Global Crossing Fuses Staff

By Diana Louise Carter
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Global Crossing Ltd. is moving its 500 employees in Perinton and East Rochester to a new building in Henrietta, expecting to complete the move in May. The building under construction at 225 Kenneth Drive will accommodate Global's work force in the Rochester area, while allowing for 20 percent growth down the line.

"This was a good business decision," said Dave Carey, executive vice president for strategy and corporate development at the telecommunication network company. The move will allow employees to collaborate more in a single, one-story space designed to encourage creative interaction. "How do you put a value on the fact that you can move more work through the organization?" Carey said.

The company did put a value on the cost of working in three locations - two multistory buildings in the Bushnell's Basin area and another on West Commercial Street in East Rochester. Although Carey wouldn't disclose those figures, he said Global found that leasing a brand-new building built to its specifications was actually less expensive.

The developer is LeFrois Construction, which has built several buildings in the area between Interstate 390 and West Henrietta Road just north of Lehigh Station Road. The developer did not return a call seeking information on the project Tuesday.

Early in the decision-making process, Global officials considered leaving the Rochester area, Carey said, but only briefly. The idea was dismissed because moving and possibly leaving behind some of the 500 experienced workers would have come "with an awful lot of consequences and business disruptions," he said.

The company chose the Kenneth Road site because of its proximity to other high-tech companies and Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as amenities the builder brought. "We're very pleased to have that in Henrietta," said town Supervisor Michael Yudelson. A combination of factors is making that part of Henrietta something of a high-tech corridor, he said, such as highway access, relatively low taxes, proximity to amenities and a welcoming atmosphere for new businesses.

"There's a certainly a pattern of that type of company needing office space and wanting to do it in Henrietta," Yudelson said. The immediate vicinity is already home to offices of Verizon Communications and Current Communications. Global employees will move into the Henrietta building in stages, Carey said.

The building will have a giant X of walkways. It will feature many open areas where employees can gather for formal or informal work sessions. The entire building will have wireless connections and many screens where workers can consult computerized information as they collaborate.

"For certain types of companies, where collaboration between the work team is important, the environment does have an influence on how people work together," Carey said.

Rochester is the international company's largest location, including employees working in administration, information technology and security, human resources, marketing, sales, engineering and legal services. Global's growth follows losses in 2006 and 2005 and an even worse financial period earlier in the decade. In 2002, some 3,000 local people who had Frontier telephone retirement plans found those funds were decimated when Global Crossing - then the owner of Frontier - went bankrupt. At the time it was one of the largest bankruptcies in history. A settlement with employees and retirees was reached in 2005.