On Tuesday night, Azavea held an open house party for its new 21,000-square-foot offices in the Spring Arts District of the Callowhill neighborhood, and CEO Robert Cheetham says it’s more space than what the company, currently at 55 employees, really needs.
“The new space is OK to get to 100-120 people, and we have a few years to grow into it,” Cheetham said. “We grew by 30 percent in 2014, another 40 percent in 2015, and we’re on track to grow 30 or 40 percent more this year.
Cheetham said the new HQ, already inhabited by the company since March, represents a bet on Azavea’s future and on continued expansion.
Councilman Allan Domb and the City’s Commerce Director, Howard Epps, both said a few words during the inauguration, praising Azavea’s trust in Philadelphia as its home.
We're at @azavea's open house, a celebration of their new Callowhill HQ. Remarks by Commerce Director Harold Epps pic.twitter.com/bJuDdz0Ewb
— Technical.ly Philly (@TechnicallyPHL) June 21, 2016
The company’s previous space was just a couple of blocks away in the Wolf Building, also in the Callowhill neighborhood. Azavea worked out of that space for 13 years. The new HQ is right by concert venue Union Transfer.
Although Cheetham is a board member of the Callowhill Neighborhood Association, he’s not a Philly native: he actually grew up in Michigan and moved to Philadelphia to go to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994.
“It was very meaningful for me to stay in this neighborhood where we’ve been for so many years,” Cheetham says. “It’s a great location to be in.”
Here are some pictures of the new space:

About 55 employees are currently working out of the new HQ. (Courtesy photo)

Common areas and really big fridges. (Courtesy photo)

A hall for public and private events at Azavea HQ. (Courtesy photo)

The view of the Reading Viaduct from a 5th-floor window. (Courtesy photo)
They also made a video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEIb_52Ohek]
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