
Subscribe
With a busy week behind you and the weekend within reach, there’s no shame in taking things a bit easy on Friday afternoon. With this in mind, every Friday TriplePundit will give you a fun, easy read on a topic you care about. So, take a break from those endless email threads, and spend five minutes catching up on the latest trends in sustainability and business.
The migration of major companies from urban downtowns to surrounding suburbs has spanned decades. Across the U.S., commuters sit idly in traffic jams while cities become blighted by decreased business activity and population loss. But as more Americans move back to once-forgotten urban centers, top companies are doing the same -- bolstering their bottom lines and revitalizing downtowns in the process.
Sara Corbett of Wired.com caught up with Hsieh in downtown Vegas earlier this year. (If you're craving a bit of inspiration, do yourself a favor at check the post out here. It's really worth a read in full.) Less than three years after the initial announcement, the Downtown Project team is snapping up old motel complexes and commercial buildings that haven’t flourished in decades. They've also set up a $50 million TechFund to endow promising startups, Wired reported.
Although CEO Joe Taylor told TriplePundit that Newark wasn't the most "financially lucrative" choice in the short-term, it happened to be smack dab in the middle of one of the best mass transit hubs in the U.S. -- allowing the company to retain its top talent in an environmentally and socially responsible way. The 12-story headquarters was the first new office building for Newark in more than 20 years.
Earlier this year, the company began test-driving miniature versions of its stores that will fit in urban downtowns. The first downsized TargetExpress store, near the University of Minnesota, will be even smaller than the CityTarget stores the retailer began introducing more than two years ago.
Since 1991, New Belgium Brewery has grown from a few bottles in a basement to the nation's eighth largest brewery -- and it's done it all in Fort Collins, Colo. While the brewery only employs 350 people in the city, its reach and influence is unparalleled.
As Trevor Hughes of the Coloradoan.com put it: "The brewery is something of a cultural touchstone for Fort Collins: The decisions New Belgium makes not only shape the beers we drink, but affect the kinds of bikes we ride, the racks we lock those bikes to and the trails we pedal along."
Over the past two decades, the company has attracted tourist dollars, driven the use of solar panels and electric cars, and even helped change state law. Now, CEO Kim Jordan is taking her change-making business prowess to the East Coast -- with the construction of a $175 million facility in downtown Ashville, N.C.
“This and other projects are going to rejuvenate downtown Houston, bringing a lot of excitement and activity to the area, where people will live, work and play,” Kap Malik, design principal for the project, told the paper. “It will be a landmark building.” The 25-story luxury hotel is expected in the third quarter of 2016, just in time for the Super Bowl.
Last year, Coca-Cola Co. announced it would open a 2,000-person information-technology office near its headquarters in downtown Atlanta, relocating some tech staff that had been based in the suburbs. With this most recent move, the company will employ more than 6,500 people downtown, reports the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Treehouse image courtesy of Downtown Containerpark
New Belgium headquarters image courtesy of New Belgium Brewery
Coca-Cola headquarters image: Flickr/psyberartist
Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is an editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared on the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and The Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.
Mary Mazzoni is the senior editor of TriplePundit and director of TriplePundit's Brand Studio. She is based in Philadelphia and loves to travel, spend time outdoors and experiment with vegetarian recipes in the kitchen. Along with TriplePundit, her recent work can be found in Conscious Company and VICE’s Motherboard.