Courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin, by Alta LeCompte
Ousmane Diagne, a Boston resident with investment clients from coast to coast, travels to meet with them several times a year. Whether business takes him to New York, California or points in between, he welcomes clients to a private, well-appointed professional office. The office where he works in for a day or a week is called a virtual office.
Diagne soon will be able to host Las Cruces clients and offer them the upscale office amenities investors expect at a financial adviser’s office – in the brand new Arrowhead Executive Office Center. The 4,000-square-foot building houses executive offices of varying sizes for full-time tenants, as well as an unlimited number of virtual offices for clients such as Diagne.
Arrowhead is the first building in the city to offer virtual offices. A virtual office is real, physical space. It operates like a vacation timeshare at Walt Disney World – the tenant pays for and gets the use of the space for a limited time.
Architect-designed space
Studio D is the architect and GenCon Corp. is the contractor for the Southwest contemporary building nearing completion in Arrowhead Research Park on the New Mexico State University campus.
If Diagne rents space there, he won’t be the only financial planner to meet clients in the Arrowhead Center. One of the executive offices will be occupied full time by financial planner Tom Chaney, president of Arrowhead Executive Office Center and owner of T.R. Chaney Financial Planning.
Chaney said the concept of providing virtual offices within an office complex has caught on in most major cities. “Albuquerque has four or five virtual office complexes,” he said while giving an informal tour of the facility.
Fastest internet on Earth
Chaney said the Arrowhead Center is the only business office in the city with lightning-fast, fiber-optic Internet. The building also is equipped for high-definition video conferencing. “We were looking at property in other parts of the city, but found they didn’t have fiber optic service,” Chaney said.
The service is available at Arrowhead Center because it is located on the NMSU campus. The building also is set up with a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone system that enables tenants to plug a phone into any of the building’s many Internet connections, Chaney said.
Anyone who has ever shivered or sweat through a meeting will appreciate another unique feature of Arrowhead Office Center – climate controls in each conference room.
Amenities and services
Diagne said when he rents a virtual office, amenities are key to a successful experience.
In addition to super-fast Internet and VOIP phones, he will find Arrowhead has a full range of professional office amenities: a receptionist to screen and forward calls, package receipt and shipping services, fax service, conference rooms equipped for presentations as well as high-definition video conferencing and on-site notaries.
Chaney said the office center is not just for traveling professionals. For example, a local insurance agent currently working from home may need a space more professional than the kitchen table at which to meet clients. An office with conference facilities and support services may be just what that agent needs to make a professional appearance. Or an El Paso attorney may want to have a presence in Las Cruces, complete with a local phone number and mailing address.
Another prospective client might be an innovator who has developed a product in the university incubator and is ready to take “the next logical step,” Chaney said. Companies hosting contractors with business at White Sands Missile Range also may need a physical presence in the area, he said.
Location and price
Chaney pointed out the location is adjacent to Interstate 10 and has ample free parking.
For as little as $400 a month, a business or professional person can rent a full-time executive office. There is no long-term lease, so the arrangement offers maximum flexibility. Virtual office packages start at $99 a month.
Chaney said Arrowhead Executive Office Center is taking leases throughout the month of September. “These offices are not just for the university, but for Las Cruces as well as out-of-town businesses,” he said. For more information, call 523-8899.
