Crowe Horwath moves to the Columbus Arena District

CHICAGO (November 16, 2016) – After residing on the Capitol Square for nearly 30 years, Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest public accounting, consulting and technology firms in the U.S., has moved its Columbus office to the Arena District at 155 W. Nationwide Blvd. The new office space covers all of the fifth floor and a portion of the fourth, a total of 26,765 rentable square feet. 

With this move comes a very different office space design for the firm. As discussed in the Columbus Business First accounting issue, Crowe recently made some major changes to its mobility strategy, allowing personnel to work where they’re most productive and introducing a more casual dress code. Chris Barrett, Columbus office managing partner, said the timing of the office’s move coincided well with the firm’s mobility changes, making it the first chance Crowe had to integrate its new strategy into a workspace design.

As part of this shift to a more mobile workforce, the new Columbus office has more “free address” space than any other Crowe office. This allows people who come into the office to choose from a range of different seating types and work areas, such as a “no phone” library space, “neighborhood” zones for departments and collaboration spaces. Additional features in the new office space include a terrace on the fifth floor, cafés and social spaces, a spiral staircase connecting the fourth and fifth floors, sit-to-stand workstations and an abundance of natural light.

Additionally, Barrett said the new location in the Arena District was very attractive to Columbus office personnel because the building is within walking distance of Nationwide Arena, entertainment and art venues and new-construction residential buildings.

Melinda Haag, director of people and client support at Crowe, said the Columbus office move was a long, thoughtful process. Unlike many office moves in the past, a local focus group was created to represent different levels of the firm.

“There are many Columbus personnel whose input was included from the beginning of planning for the new space,” Haag said. “They visited all the different building contenders and helped choose from different options for furniture, designs, finishes – and even bathroom tiles. This is the first larger office where we’ve taken this approach.”

The building is owned by Nationwide Realty Investors. The commercial broker for Crowe was Jones Lang LaSalle.

About Crowe Horwath

Crowe Horwath LLP ( www.crowehorwath.com ) is one of the largest public accounting, consulting, and technology firms in the United States. Crowe uses its deep industry expertise to provide audit services to public and private entities while also helping clients reach their goals with tax, advisory, risk and performance services. Crowe is recognized by many organizations as one of the country's best places to work. Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world. The network consists of more than 200 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 130 countries around the world.