Major Tech Firm Signs Lease with First Columbia at the Hedley Building on Hudson River.
A leading software engineering company has set up shop in Troy, the latest of several software and tech companies to headquarter in this vibrant Hudson River city.
Founded in Clifton Park, N.Y. in 2007, Apprenda finalized its move to First Columbia’s Hedley Park Place in downtown Troy this month. The company is currently leasing 20,000 square feet of space on the fourth floor of the Hedley building, with an option to grow to 35,000 square feet within two years.
Apprenda’s cutting edge technology, “platform as a service” (PaaS) software, makes it easier for large enterprises to build and deliver modern software applications that will work on a variety of devices, such as new web browsers, mobile phones and tablets.
“Software is disrupting every industry, and every large enterprise is investing heavily in building more and more software to fuel innovation, create competitive advantages, and ultimately deliver more value to their customers, partners, and employees,” said Jesse Kliza, senior director of marketing. “We provide a platform that abstracts away the complexities of building and delivering these modern software applications, while also helping our customers maximize their existing investments in both software and hardware infrastructure.”
Some of Apprenda’s clients include major enterprises like JP Morgan Chase, Honeywell, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen.
TROY: THE ANTI-SILICON VALLEY?
While many tech companies choose to locate in California’s “Silicon Valley,” or in other big cities, Apprenda sees Troy, with a population of 51,000, as the right fit for its company culture.
“We like the growing creative culture that Troy has, with its walkable downtown,” Kliza said. “It’s much more interesting than being in a corporate office park setting, and a lot of our employees live in Troy or nearby.”
Being located in the same city as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is another plus for Apprenda. Two of the company’s founders are RPI graduates, Abraham Sultan (2004) and Sinclair Schulle (2004) and the school has been an excellent resource for employee recruiting.
FIRST COLUMBIA RESHAPING TROY’S WORKFORCE AT HEDLEY
Hedley Park Place, Apprenda’s new headquarters, is a nine-story 272,000 square foot historic building overlooking the Hudson River in downtown Troy. It is owned and managed by First Columbia, who is also redeveloping almost a half-mile of waterfront along the Hudson.
In Dec. 2011, New York State announced its workforce consolidation plans, which included vacating 136,000 square feet of office rental space at First Columbia’s Hedley Park Place and adjacent Flanigan Square building.
Since then, First Columbia has worked to attract a diverse mix of high tech and professional tenants to the Hedley Building. Their emphasis has been on bringing new companies to Troy.
“Our goal was to attract high tech and professional companies, whose employees are capable supporting the city and its economy,” said Victoria Harris, marketing director of First Columbia. “We’re treating the Hedley building as a company incubator, of sorts, because we can work with early stage ventures and meet their needs as they grow within our buildings.”
The plan is working. Though occupancy at Hedley dipped to 36 percent after the withdrawal, the building is now more than 90 percent occupied with a diverse mixture of educational, healthcare, fortune 500 and high tech tenants in the building.
“We are very proud that our vision for a vibrant downtown Troy is coming to fruition with the addition of the great team at Apprenda,” said Deborah Mikhitarian-Russell, First Columbia partner.
For a Hedley Building Tenant Occupancy report and tenant mix charts,click here
FOR OFFICE SPACE LEASING
30,000 square feet of office space is still available for lease at Hedley Park Place, with more available in the adjacent Flanigan Square building.
Prospective tenants can learn more about the properties and space available for lease by calling Patricia McGrath at (518) 213-1088.