Finley Law Firm goes ‘contemporary and homey’ at Hub Tower office downtown
KENT DARR Sep 23, 2015 | 6:00 pm
3 min read time
742 wordsAll Latest News, Business Record Insider, Real Estate and Development
A little more than a year ago, Finley, Alt, Smith, Scharnberg, Craig, Hilmes & Gaffney P.C., a Des Moines law firm that traces its roots to the mid-19th century, when Iowa was a territory with bigger aspirations, decided it wanted to be known simply as Finley Law Firm P.C.
The firm adopted a stylish logo that uses an ultramodern sans serif font, and advised its clients, “The name Finley reflects our tradition of excellence and growth with an essence of simplicity.”
And it planned a move that involved renovating an empty shell of office space occupying the 17th floor of Hub Tower into “something homey and contemporary,” said interior designer Lynn Neswold of The Mansion. Finley’s renovation is also a sign that there is new life for Hub Tower.
The law firm employed a crew of local designers, architects, office furnishing specialists and contractors to just slightly enclose the space – law firms and their attorneys, support crews and, in Finley’s case, nurses do need offices, after all.
Glass, warm LED lights, commissioned art, and ergonomic and comfortable conference room chairs dominate. Glass-walled conference rooms provide see-through views of the city to the north and the south. Stand in the large lobby between those rooms, and the view is as fine as any found downtown.
Both moves – a new name and tony offices – serve to shed any perception that the firm had missed the migration to statehood and more contemporary times. (We should note that the legal entity remains Finley, Alt, Smith, Scharnberg, Craig, Hilmes & Gaffney P.C.)
“They came from a very traditional law firm look,” said designer Neswold. “They were looking for a more up-to-date look, something contemporary and homey.”
That look might have been formed when the firm was located in the Equitable Building, a stately structure with a decidedly “old’ feel. Finley has been located in Hub Tower for a few years now, and when it got the opportunity to move, it decided to just step down from the 19th floor to the 17th.
Finley attorneys Stacie Codr and Erik Bergeland represent a younger generation at the firm. They said the old hands purposely stepped aside and allowed the youngsters free rein in making design decisions.
Things didn’t get too out of hand. The lobby sports maple paneling, but it is stained just a shade or two lighter than walnut. And there were practical considerations to take into account. Finley specializes in health care cases, and federal law requires that records related to such cases must be located in a secure location. As a result, they are in a room accessible only with a key pass.
Still, if light and airy was the design ethic, it is well served by an abundance of glass walls and doors. One motivation for staying at Hub Tower was location. It is a short walk from the Polk County Courthouse.
Finley’s move directs attention to what is becoming a success story in efforts to keep tenants and find new users for Hub Tower, which at one time was a nearly vacant office building.
Kevin Crowley, who directs operations at Iowa Realty Commercial, the brokerage that markets the building for EMC Insurance Cos., said the 20-story Hub Tower is gradually filling with tenants after large companies left for their own shiny new buildings in the western suburbs just as the recession was leaving its mark on the local economy.
EMC bought the building out of receivership in 2010 and occupied some vacant space with its own operations. In addition, Regus PLC, which rents office suites, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP moved in.
Two years later, EMC bought the Kaleidoscope at the Hub and set a course to bolster its occupancy.
“There is a lot of activity,” Crowley said.
- The Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen P.C. law firm has expanded to two floors, also with an upgraded design that was aided by BNIM Architects.
- Whitfield & Eddy PLC will move its offices to the building later this year.
- Williams Interactive is taking space on the first floor of the Kaleidoscope.
Crowley noted that out-of-state firms are being driven out of what have been booming real estate markets in cities such as Austin, Texas, and Palo Alto, Calif., by high rents and escalating employment costs. Those businesses are looking to relocate or expand in less expensive locales.
“Those are things that catch up, so Des Moines becomes an attraction,” he said.
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