Nothing Beats That New Building Smell
Blogger and self-described “changeaphobe” Brenden Nickels is an office assistant in the Minneapolis office.
For those of you that don’t know me, I’ve been working at KA since 2010, some time after I graduated from college. I have spent a majority of that time downtown, with the exception of the 18 months at Broadway Place East. Now I, and everyone else at KA, is back at our old stomping grounds, albeit with a brand new building.
First off, it is much bigger than any of our old offices combined.
Our new building is five floors tall, like the Broadway building, while our old building was just two. I will be honest, that as I write this on the first week of occupancy, it is overwhelming trying to find where everyone sits now. But like with anything, it will take some time for us, all of us, to get adjusted to one office contrasted to two separate offices 16 miles apart from each other.
Lunchroom Features
One thing that I have liked is our brand new lunchroom on the 1st floor. With the many new features it has, this lunchroom may just stir up jealousy between other construction companies. One of those features is the new Bevi water cooler. Not only can we get plain water with it, we can now get it sparkling it too, as well as in four different flavors. (I like to have it sparkling, and to combine all four flavors.) If you’re a coffee drinker, we also have a new coffee machine that allows you to not have just a cup of coffee, but an espresso, a cappuccino, or just some hot cocoa. We were very fortunate to have a mini-market available to us at Broadway, and we are now fortunate to have the same amenity here too. Plus, there’s televisions everywhere, so now we know what’s going on outside our building, not just what’s going on inside.
It’s also fun to watch the other buildings on this block take shape.
We’re right next door to the Finnegans brewery, which should be ready next spring, with the hotel/Italian restaurant and the apartment building to follow. I know there are a lot of events coming to the area in the near future, the Super Bowl for instance, and this is going to mean a mass of humanity coming here. Pretty soon, this lot will be lot like a miniature village, with many different people passing by each day, from those that work here (KA, Finnegans), those that live here (the HQ apartments), and those that are just staying here for a night or a few (the Elliot hotel).
Those of you who have moved here from Circle Pines or Realty, I will tell you from experience, you are moving into an one-stop area. Gotta run an errand of some sorts? There’s usually a store nearby that may have that thing that you need. You no longer have to drive out a few miles to get it, in fact, you may not need to drive at all. In my last blog article, I talked about the advantages to taking the bus, and it’s paying off. Assistant Marketing Coordinator Laurisa Titterud has told me that she has started taking the bus to work each day, and that she has been liking it.
Facing change
All in all, change is always difficult. I, myself, have been known to be a “changeaphobe” at times. But most of the time, something bad right now can turn into something good in the future. It wasn’t easy at all for me for the time at Broadway. But I think in the end, it was worth it. If they were alive to see it, I think J.L. Robinson, Mathew Kraus, Amos Andersen, and most importantly, Lloyd Engelsma would be very proud of where the company that builds that they built has become.
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Brilliant Brenden. I really enjoyed your thoughts. I walk around at least twice/week just to get it all in my head — where everyone is. You have a great grasp of change management and of our Company history.
Brenden has touched on a lot of things we are all thankful for! Nice job, Brenden