Fusion Alliance is moving to a new office – but it's a much smaller one.

The tech consulting firm is one of the new tenants in the Pointe at Polaris office development along Lyra Drive between the mall and I-71. In August it signed a lease for 8,200 square feet of space.

In doing so, it's moving from its home of 12 years on Polaris Parkway, which is three times the size of its new facility. President Rick Mariotti said the company had to get with the times.

"Our old space was created at a time when we were doing a lot of in-house development and support and we needed these large data centers that would bring a lot of people together in an agile environment," Mariotti said.

The company had been thinking for years that it didn't need so much space. Its staff of 500 includes teams in Cincinnati and Indianapolis and more employees in Pennsylvania and Texas, many of whom had learned to collaborate remotely. Then the pandemic forced a trial by fire.

"We already wanted to move away from the cube farm, to a space designed to facilitate collaboration in other ways," Mariotti said.

Work-from-home proved an easy adaptation for the company, but it recognized employees want to meet face-to-face at least part of the week. So Fusion Alliance challenged its architect, Design Collective, to develop a space accordingly.

The new office is built like an open office environment with a kitchen area, conference space, small huddle rooms and a coffee shop-like feel. But the company is now embracing "hoteling" too – employees won't get a set desk, instead most will circulate through a few days a week as work demands.

So, while Fusion Alliance has 140 employees in Central Ohio, this office will only have about 30 to 50 working there each day, probably with most coming in for meetings and gatherings with clients, and working from wherever they prefer the rest of the time.

"I hope it's a little more creative a space and it inspires people," Mariotti said. "There are opportunities for people to engage in different ways, sit and stand, but this will create a more relaxed work environment."

VanTrust Real Estate LLC developed the building, which has 70,000 square feet of office space, 30,000 square feet of retail space and 216 apartment units. There, they join Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Ohio and Cathcart Rail.

VanTrust also recently began a second phase with a 145,000 square foot office building and 260 apartment units. Bank of America signed on as the anchor tenant for that building, where it will occupy a 60,000-square-foot office space.

Mariotti said the design of the new office is inspired by big technology companies and how they've reacted to the pandemic and work-from-home.

"We knew the space would get smaller, but Covid has accelerated it," Mariotti said.

By Tristan Navera – Staff reporter, Columbus Business First, Nov 30, 2020, 3:09pm EST