After nearly 30 years in Newport Center, the independent investment advisory firm Canterbury Consulting found themselves completely out of space.
“We were at capacity; I could not hire anyone because I had nowhere for them to sit,” recalls Mike Ethridge, COO of Canterbury Consulting. “I also had teams who worked closely together stuck on opposite ends of the office. We loved our workplace but needed a much bigger space.”
Canterbury’s expansion needs weren’t a complete surprise. Due to the success of its independent advisory service model, the 100% employee owned firm, as of December 31, 2018, oversees $20.2 billion in assets for foundations, endowments, healthcare organizations and family offices. Irvine Company had been proactively monitoring its real estate portfolio for the perfect space to accommodate the growing firm.
During that time, Canterbury explored other Irvine Company locations as well as properties from other landlords, but they kept coming back to Irvine Company and Newport Center.
“When push came to shove, we made a conscious decision to stay with Irvine Company because of their responsiveness, their attentiveness, and the standards to which they maintain their property. The Newport Center location can’t be beat.”
The 15,000-square-foot 5th floor of 610 Newport Center Drive offered the perfect new home, less than a quarter mile from the location Canterbury had occupied and loved for decades.
In addition to more square footage, the building’s flexible floor plate allowed Canterbury to provide a more functional, collaborative work space to more employees and ultimately better serve their clients.
Once Canterbury chose the space, things moved lightning fast. Canterbury Consulting engaged interior design and architecture firm SAA to lead the design of the new space. The SAA and Irvine Company teams worked so closely that Ethridge often found it difficult to tell where one team ended and another began.
“The Irvine Company Workplace Success Team, our real estate brokers, the design firm and the general contractors were each responsible for different elements of the project. But they all knew each other, had experience working together, and acted as a single entity to get us moved into this space,” Ethridge says. “This was my first time managing an office move from soup to nuts and it was a great experience.”
Today, Canterbury Consulting is happily settled into their new office. They look forward to continuing to serve nonprofit and family clients in the community, providing unbiased investment advice for years to come.