Leaving Rohnert Park for 40,000-square-foot former Cisco building
[caption id="attachment_33398" align="alignright" width="360" caption="Rendering of CrossCheck's new building in Petaluma"][/caption]
PETALUMA -- CrossCheck, the third largest check approval business in the nation, has signed an eight-year lease with Cornerstone Properties and is moving its facilities to a 40,000-square-foot former Cisco Systems building in Petaluma.
Joel Jaman of Keegan & Coppin brokered the deal.
“They contacted me in November of 2009 based on a previous relationship,” he said.
A team was put together of four people to find a building that suited the tight security needs of the company and as well be a place comfortable for employees, both in location and amenities.
[caption id="attachment_33399" align="alignleft" width="139" caption="Dave Siembieda"][/caption]
Along with Mr. Jaman were Dave Siembieda, president and chief executive officer of CrossCheck; Chris Schumacher, chief operating officer, and John Royston, assistant vice president of facilities and business services.
In addition to the move, CrossCheck is in the beginning stages of recruiting efforts to fill 20 full-time positions in the corporate office.
The Optio Solutions' corporate offices, including management, customer support and collection employees, will also be joining CrossCheck in a separate office space within the building
Currently there are 170 employees in the Rohnert Park office and these plus the other 20 will be relocating into Petaluma facility in September, said Mr. Siembieda.
"It took a long time to find the right place,” said Mr. Jaman, "because it is a large company, a significant move, there are a lot of moving parts."
The company had downsized from 68,000 to 40,000 square feet in its existing location at 6119 State Farm Drive in Rohnert Park and opened regional offices to accommodate regional growth.
“When they started doing their strategic plan they identified that they wanted to keep those functions close,” Mr. Jaman said of the company looking only at sites in Rohnert Park and Petaluma.
“We were founded in 1983 in Petaluma,” Mr. Siembieda said. “We knew we wanted to stay in Sonoma County. Joel took us to a lot of properties. It is a major move for us because we are 24/7 365-day-a-year company.”
He said the former Cisco building was perfect because of the IT capabilities and redundancy in generators.
In case of a power outage or earthquake, he said, the company has to be able to move seamlessly to an alternative system.
“We have a fully redundant site in Chicago and can move operations over there,” he said. Which is what we will do when we move in late August or early September.”
For security purposes, the team decided on a single story, single tenant building.
“We have the capabilities to move billions of dollars a year,” said Mr. Siembieda. “We need security.”
In addition to the security and IT capabilities, they looked for a site convenient for employees, where they would have many amenities close by.
“We are building a basketball court and there is a sand pit volleyball court onsite,” said Mr. Siembieda.
He said he was very happy with Cornerstone Properties as well.
“The owner of the building lives in Marin and visits the site daily,” he said. There is also onsite management. He said he felt very comfortable with the level of attention he feels the company will get.
“It is a big building and things will happen,” he said. “I am happy to know that the owner is nearby and available.”
“Cornerstone Properties is very excited to have CrossCheck Inc. as our newest tenant,” said Alon Adani of Cornerstone Properties. “We admire their business accomplishments and feel they will make a great addition to Redwood Business Park. We are pleased to be working with CrossCheck and architect Erich Mele on redesigning the building to reflect their corporate branding.”
CrossCheck is the second major employer to leave Rohnert Park recently.
Late last year, State Farm Insurance announced it would consolidate its 450-employee Rohnert Park operation and an 80-employee office in Fresno into its Bakersfield Operations Center.
