metropolitan area of the state, is expected to support the attraction of new tenants. This flagship tower, combined with the benefits of the NIZ, and the diverse workforce provided by the Lehigh Valley, will provide a highly attractive location opportunity for any business looking to expand its office space and workforce.
For comments, or information, please reach out to James Buckley, at JBuckley@IdealConcepts.com or (610) 740-0635
