Regus becomes first new tenant of former Transamerica office buildings

The former Transamerica office buildings in northeast Cedar Rapids have their first official new tenant -- Regus. A nationwide company that provides full-time and hybrid day-use offices and coworking spaces, Regus began operations March 1 on the second floor of the west tower at the former Transamerica site, 4515 N. River Blvd. NE, an area now known as Edgewood Pointe. The 51-acre site was largely vacated when Transamerica moved its Cedar Rapids operations to the former Hibu site in southwest Cedar Rapids, a process that began in 2016 and continued gradually for several years. A number of older office buildings on the River Boulevard property were demolished in 2021, and a redevelopment plan for the property has recently been unveiled. But two 100,000-square-foot Class A office buildings, constructed in 1994, were exempted from demolition. Kerry Panozzo, a real estate agent for HomeSmart Residential and Commercial Realty, is leading the effort to redevelop the buildings, as well as the remaining portion of the property. Brian Dalziel, sales and operations manager, said the Regus center in Cedar Rapids essentially provides an inclusive, “plug and play” office environment for a variety of business office needs. “We're the world's largest provider of these kinds of services,” Mr. Dalziel said, “and we have memberships where you can go to any (Regus) location around the world.” The Regus model provides a variety of fully furnished office configurations, Mr. Dalziel said. Standing, motorized desks are standard, with furniture options ranging from office chairs to couches to “comfy chairs.” The facility is also equipped with fiber gig-speed internet access. Offices are available for single or multiple users, and other available spaces include a community room, board room and kitchenette.

“They can design their own office, if you will,” Mr. Dalziel said. “Basically, you can walk in, drop down your laptop and get to work.” With a digital key system, clients have round-the-clock access to the building as well as their private office space, he said. The Regus space at Edgewood Pointe totals just over 12,000 square feet, Mr. Dalziel said. As currently configured, the space includes 33 private offices, some with exterior views. Another 40 are “cube offices” with lockable glass sliding doors. There are another five coworking desks in an open area, four of which are in a cluster “that would be suitable, for example, for an agile software team.” A high-top desk is available for stand-up “scrum meetings,” and L-shaped desks would be suitable for programmers, Mr. Dalziel said. Fee structures vary depending on the amount of space needed, Mr. Dalziel said. A coworking desk starts at $210 per month, while fees for private offices range from $500 to $1,500 per month depending on size and configuration. Leases can run month-to-month or in increments up to three years. “We have clients that do all of those, in some cases,” Mr. Dalziel said. “We’ve had clients that are going to remodel their existing location, or maybe they had some fire or water damage, or got hit by a storm. They can move in and be with us for six months while they're remodeling, then go back to their regular office. It’s also a good option for companies that are moving from one location to another, but their construction is behind schedule and the lease on their old place is up three months before the new place is going to be ready – basically temporary locations for folks in those situations.” Regarding ideal clients, Mr. Dalziel said the Regus center in Cedar Rapids could meet the needs of a variety of professionals, including sole entrepreneurs, those who primarily work from home but need occasional office space for meetings, or business travelers looking for a short-term work site.

“We have a variety of customers,” Mr. Dalziel said. “For example, we have a corporate client that has three offices. They've got both operations and salespeople stationed here, and they have a relationship with a couple dozen Regus offices all across the country. Instead of getting their own dedicated office, it makes more sense for them to office with us, because they know they walk in and everything's here ready. If they need to reallocate people from one city to another, they can do so easily.” Mr. Dalziel said 450 of the world’s Fortune 500 companies have relationships with Regus. “I've been active in the startup community for over 30 years, and we've had startups that have moved in that are receiving coaching and counseling in addition to space. So we connect folks and help them network with Angel investors in the private equity community. And for small businesses, it makes sense because they don't have to worry about telephone connections, internet service, security and maintenance – all that stuff is included, so it makes them more agile so that they can simply add an office when they  outgrow their space. You want to be focusing on customers and delivering against your value proposition, rather than figuring out how you're going to get more people into a crowded space.” Mr. Dalziel is a familiar presence in the Corridor business community. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, he graduated from the University of Iowa and spent 15 years launching three different startups in Cedar Rapids launching three different startup companies, including as the CEO and founder of Decisionmark, a company that provided online software and information to the broadcast industry. That company became TitanTV in 2007. He then moved on to launch other companies in Cedar Rapids, including Dovetail Learning Systems and Mitek, before spending 15 years with nonprofit organizations in Dubuque and Spencer, where he helped more than 100 startup companies capitalize more than $40 million in angel investment and private equity capital. He helped establish Regus coworking centers in northwest Iowa before recently moving back to Cedar Rapids for family reasons. Regus itself is no stranger to the Cedar Rapids market, as the company had a location in the Witwer building in downtown Cedar Rapids for several years. However, the Edgewood Pointe location is “larger, newer, nicer and has free parking,” Mr. Dalziel said. Regus, founded by Mark Dixon in 1989 in Brussels, Belgium, now has more than 4,000 locations in 120 countries. For more information on Regus’ Cedar Rapids facility, contact Mr. Dalziel at (319) 270-3235 or by email at Brian.Dalziel@iwgplc.com