SYRACUSE — AnCor Inc., a design/build and general contracting firm headquartered in Syracuse, has opened a 2,000-square-foot office in Tempe, Arizona. The company says it opened the new space to support its growth and expansion in the southwest market. The office opened in early September, says Katherine Woods, the firm’s marketing coordinator. AnCor is headquartered […]
SYRACUSE — AnCor Inc., a design/build and general contracting firm headquartered in Syracuse, has opened a 2,000-square-foot office in Tempe, Arizona.
The company says it opened the new space to support its growth and expansion in the southwest market. The office opened in early September, says Katherine Woods, the firm’s marketing coordinator.
AnCor is headquartered in a space that covers half of a 24,000-square-foot building at 831 James St. in Syracuse. The company focuses on private, commercial projects that include new buildings, fitness centers, retail, large office spaces, hotels, and mall additions.
AnCor was working on a group of projects with a couple of different clients in Arizona when it started thinking about the possibility of an office in that state, says David Stewart, COO and general counsel at AnCor.
It was working on a couple Pilot travel centers and a couple of EoS Fitness projects, he adds. Both Stewart and Woods spoke to CNYBJ on Dec. 16.
“We’ve worked in Arizona for years but we’ve always managed the projects from this office, which is a challenge … [with] the different time zones, our project management is running projects that are three hours behind us, so they’re getting calls at [the] dinner [hour],” he notes.
AnCor started thinking about an office in Arizona back in 2018. “I think we realized how much opportunity there was out there at that time [in 2018],” Woods says.
As a smaller company, the firm’s principals spent time analyzing the market because to allocate resources toward such an initiative is a “big move” for the firm.
“We want to make sure we’ve tested the market; that we feel comfortable that there’s going to be opportunities out there; that we’re going to be able to expand out there,” says Stewart.
Robert Picciott, Jr., AnCor’s director of corporate development, sought information from some contacts he had in the Arizona market and explained that the company was looking for office space, says Stewart.
AnCor currently has about 10 “core” clients in Arizona, including EoS Fitness, Pilot, and Gold’s Gym.
“Those are companies that have something that’s going on every year. It’s predictable for us,” says Stewart “They’re always going to have something going on.”
The firm also has additional one-time customers that need just a single store, center, renovation, or office building.
Stewart declined to disclose specific dollar figures for AnCor’s annual revenue. When asked how much of the company’s 2019 annual revenue will result from its work in the western states, he replies, “I would probably say 25 percent is currently on the west coast.”
AnCor has four people working in the Tempe office, including two new hires and one employee who transferred to Arizona from Syracuse. It has a current employee count of 42 companywide.
Brothers Tom and Joseph Anthony launched AnCor in 1985 and both remain equal owners in the company, according to Stewart.
“Given the amount of growth we are seeing in the southwest region of the country, strategically it makes sense to have a physical location to support our existing clients and new clients who reside and develop out there. We are thankful for our clients who have trusted us with their work across the country, and look forward to further nurturing these relationships, and creating new ones with this exciting opportunity,” Joseph Anthony, CEO of AnCor, said in a statement.