If many corporate relocations are undertaken to move the company closer to its top executives, Finacity Corp.”™s move to Stamford three years ago could almost have been predicted. “The CEO and I both live in Fairfield County, so we knew ultimately we”™d be moving the executive offices from midtown Manhattan,” said Michael D. Rodgers, executive vice president, operations, of the specialty finance company.
But that”™s not the only reason Finacity split its operations in two, leaving a dozen people in Manhattan and moving another dozen or so to Stamford. Another reason is that Stamford is in the lower-rent district. “We”™re paying about 44 percent less here than what we pay in Manhattan for class A space in both locations,” Rodgers said. And from his 11th-floor office window at 2 Stamford Plaza, he can see Long Island Sound and, if a nearby building wasn”™t in the way, he”™d be able to see Manhattan as well.
Stamford offers more than a view, though. “We sort of joke about Stamford being Wall Street North,” Rodgers said. Finacity, with $8 billion in fundings last year, is rubbing shoulders with heavyweights UBS, a growing list of hedge funds and “the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is moving in just across the street from us.”
“For a capital markets firm or banking firm, moving to Stamford is a pretty big step,” he said, “so we still have legs back in New York to make it easier to meet in Manhattan rather than get on a train and buzz up to Stamford.”
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Hiring locally
When Finacity (rhymes with tenacity) executives were looking for a Stamford location, “the key for our locating here was that we were able to walk to the train station,” which is five blocks and less than a 10-minute walk away. That short hike also isn”™t daunting to Manhattan-based financial and corporate types who sometimes reverse commute to Finacity”™s Stamford office. “Bankers are actually willing to come up and meet with us in Stamford.”
Finacity moved its executive offices, marketing and servicing operations out of Manhattan but left behind information technology, product development and quantitative analysis, along with meeting and conference rooms. “We have an awful lot of clients, anybody from manufacturing firms to service providers to financial institutions who sometimes find it”™s just more convenient to meet in Manhattan,” Rodgers said.
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“What I like to think about is that we”™re here, we”™re providing jobs and we”™re enhancing the economy in Fairfield County,” he said. “What you read about all the time in the press is about companies being acquired or laying off employees or moving out of state. I”™m looking out the window at International Paper, which moved its headquarters to Tennessee.”
When Finacity executives were planning the move, “we consciously began hiring people who would ultimately populate our Stamford location,” he said. “Since locating here, we”™ve consciously hired and intentionally recruited right here. We”™re actively circuiting at Sacred Heart, Fairfield University and the UConn Stamford campus for entry-level jobs. For our senior jobs, there are plenty of Wall Street-quality people who live in Westport and Weston and Ridgefield, where I live.”
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New people
Finacity has about 3,600 square feet of space at 2 Stamford Plaza “and we have an option on space right next to ours that”™s a footprint equal to what we occupy,” Rodgers said. “When we are funding in the range of $16 billion, it”™s likely we”™ll have to take advantage of that new space.” That could be before year-end.
“Last year, we exceeded $8 billion in fundings, and this year I would expect we will fund somewhere in the range of $12 billion to $16 billion,” he said. “It”™s not unreasonable for us to think we”™ll at least double our fundings for the foreseeable future.”
But “we”™re not going to build a church for Easter Sunday,” he said. “We don”™t intend to create an office and fill it up with people and hope business will come. We build very responsibly. As we bring on new clients, we bring on new people to support our growth.”
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