Leveraging location strategy to bring a retired headquarters back to life

Originally constructed in 1998 by Snap-On Incorporated, the three-story office building at 3900 Kinross Lakes Parkway served as the company’s regional headquarters for nearly 20 years. Its location just minutes from Interstate-77, the I-77/271 interchange and State Route 8 contributed to Snap-On’s success in the building.

During that time, Richfield, Ohio was evolving into a business park destination. Its prime Northeast Ohio location made commuting from Cleveland, Akron and nearby suburbs easy, attracting medium and large businesses from nearly every industry.

As the Richfield market grew, so did Snap-On. After a long run at 3900 Kinross Lakes Parkway, Snap-On vacated the property as part of a strategic expansion effort, ultimately moving into a newly constructed facility across the street. This left the building vacant for years to come without a proper vision on how to adapt the asset to tenant needs moving forward.

Raith Capital Partners purchased the building in 2017 and enlisted JLL to fill the vacancy. Under direction from Managing Directors Rob Roe and Joe Messina, and Vice President David Stecker, a new approach to securing tenants was deployed.

Instead of aiming to recruit one large business to fill the 91,000 square feet, JLL recommended converting the building into a multi-tenant office building and investing in modern updates to aid in efficiency and tenant recruitment. JLL’s recommended transformation included a new, two-story atrium lobby, common areas, a conference center, outdoor patio and basketball court. With improvements in place, JLL set out to strategically define potential tenants.

To identify target companies, JLL leveraged its market knowledge and technology to identify larger single floor tenants that would find the most value in the building’s regional location, employee demographics and features.

With a strong roster of companies to approach, JLL then plotted employee addresses to determine average commute times and routes. Using heat mapping technology, potential tenants could see how far employees and clients were travelling each day to do business, further showcasing how Richfield could serve as their next optimal location.

JLL worked quickly and efficiently to procure meetings with ideal prospects, reveal building renovations through private tours and negotiate lease terms. JLL was able to attract and secure three strong regional full-floor tenants, including Assured Partners, Davey Tree and Navigate 360, bringing occupancy from zero to 100 percent in a record 18 months. In fact, the final two leases were signed within months of each other, the third tenant closing in just two months during the peak of the novel COVID-19 outbreak.

The reinvigorated Kinross Lakes Business Center now competes with major business parks in the Northeast Ohio region from both an amenity and rent perspective, meeting and exceeding Raith Capital Partners’ occupancy objectives.