The former GoDaddy office building at 1 Parsons Drive in Hiawatha has been sold to a group of local developers.
Liz Mathis, economic development coordinator for the Hiawatha Economic Development Corporation (HEDCO), said Jan. 8 that the building was sold to NGD LLC Doug & Chris Sevey (ENSEVA LLC), Mike & Andy Hodge (Hodge Construction) and Bill & Tracy Bennett. The buyers haven’t yet released redevelopment plans for the building, Ms. Mathis said in a release.
The building housed more than 400 GoDaddy workers in 2020, before the company announced in 2022 that it would downsize and move to smaller office space due to workforce changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of that plan, GoDaddy listed its Hiawatha office for sale.
The company communicated to employees its intent to move to a smaller facility in June 2022, GoDaddy global vice president of real estate and workplace Calvin Crowder said, noting that with a large percentage of its employees working remotely since the pandemic began, GoDaddy no longer needed the larger Hiawatha facility.
GoDaddy, based in Tempe, Arizona and founded in 1997, provides domain name registration, website hosting, email marketing and other services to a global customer base.
The 73,674-square-foot, two-story GoDaddy building in Hiawatha, built in 1991, was initially listed for $8.43 million. The asking price was lowered to $7.025 million in October 2023. The final sale price was not initially disclosed.
The overall property includes 584 cubicles, 11 conference rooms, two training facilities and four individual offices, as well as 480 parking spaces.
GoDaddy completed an extensive $6 million renovation of the Hiawatha facility in 2017, including such amenities as a speakeasy-style bar, a casual work area with swings and relaxed seating, a fitness facility and a full-service cafeteria. A slide was also included to connect the building’s two floors, but was later closed.
The facility was also expanded by 12,000 square feet as part of the project.
The Hiawatha building had once been owned by GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons, who sold off his stake in GoDaddy and stepped down from its board of directors in 2018. It originally served as the location for Parsons Technology, a software development company launched by Mr. Parsons in the basement of his Cedar Rapids home in 1984 and later sold to Intuit for $64 million.
