Not all the news on the old College of Emporia campus is grim these days. Kenyon Hall may have a wrecking ball hanging over it, but next door, the former National Teachers Hall of Fame building has a new owner, a new name and tenant on the way.
The building, originally the Laughlin-Lewis Library at C of E, was bought by Arthur Properties, a partnership of Emporians Steve and Bernadette Ihde (who also own Design Rite Contracting) and Steve Higgs.
They have dubbed the building the C of E Professional Plaza. The first tenant will be a New Jersey mortgage broker, Consumer’s Choice Mortgage Services, which is moving its processing and compliance services to Emporia. Consumer’s Choice, which also has offices in three other eastern states, will have its office on the third floor of the building, and may be joined later by a new business intended to handle outsourced services of other businesses.
In a news release from Arthur Properties, Ted Ulan, who with his wife, Tanya, owns Consumer’s Choice, said moving the company’s processing services to Emporia made a great deal of sense.
“Emporia not only represents a better cost structure for our mortgage services,” he said, “but it opens doors to tremendous expansion opportunities. We tried the typical processing outsource to India or Brazil, but it never met our standards. We believe a golden opportunity exists to build that same outsourcing processing model right here in Emporia.”
The Ulans, who will also be involved in the ownership and operations of the C of E Professional Plaza, have bought a home in Emporia.
Tanya Ulan said the Emporia operation should be up and running soon.
“We anticipate an employee base of 30 to 50 persons by year’s end,” she said.
Ihde said that the bottom two floors of the building will be remodeled for medical and professional offices.
The partners also see part of the space being used as a business incubator.
Arthur Properties recently pitched that idea at a meeting at the Trusler Business Center with representatives from Emporia State University, the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Development Council and Emporia Main Street.
“We hope to work in unison with other entities to develop this business incubation zone within the building,” Ihde said, “where progressive business upstarts (startups) can network, share facilities and grow a business concept at very flexible rates and terms.”
The two Steves have known each other for many years. They attended high school together in New Jersey.
Several years ago, Steve Higgs sold his business, the Carex Medical Supply Co., to Rubbermaid. Steve Ihde convinced him that the Midwest offered good investment opportunities, and they formed Arthur Properties.
Why would two men named Steve name their business Arthur? Their full names are Arthur Steve Ihde and Steve Arthur Higgs.
chrisranjana (anonymous) says...
"We tried the typical processing outsource to India or Brazil, but it never met our standards. We believe a golden opportunity exists to build that same outsourcing processing model right here in Emporia"
can you please elaborate on what services you tried to outsource to india and were not satisfied ? Was it web development or programming or simple data entry type of services ?
February 7, 2007 at 9:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )