Company Culture

Think Brownstone: Conshohocken design agency to open Center City office

The seven-year-old company is making the move now because it's outgrowing its Conshohocken space and wants to keep in line with company culture. That means not moving into an impersonal multi-level corporate building, Starke said.

AJ Golden pitches ChargeCycl to open the Pioneer Baltimore 2017 pitch night. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)

Think Brownstone, a user experience and design agency based in Conshohocken, will open a Center City office at 15th and Sansom Streets this summer, said Russ Starke, executive vice president of Think Brownstone.

The seven-year-old company always wanted to open a Center City office, Starke said. It’s making the move now, for one, because it found a space it liked (The Packard Grande building, which houses steakhouse Del Frisco’s) but also because it’s outgrowing its Conshohocken space and wants to keep in line with company culture. That means not moving into an impersonal multi-level corporate building, Starke said.

Instead, they’re opening a 4,000 square foot space that’ll house 10-15 people at first. They’ll be staffers from every part of the company: research, user experience, project management. Think Brownstone currently employs 50.

think brownstone center city

Like other suburban companies that open satellite offices, Think Brownstone is also doing so to help recruit new employees and to make more convenient for its city-dwelling employees, Starke said. Several suburban tech companies have either opened these ‘gateway offices,’ as the Nutter administration calls them, or relocated completely to the city in the last two years, citing those exact reasons.

The company is adding some amenities, like a kitchen, meeting rooms and security, but it isn’t gutting it or doing a huge rehab, Starke said. The space has enough character itself: large windows, “lots of intricate marble work from the 1920s,” and hand-painted detail on the ceilings, he said.

How does Think Brownstone plan to keep the two offices united? Quarterly “all-hands” meetings that require everyone to be in the same place, monthly meetings that are done virtually, plus group activities like yoga class and various field trips to places like The Clay Studio and the Conshohocken Brewery.

thinkbrownstone philly

Companies: Think Company

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

Not all jobs are the same. Why do workforce agencies treat them like they are?

After nearly a decade, the federal program for immigrant entrepreneurs is finally working

Block the bots or feed them facts? How Technical.ly uses AI in journalism

Philly officials raise the alarm about AI fakes ahead of Election Day

Technically Media