Mike Ziecik Works Deal With Payroll 1

With the Payroll 1, Inc. lease expiration date drawing closer, CEO Elaine Kelly took a hard look at the company headquarters' inflexible, inefficient space.  In a former school in Royal Oak, the staff of 75 is spread out on three floors.

She knew the company could have better, and it will, when it moves this Fall to its new building in Birmingham.

The third party payroll services firm will move from 333 W. Seventh Street, where it has been for 15 years, to the former National City Building - now the Wells Fargo Building - on Woodward at Adams.

The square footage will drop from 37,000 square feet to 17,000 - and Payroll 1 will have room to expand, said Arthur Smith, architect with Harley Ellis Devereaux, which designed the new headquarters build-out.

"The first thing we did was call Mike (Ziecik, GVA Detroit principal) and asked him to help us," Kelly said.  He worked with company leaders to identify important elements.

"They wanted to be in a central business district with walkability and nearby shopping and restaurants.  They didn't want to be far from the old location because they didn't want to interfere with staff commutes,"  Ziecik said.  "And they wanted the right kind of space - something open, something with more efficiency."

Along the Woodward Corridor isn't much office space that met Payroll 1's needs, Ziecik said.

But, the Wells Fargo Building fit the bill nearly perfectly, and has on-site parking available, Ziecik said.  The 78,000 square foot building is also occupied by AOL.

Payroll 1's lease is five years, with options.

Smith said it came down to throwing out all assumptions.  "In their old space, they grew incrementally and took more and more space here and there," he said.  "They needed space a little at a time, and what happened is they usually needed it right away, and that state became sort of a growth-by-reaction pattern.  It's kind of like a rat's maze."

The new plan dramatically cut the amount of square footage and led to a more usable workspace.

"The space is designed so that everyone has a sense of territory without the barricades," Kelly said.

The space itself saves money as well.  "Birmingham rents are more than they are in Royal Oak, but by the time they built in the efficiencies in the number of square feet, they're actually paying less," Ziecik said.

Carol Marshall, Writer For The Oakland Business Review