CHICAGO—The migration of many huge firms from the suburbs to the CBD has developed into one of the region's most notable trends, but many others have decided to recommit and expand their suburban space. Direct Energy, for example, a North American energy and energy related services provider with nearly 5 million residential and commercial customers, recently expanded its operations in northwest suburban Buffalo Grove, and like an increasing number of CBD occupants, has also brought in the open office concept.
The company now has almost 300 employees and occupies about 57,000 square feet in the town's Abbott Court, a boost of about 75%. It added more than 100 new jobs this year alone, and continues to hire for its businesses located here, which include Home Warranty of America, Direct Energy Protection Plans and Direct Energy Rentals.
“We have been in this area for years and this is where our employees and operations are," Scott Boose, president of Direct Energy Services, tells GlobeSt.com. "When we needed to expand, it was easy to do so here. Buffalo Grove is a critical location for us."
“Millions of transactions are handled here each year, and more than half a million customer contracts are maintained by the Buffalo Grove team," he adds. "We have sales and service agents, marketers, supervisors, project managers and analysts working here each day.”
Direct Energy used all locally based Chicago contractors to enlarge and renovate the space, he adds. The new work area occupies two buildings and incorporates the open concept Direct Energy uses in most locations. The company has no private offices; instead, everyone works in an open and collaborative environment. Furthermore, there are three mother's rooms; two lunch rooms with healthy options; training rooms; a call center and a warehouse/shipping area. The new facility also has state of the art video conferencing and telephony.
"Our expanded and renovated facilities position us well for the future,” says Dennis Donovan, head of operations and planning. “We also incorporated additional space so we can continue to hire and create new jobs."
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
