By Jon W. Glass
NORFOLK — Ned Lilly calls it the "X factor of downtown cool." That's why the president and chief executive officer of OpenMFG LLC, a small but growing software technology company, decided to put down roots there, he said.
To accommodate its growth, the company recently paid $1.2 million to purchase two adjoining buildings downtown that stretch between West York and West Bute streets.
Over the next year, Lilly said OpenMFG's work force is expected to double to around 20 with new programmers, and sales and marketing employees. One of the company's newest hires is moving into a condominium within walking distance of the office, Lilly said, a one-time political consultant who formerly helped spawn several start ups for Landmark Communications, parent company of The Virginian-Pilot.
"The notion of being able to live in a kind of cool urban environment and walk to work to a software company doesn't sound like what people's traditional view of Norfolk might be," Lilly said. "Downtown is a little more interesting than an office park in a suburb somewhere."
The area where OpenMFG is located, off Granby Street near Brambleton Avenue, still is in transition. The planned 34-story Granby Tower, a residential project with ground-floor retail, is supposed to go up next door. It will dwarf OpenMFG's buildings.
"We're going to have a roof garden," Lilly said. "That's some good shade in the summer time."
OpenMFG began leasing office space in the York Street building in August 2005. Now that it's bought the buildings, it is renovating the interior of the 1940s-era office on West Bute. The art-deco style structure, with a recessed entry framed by thick glass blocks, once housed a Southern Bank of Norfolk but more recently was used by a commercial printing business.
The work includes adding a second floor, which will create a total of 7,000 square feet of office space. Lilly said the company may set aside some space to help incubate other technology start ups.
The York Street building, which was rented by lawyers and accountants before OpenMFG moved in, has about 3,000 square feet of space.
The company has developed an Enterprise Resource Planning software that it markets to small and mid-size manufacturing and distribution companies. Its software is built atop an open-source database system, offering what OpenMFG pitches as a cheaper, more flexible alternative to traditional proprietary systems.
Lilly, who grew up in Norfolk's West Ghent, said he hopes downtown's ongoing revitalization will attract more tech-oriented businesses. There's now a handful of others scattered about.
The city does not have a specific strategy to lure high-tech companies downtown, said Rod Woolard, director of Norfolk's Department of Development. But the amenities it offers, he said, are "very appealing to people that are within that creative class — technology workers or otherwise."
The city markets downtown as a place to live, work and play.
"Having a vibrant downtown," Woolard said, "where they have the ability to work flex hours and still know they can go around the corner and have a beer, or walk across the street and eat dinner, or walk a block or two and be home is an attractive environment."
Originally posted at The Virginian-Pilot