By Rebecca Henely
The co-owner of the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows, a new location that rents office and conference places to small or startup companies, hopes not only to create a place where businesses can work and grow, but a one-stop destination for customers.
“What I’d really like to do is provide a building in which everyone in the surrounding ZIP code has a place where they can find virtually any service they need,” said Jack Blumner, who owns the center with his brother Steven.
The Blumner brothers, whose business is at 61-43 186th St., once operated First Choice Real Estate, at one point the largest real estate company in Queens, in the same location. They sold the company to NRT Inc. in November 2004, keeping ownership of the building. But NRT ended up closing First Choice in August 2009.
“So we were left with a vacant building,” Jack Blumner said.
The idea came about to turn it into an executive suite, a place where small businesses could rent furnished office spaces. Jack Blumner said there are many in Manhattan and Long Island, but until now there were none in-between.
“This is the first executive office suite center in Queens,” Jack Blumner said.
The center at Fresh Meadows has space for both in-house and virtual offices. For those wishing to set up a space, the center offers 40 individual suites which come furnished with desks, chairs and telephones for the price of $750 to $2,750 a month. Computers are not provided, but all rooms are Internet-ready and all businesses on-site will get a mailbox. For those who want to set up virtual offices, they can purchase for the price of $149 to $299 a month telephone and mail services at the site.
Other services that can be purchased or included in a plan offer an on-site receptionist, a communal kitchen and a large reception room for meetings that comes with telephone services, a television with Internet access and a dry erase board.
Jack Blumner said the site is ideal for entrepreneurs who are working on their own, companies that are looking to expand or are downsizing, and those in other boroughs or other countries who want to set up satellite branches.
“It’s great for anyone who wants to get out of the basement,” Jack Blumner said.
He said leases are for one year, although shorter periods can be negotiated.
In addition to offering a space, Jack said the center will actively help to market its clients. The office has an LED sign that advertises its tenants and the Blumner brothers offer two months of free marketing to clients. In the next few weeks, Jack said the center hopes to set up a website to showcase the clients for consumers.
The center opened Sept. 1 with an official ribbon-cutting Oct. 5. Jack Blumner said so far the clients have been happy.
“It’s clean. It’s beautiful,” Jack Blumner said of the office.
He said the ideal is to attract many different types of clients to use the center, from attorneys and accountants to HVAC repair services and piano teachers.
“And if it’s not here, I’m going to get it in time,” Jack Blumner said.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
