A telecommunications company with a large presence in the Rochester area is consolidating operations downtown.
Windstream says that it will be moving the 350 or so employees that it has on Monroe Avenue near Alexander Street to the building that the company already leases on South Clinton Ave. That will happen later this year.
Windstream says it already leases two floors in the Seneca Building and now it will lease much of a third floor. Previously, Windstream already moved out of space it was using in Perinton to consolidate some operations.
Windstream Senior Vice President of Customer Advocacy, Mike Flannery says this will help overall efficiency.
“To have everyone in one area create such a unique culture inside of not only the company but in downtown and we’re really proud to bring everyone together and have such a presence in the community,” Flannery told WXXI News.
No jobs will be cut as part of the space consolidation, and Flannery is hopeful that someday the workforce can grow. Windstream now has around 700 employees in Rochester.
Flannery says that Rochester is one of Windstream's larger hubs, and they plan to keep a big presence here.
“Rochester is home to a rich history of telecommunications and the workforce itself has exceptional skills and experience, if you look through time and we’re very much committed to the downtown area and look forward to being there for quite a bit of time,” Flannery said.
Windstream Holdings, the corporate parent of the telecom, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization earlier this year, but a company spokesman, David Avery, says the reorganization does not have any impact on the planned consolidation. He says that Windstream has been reviewing its office footprint as part of the plans to integrate Earthlink and Windstream.
The building on Monroe, which had been occupied by EarthLink, the company that Windstream merged with a couple of years ago, is owned by Buckingham Properties.
Windstream is expected to move its employees from the Monroe Ave. building in September or October.
Rich Finley, President and Chief Operating Officer at Buckingham says that once Windstream vacates that building, they will actively pursue new tenants.
