‘Brand new day’: BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia opens new office complex in Columbus
After BlueCross Blue Shield of Georgia snipped the grand-opening ribbon Wednesday on its shiny new operations center in northeast Columbus, Barbara Archie and Julie Courville shared a unique perspective on the significance of the moment.
“It’s a brand new day for us, from not having to fight over a parking place, to all of the natural light in the building so that no matter where you sit, you’re able to look outside,” said Archie, an operations manager who has worked with the insurer for 35 years. “We’ve come from an environment where we had to go find a window to see what the weather was like.”
Courville, an operations director who has been with BlueCross BlueShield for 28 years, making the drive from Opelika, Ala., to Columbus, said everything from the new fixtures and artwork on the walls to the building's overall "exciting design" are making a positive impression on her colleagues. Smiles among co-workers have been abundant this week, she said.
“We’re looking at all of the memories we have, all of the good functions and successes that we had at our old building, and we’re trying to roll those together and think about how successful we’ll be at the new building,” she said.
There will be plenty of old and new memories to go around, with BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia in the middle of moving roughly 1,500 employees from its current window-deprived office complex at 2357 Warm Springs Road — a place the company has called home since 1958, including a couple of expansions — to the sleek, 235,000-square-foot structure at 6087 Technology Parkway, tucked just inside Muscogee Technology Park in the Midland area of Columbus.
More than 200 community and company officials kicked off the latest chapter of the health insurer’s long history in the city Wednesday with a flurry of anecdotes punctuating the importance of what was taking place: A firm that could have gone elsewhere if it chose decided to stay where it has long been, with plans to increase its work force here from about 1,500 to the new building’s capacity of 2,000 staffers as business grows as anticipated in the coming years.
“Today we celebrate not just the opening of a remarkable building,” said Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. “What we celebrate is the ability of individuals to have great paying jobs, to have wonderful health care, to be able to be not only self sufficient for themselves, but for generations to come, because behind every job is a face that represents an individual.”
Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson noted there were so many people and groups that helped make it all happen — the Columbus Dvelopment Authority, city officials, local colleges, state and political leaders.
“Seeing this today reminds me of two life lessons,” she said. “One is that you can’t hold good people back. People that believe if they invest in themselves and give their employees this type of incredibly encouraging environment, they’re going to reap the dividends of that ... The second lesson is that life is about relationships.”
Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Anderson, who started his job here in June, also singled out various key players in the project, including his own staff, while pointing out the need to chase after the next major employer and find a way to bring them to the city.
“I can tell you when we have a client in the next few weeks that wants to see Columbus, this building will part of the windshield tour, to make sure they know what we do,” he said.
Development authority board member Russ Carreker also focused his message on the hard work and time it took for the project to become reality. He said while landing a new client is great, getting an “old customer” to do more business with you is a special moment in the life of anyone familiar with sales.
“The project itself goes back to 2010,” he said. “Dick Ellis was leading the development authority back then when the project started and it sort of drug on for a long time. And 2013 came along and we really weren’t sure that Columbus was going to be able to compete. But the folks that were on the development authority at that time put together a deal that brought the project together ... We congratulate everybody who’s been involved.”
While it did take a few years to pull everything together, construction by general contractor Batson Cook took little more than a year to complete, with the word “amazing” mentioned more than once Wednesday surrounding the speedy feat. The Molasky Group of Companies, with offices in Atlanta and Las Vegas, developed the office space for BlueCross BlueShield, which will lease it long term. City of Columbus building permits show Molasky spending about $76 million on construction.
The finished product in Columbus will be a polished prototype for future office construction elsewhere by Anthem Inc., the parent company of BlueCross Blue Shield of Georgia, said Jim Ardell, vice president of corporate real estate and procurement. This is the first building Anthem has constructed in a decade, he said.
Ardell ticked off the features that make the three-story operations center special, with its large atrium, open design and plentiful parking. A key element includes 40,000 square feet of windows, which brings in lots of natural light, thus saving the company money on its electricity bill.
“Now, I don’t know if you’ve seen our old building ...,” he said, pausing and drawing laughter from those gathered at the grand opening. “But it won't surprise you to know it is 15 times more windows.”
There’s also raised flooring, which allows air conditioning to be distributed from below rather than above, with an estimated 30 percent electricity savings. Low-water plumbing, central trash and recycling areas, and LED lighting that cycles off eventually also are part of the design.
“This is a beautiful building,” Ardell said. “You often hear designers debate form over function. As you tour this building, you’ll see the results of our efforts to create space where we believe our associates can thrive, and we hope that we were able to build a little fun into it at the same time.”
The design includes media technology throughout the structure, two “hangout rooms” where employees can take a break and watch TV or hold a meeting or other type of gathering. There’s a cafeteria with healthy food options, a fitness center and a walking trail just over a mile long around the property.
Morgan Kendrick, president of BlueCross Blue Shield of Georgia, said he and the employees are “beyond thrilled” with the new office building, which will serve nearly 3 million people covered under its insurance plans. The primary function of those working at the Midland center is handling calls from customers. On top of the 1,500 individuals at the new center, there are about 620 individuals working remotely from their homes, processing insurance claims, company officials said.
“This will be the home for about 1,500 of our 4,000 associates in the state of Georgia, and we’ve got the capacity to grow to 2,000 as our business progresses,” said Kendrick, noting Columbus is one of four operational hubs for Anthem in the U.S. “We could not be happier about continuing our relationship and building our home in Columbus, Georgia.”
Both Courville and Archie served on an employee committee tasked with letting designer, Cincinnati-based Dollries Group, know what staffers preferred in the new facility.
“I think we got everything we wanted and more,” said Courville, who envisions the new office environment helping the insurer recruit workers in the future. “We actually helped pick out a lot of (wall) images in the building ... It was very enjoyable picking those out and having input into the huddle rooms and the hangout rooms and the areas that will be more social areas for associates.”
Archie, meanwhile, said the extra elbow room is very appreciated by the employees, who had been toiling in “any kind of nook and cranny that we could find” in the old structure, which should be vacated by the end October. She acknowledged being a little teary-eyed last Friday while departing the former office, the place she had called her work home for 35 years.
“But when I came in here Sunday morning to test the phone lines, it was a brand new day, a brand new feeling, and no regrets, no looking back,” she said.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Here are a few facts, figures and notes about the new BlueCross Blue Shield of Georgia building:
• THE SIZE: 235,000 square feet
• THE COST: About $76 million spent on construction by Molasky Group of Companies
• CONTRACTOR: Batson Cook, headquartered in West Point, Ga., and Atlanta
• EMPLOYEES: About 1,500 will work there initially, with capacity for 2,000 staffers
• EFFORT: More than 40 companies were involved in design and construction, with 250 construction workers on site
• CONCRETE: 10,900 cubic yards, enough for a three-mile road 20 feet wide
• STEEL: 1,339 tons, enough to build 10 Statues of Liberty
• WINDOWS: About 40,000 square feet of glass in the building
Source: Anthem, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, City of Columbus building permits
This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 7:01 PM with the headline "‘Brand new day’: BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia opens new office complex in Columbus ."