On June 15th Hot Tomali officially moved into our own building at 1441 E Pender St. This move was a big step for the little agency that I started in the living room of a one bedroom West End apartment in the summer of 1998. Since then, we’ve upgraded our work spaces a few times as necessitated by growth. The first big move came in October 2008 when I took a flying leap and hung out a shingle at Homer and Helmcken in Yaletown, above what used to be the swanky Century Grill (now the Blue Water Cafe). That 1,200 sq/ft space saw us hire our first employees, land our first big contract, and win our first awards. Ah, memories.

Three years later (2001) we were in the middle of the dot bomb crash and the once lucrative office space in Yaletown was now plentiful. Rather than renew the lease on our cozy little studio, we opted to move across the street into a bigger space that had previously been home to notable organizations such as Vancouver Film School and Stratford Internet (a big victim when the dot.com bubble burst). Things were good—we had high tech wiring, built in modular workstations, and air conditioning that “usually worked” in this amazing brick and beam construction office space that had been converted from an old warehouse. More contracts, employees and awards soon followed.

A couple of years later our neighbours, Network Productions (makers of the “Bell Making The Cut” reality series) moved out and we opted for further expansion. We blew through the wall and added more office space and a production facility with two HD editing bays. Our already bustling studio now felt like a real agency, with departments, separate offices, and even a kitchen sink.

Now you might ask, if times were good, and the space was great, then why move? Well, being the principal owner of Hot Tomali, I was always a little bit dismayed with the fact that we’d spent a great deal of money to work in all these trendy buildings over the course of a decade, yet aside from some great memories, we had nothing to show for it. We were also faced with the need to expand again, and I was reluctant to invest a huge sum of money into a space that we might outgrow in a couple of years.

I had been passively following the commercial real estate market for several years with a sense that when the time was right we would make a move. About a year ago there was all this inventory coming on the market and it was just sitting there, often dropping in price by hundreds of thousands of dollars, as anxious owners tried to instigate a sale in a stagnant market. The media was talking about the real estate bubble being burst, and everyone was speculating about where the bottom might be. As with any market downturn, you had your doom and gloom guys trying to scare the pants off of everyone by saying we faced a recession worse than the great depression. What were we to make of it?

Sub-prime mortgage crisis be damned, I wanted my own space! I ramped up my search efforts and we looked at several offices in Yaletown, Hot Tomali’s home for the last 10 years. The thing that held me back was mainly the fact that most available spaces for sale were the same size or smaller than what we were already in, and the only ones that were bigger had big strata fees to go with those big mortgage payments. It just didn’t feel right—I just couldn’t justify the commitment.

Working with our realtor, Mario Felicella over at Sutton, we started to venture out a bit. We checked out some live/work studios in Coal Harbour that were funky, but too impractical for a company of our size. We investigated some big lofts in Gastown and the Cambie area, which were super cool, but required a full on gutting and reno before they would be suitable for us. Then, we finally ventured over to the Commercial Drive area to check out this building on East Pender St. that I had found on the Internet.

It was love at first sight. Upon arriving to look at the building I was immediately impressed by the stunning and awe inspiring facade of the place. My initial thought was that the building almost seemed out of place—a structure of this nature would surely belong in a chic-modern European setting such as Copenhagen or Barcelona.

The building’s developer, and current occupant, Randy Lim of Revolution Designs met with us and gave us the tour. Randy’s appreciation for fine design is apparent in his passion for every detail in the space. Everything was custom fabricated—there are no Home Depot finishings to be found here.

The building exterior is comprised of structural concrete block that has been finished with expert precision. The facade is finished with galvanized, custom fabricated paneled soffits and downpipe, and custom exterior trim.

Arriving at the 11 foot tall entrance doors makes visitors feel as though they’ve arrived at the residence of some gigantic being. These towering doors provide a touch of grandiose in an otherwise minimalist modern design, and often times when entering through them I’m reminded of the feeling a child might have entering an intentionally oversized theme house at Disneyland.

The main office at the front of the building provides retail worthy storefront, with floor to ceiling windows and a fantastic concrete feature wall that runs up the entire height of the building. (This space is currently occupied by our tenants, Mango and Aloe Designs.)

The staircase to the second level is comprised of powder coated, checker plated metal stairs, a 15-foot feature wall, and railings with custom fabricated powder coated steel pickets and thick commercial glazing. These touches provide a futuristic design element that would be worthy of a setting in a Phillip K. Dick novel.

At the top of the stairs, visitors are greeted by a lush garden deck that houses a large bamboo planter. This cedar decked patio is surrounded by floor to ceiling glass on three sides, providing natural illumination to the second floor offices and the stairwell below.

The offices on the top floor are furnished with built-in millwork, consisting of white laminate storage and custom fabricated workstations with powder coated metal frames and larch counter tops. The view from the north side of the building provides a stunning view of the North Shore mountains and the Vancouver shipyards.

The backside of the building features a mezzanine level, which sits halfway between the ground level and the second floor of the building. This space overlooks an additional 1,000+ sq/ft of broadcast production and photo studio with 16+ foot ceilings.

Shortly after arriving on the top level of the building for the first time I said “this is it”. It was essentially a turn key solution that provided ample space for our staff, a great studio space for us to aggressively expand our production capabilities, and the entire building in itself was inspirational.

Although I had some hesitation to move away from Yaletown after 10 years, the Commercial Drive district is a thriving creative community with great amenities. With local hot spots like Stella’s, The Reef, and Havana Cafe all within blocks of the agency, there are a ton of options for lunches and client meetings.

All in all, the benefits of having a place to call our own simply outweighed sticking with the status quo and paying through the nose to lease for another 10 years. Some people cautioned that we were buying during a time of incredible uncertainty. I believe the best opportunities to be found are really only available when you’re willing to take a risk. This step in our evolution holds many similarities to that fateful “flying leap” I took 11 years ago when I leased our first office space. The difference this time around is that I jumped into something we can take pride in and call our own.

Ultimately, you can put the right creative people pretty much anywhere and have success. The space doesn’t define the agency so much as the agency defines the space. That being said, smart agencies are realizing that they need to make good business decisions to grow and prosper for the long haul. Wise investments provide valuable equity and resources for future expansion and growth. It’s not all about drawing pretty pictures, and making people laugh—it’s about setting goals and executing a plan to get you there.

As much as I love our new high-end digs, I will never forget the experiences I learned by bootstrapping an agency in my one bedroom apartment in 1998. Many agencies try to sell themselves as “new age” because they keep their overhead down by using IKEA furniture and buy their boardroom tables at garage sales. My question for them is what will you have to show for your leased office space 10 years from now?