Strategy September 29, 2016
Geiger Announces Headquarters Renovation Project
Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi/202900) announced Wednesday that it will undergo a $12 million renovation and expansion project at its Lewiston, ME, headquarters.
The former manufacturing space will be converted into state-of-the-art offices, occupying a total of 105,000 square feet and accommodating a planned 25 to 50 additional employees over the next three to five years.
“We know our tax bill will go up when our work is done, and we are happy to contribute in that way to our community,” CEO Gene Geiger said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We want ours to be a stronger community for many reasons including our benefiting from the human talent we must have to help us grow. We go to market on a very competitive world stage, and we need great people to help us be a world-class company.”
The rebuilt space will be LEED certified at the Gold level and will qualify as a Maine Advanced Building. Investing in clean, renewable solar energy, Geiger will install one of the largest private solar arrays in the state – 620 ground-mounted panels which will eliminate more than 8 million pounds of carbon pollution over 40 years and will meet as much as 90% of the energy needs of the new offices.
“As a 5th generation Geiger, I’m looking ahead – looking at my career here and at our company’s future,” Gene’s son David said. “In the years ahead, my Geiger colleagues and I will seek out new opportunities. Just as certainly we will also face our share of challenges. As with generations past, our success will continue to be based on Geiger people. We must attract, nurture, and empower the best talent. We must continue to be a premier [Lewiston-Auburn] employer to do that.”
Founded in 1878 in Newark, NJ, Geiger employs 800 associates and sales partners across the country. Having moved to Maine in 1955, about 225 employee associates work at its Lewiston home base. The company was a member of the Counselor Best Places to Work list as recently as last year and will be ranked as one of the Top 10 Best Places To Work In Maine for the second consecutive year.
According to Counselor’s State of the Industry data, Geiger generated $174.7 million in North American promotional product revenue in 2015, a sales increase of 8%.