Friday, March 10, 2006
Park Boots 15 Tenants To Land Trendwest Timeshare Real Estate
In about a month, the Conejos Executive Offices in northeast Albuquerque will be no more. That's when an out-of-state company will take the place of the more than a dozen businesses that currently reside there.
The owner of the Conejos Office Park has decided that its 8,000-square-foot building, Conejos Executive Offices, is better suited for one lease, rather than 15, and that lease is going to the Redmond, Wash. based-timeshare real estate company Trendwest Resorts.
Trendwest first approached Vista Hills Partners, the owner of the five-building office park last October, but it took several months before Vista Hills made any kind of determination.
Knight Seavey, a principal in Vista Hills, says they timed the transition around when their existing tenants' leases were up for renewal. The 15 businesses were either on six month or month-to-month leases. A letter notifying the tenants about the closure of the office park was sent out in mid-January, giving the businesses more than two months to find another location. Everyone is expected to be out by the end of March.
"Even when it works perfectly, executive office buildings won't work as well as a single user," says Seavey, who also is the owner of Insite Works, an architectural firm that designed and developed the buildings within the Conejos Office Park.
Trendwest Timeshare real Estate will start making improvements to the building at the beginning of April, with a move-in date slated for May. The timeshare business, which is part of Cendant Timeshare Resort Group of Orlando, Fla., plans to hire 40 to 45 people for its Albuquerque office, including sales, marketing and telemarketing positions.
The move to New Mexico, says Bill Ford, a vice president with Trendwest, was a natural expansion, since the company has locations in surrounding states.
Trendwest's network operates 59 WorldMark resorts in the U.S. and international locations such as Mexico and Australia. Trendwest Timeshare is the exclusive developer and marketer of WorldMark, The Club, whose clients purchase ownership interest in the club through Trendwest. Instead of receiving a deeded ownership, timeshare owners buy vacation "credits" that they spend like currency on resorts within the WorldMark network, allowing owners the ability to spend them whenever and wherever they want.
While the news came as a surprise to the business owners at the Conejos Executive Offices, sending them scrambling for places to move to, many were appreciative of the time they were given to find additional space.
"But, it was still a frenzy here for a short time," says James Korenchen, president of James Korenchen Public Relations. Korenchen estimates the move will end up costing him thousands of dollars, including cost considerations such as new collateral materials.
Down the hall, Tom Duncan, president of Duncan Building Contractors, says his business will probably end up spending about $3,000 in unexpected costs, adding that the building's owners managed to eliminate one of the biggest potential hassles. Vista Hills is allowing all of its tenants to keep their existing phone numbers.
One of the office's larger tenants, Humana MarketPoint, recently signed a 4,000-square-foot lease in another building Seavey is part owner in on Jefferson and Alameda. Other businesses, such as Ajilon Finance, were already planning on moving.
The owner of the Conejos Office Park has decided that its 8,000-square-foot building, Conejos Executive Offices, is better suited for one lease, rather than 15, and that lease is going to the Redmond, Wash. based-timeshare real estate company Trendwest Resorts.
Trendwest first approached Vista Hills Partners, the owner of the five-building office park last October, but it took several months before Vista Hills made any kind of determination.
Knight Seavey, a principal in Vista Hills, says they timed the transition around when their existing tenants' leases were up for renewal. The 15 businesses were either on six month or month-to-month leases. A letter notifying the tenants about the closure of the office park was sent out in mid-January, giving the businesses more than two months to find another location. Everyone is expected to be out by the end of March.
"Even when it works perfectly, executive office buildings won't work as well as a single user," says Seavey, who also is the owner of Insite Works, an architectural firm that designed and developed the buildings within the Conejos Office Park.
Trendwest Timeshare real Estate will start making improvements to the building at the beginning of April, with a move-in date slated for May. The timeshare business, which is part of Cendant Timeshare Resort Group of Orlando, Fla., plans to hire 40 to 45 people for its Albuquerque office, including sales, marketing and telemarketing positions.
The move to New Mexico, says Bill Ford, a vice president with Trendwest, was a natural expansion, since the company has locations in surrounding states.
Trendwest's network operates 59 WorldMark resorts in the U.S. and international locations such as Mexico and Australia. Trendwest Timeshare is the exclusive developer and marketer of WorldMark, The Club, whose clients purchase ownership interest in the club through Trendwest. Instead of receiving a deeded ownership, timeshare owners buy vacation "credits" that they spend like currency on resorts within the WorldMark network, allowing owners the ability to spend them whenever and wherever they want.
While the news came as a surprise to the business owners at the Conejos Executive Offices, sending them scrambling for places to move to, many were appreciative of the time they were given to find additional space.
"But, it was still a frenzy here for a short time," says James Korenchen, president of James Korenchen Public Relations. Korenchen estimates the move will end up costing him thousands of dollars, including cost considerations such as new collateral materials.
Down the hall, Tom Duncan, president of Duncan Building Contractors, says his business will probably end up spending about $3,000 in unexpected costs, adding that the building's owners managed to eliminate one of the biggest potential hassles. Vista Hills is allowing all of its tenants to keep their existing phone numbers.
One of the office's larger tenants, Humana MarketPoint, recently signed a 4,000-square-foot lease in another building Seavey is part owner in on Jefferson and Alameda. Other businesses, such as Ajilon Finance, were already planning on moving.
# posted by John @ 4:42 AM 
