O’Brien & Gere moves Southern Tier office to Kirkwood

KIRKWOOD — Syracuse–based engineering firm O’Brien & Gere has relocated its Vestal office to a new, larger location in the NYSEG Building in Kirkwood.

“We’ve been in Broome County for over 30 years,” says Timothy Barry, senior vice president and industrial business unit leader. About two years ago, the company decided to make improvements to its technology as well as ramp up efforts to attract new employees. As part of that process, O’Brien & Gere began seeking out a new Southern Tier home to better accommodate growth, he says.

The company’s former Vestal location on the Huron Campus was 6,700 square feet and housed 30 people.

“We needed room to grow upwards of 50 to 60 percent over the next three to five years,” says Douglas Warneck, vice president. O’Brien & Gere’s new location in the NYSEG Building at 18 Link Drive has more than enough space, with 12,170 square feet, he says.

O’Brien & Gere worked with Pioneer Companies of Syracuse to find the new location and moved on July 18. O’Brien & Gere has 25 locations nationwide and retains Pioneer as its realtor, Barry says. CBRE Syracuse was the exclusive leasing agent for the landlord NYSEG, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, in this transaction.

Barry says the NYSEG Building offers the engineering company a cafeteria, common areas, and an open footprint.

Warneck says employees seem to like the new open, collaborative workspace design that moves away from cubicles. “You see all the good effect from that already,” he says.

 The new office will serve as a “hub” for O’Brien & Gere’s engineering infrastructure experts, Warneck says. The office will then share its expertise across O’Brien & Gere’s network in support of projects.

The office’s proximity to Binghamton University should help the company attract some new graduates as employees, Barry notes. In addition, the State University of New York (SUNY) system is a major client of O’Brien & Gere, he adds.

Currently, the company has three open positions in the Kirkwood office, Warneck says. “Our challenge is finding good people,” he notes.

While he declined to provide specific revenue figures, Barry says O’Brien & Gere is having its best year ever. “We’re doing very well as a company,” he says. According to the company’s 2011 annual report, it generated revenue of $200 million and employs 900 people across its 25 locations.

About 90 percent of O’Brien & Gere’s business is repeat business with existing customers, which includes Fortune 100 and 200 companies such as General Electric as well as major colleges and universities, and local, state, and federal governments. The company is also selectively adding new clients, Barry says.

Energy systems — both traditional and renewable energy — are becoming big business for the company, and that includes both natural gas and shale gas. The Southern Tier is part of the Marcellus Shale natural-gas formation.

O’Brien & Gere, headquartered at 333 W. Washington St., Syracuse, is an employee-owned engineering company. Other New York locations include offices in Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo. The company also has offices in Pittsburgh, Pa.; Edison, N.J.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; and Savannah, Ga.                       

Contact DeLore at tdelore@cnybj.com