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When most developers or construction companies build a unique project, they understandably want to boast about it.
In the case of the recently completed corporate headquarters for TerraSmart, Seagate Development Group Chief Executive Officer Matt Price didn’t want to take credit for what turned out to be a “good-looking building.”
Instead, he says Ryan Reid, president of the Fort Myers-based solar ground mount racking company, deserves all the praise.
“He had a vision for his company,” Price says. “He communicated that to the design team and us as a builder. He wanted big open spaces for collaboration. He wanted to get the natural light in.”
That's what Reid received in the end, with the company hosting a grand-opening ceremony this past April at its new headquarters that sits adjacent to the Southwest Florida International Airport off Treeline Avenue in Fort Myers.
In addition to modern offices and cubicles interspersed on separate sides of the building with bright pops of the company’s neon green color dispersed throughout, TerraSmart’s headquarters includes a large central common area with a ping-pong table, coffee and soda bar, lounge and conference room overlooking a retention pond.
Reid says his dream formed for the building after traveling worldwide over the past decade and taking pictures of what he felt were interesting concepts.
“The idea behind the center is a common area where people can congregate and even play,” he says.
After starting TerraSmart 10 years ago out of his condo, Reid has rapidly grown the company, with roughly 150 employees and annual revenues between $85 million to $100 million. It has operational offices in New York and Las Vegas and a manufacturing facility in Ohio. It offers substructure and framework solutions for customers who want solar panels, particularly in rocky, hilly areas that in the past would prevent installation. Reid and his team patented a giant ground screw for their racking system that allows solar panels to be built on slopes up to a 40% grade.
Due to the growth in clients and work, Reid says the company is building an exact copy of the headquarters on land right next to the existing structure. Construction is scheduled to start in October or November, he says.
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