TradeKing is Expanding in Charlotte

As the TV jingle goes, “we’re moving on up”with our brand-new, gorgeous office space in Charlotte. We moved in just a fewweeks ago, and – once all the dust had settled – I couldn’t wait to give all ofyou a virtual tour of our new digs.First and foremost, we’ve got much more roomto grow here. We’ve more than doubled our square footage in Charlotte, from12,500 to over 26,000, to be precise. Plus the building itself is prettyspecial: one of the nation’s few LEED Gold-certified office spaces, it’s veryenvironmentally friendly. Plus we’ve added all kinds of touches inside totailor the space to our unique culture and team needs.

As we now occupy an entire floor, theelevators take you straight into our new lobby. This space is really strikingwith its feature wall of reclaimed wood and the bold TradeKing “candlesticks”logo. Very soon we’ll add a fancy espresso machine out here, so that guests canmake themselves comfortable while they wait. (Long-time readers of my blogknow: coffee is a huge deal at TradeKing.)We’re thinking of making the reclaimed wood a “living wall” of growing plants,too. The lobby gives you a view into our largest conference space, Delta. Allof our conference rooms are named for options “Greeks” – a nice way to bringthe language of our business into the design of the physical space.

Live plants and the full sense of beingoutdoors already suffuses this space. After the lobby, you enter the mainemployee area where our customer service and technology teams sit. This area isbanked with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on the office campus’ golfcourse and TradeKing Charlotte’s very own outdoor deck. (They’ve been enviousof our Ft. Lauderdale patio deck for quite some time – and I gotta say, thisnew deck is a knockout.)

Beyond that you enter the marketing team’sspace and our kitchen and common areas. We’re really excited about these, as somuch good work seems to happen over lunch. Our previous kitchen didn’t offermuch seating space, though, a flaw we’ve corrected in spades in the new space.The kitchen also features a big window onto the outdoors and includes barstoolsfor impromptu meetings that can also accommodate those folks who think betterstanding up. Meanwhile, the common area holds lots of nice touches: a ping-pongtable, a real arcade (built by our own Jason McLeod in technology), a“phone-booth” for private cell calls as well as a private room for thebreastfeeding moms on our team, and the traders-to-be that they nurture. 

Best of all are the thoughtful, almostunnoticeable touches that make a surprisingly big difference in how we work andcollaborate. We chose lower cubicle dividers, hoping this would spurspontaneous idea-sharing between employees. Even during moving-day, you couldalready see how well this idea was starting to work. No more hiding behindwalls, “prairie-dogging,” or hollering to make yourself heard around a blindcorner!Finally, several teammates who workedextra-hard on this move deserve special attention. Our Creative Director MarkWilliams designed the fantastic graphics that make each of our conferencespaces distinctive yet unified with our brand, as well as many of the otherseemingly small but significant design touches. Numerous people workedtriple-time to make us fully operational in the new space in a mere 72 hours,including Ron Cummins, Kevin Doheny, Mike Coers, Wendy Golik, Eugene Lobko, andZiggy Sloke. Last but certainly not least, our biggest thanks go to JasonLisick, who spearheaded the move from start to finish, doing everything fromnegotiating our new lease terms to researching office designs to managingcontractors, right down the grunt-operational work of moving. It takes strongleadership backed by a committed, multi-discipline team to pull a move likethis one off. Jason: you are our leader here, and you kicked butt!Serving our clients from this new space will be both a pleasure and aprivilege. Listen for a little extra “spring” in our voices the next time youcall in!BeGood,DonMontanaroCEO,TradeKing Groupwww.tradeking.comFollow Don onTwitter and hone your skills at TradeKing All-Stars.You can also follow TradeKing on Twitter,Facebook,Google+ orYouTube.Tradinghas inherent risk due to system response and access times that may vary due tomarket conditions, system performance, and other factors. An investor shouldunderstand these and additional risks before trading.Investmentsinvolve risk, losses may exceed the principal invested, and the pastperformance of a security, industry, sector, market, or financial product doesnot guarantee future results or returns. TradeKing provides self-directedinvestors with discount brokerage services, and does not make recommendationsor offer investment, financial, legal or tax advice. You alone are responsiblefor evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of TradeKing'ssystems, services or products. If you have additional questions regarding yourtaxes, please visit IRS.gov orconsult a tax professional. TradeKing is unable to provide any tax advice.TradeKingAdvisors, Inc. and TradeKing Securities, LLC are wholly owned subsidiaries ofTradeKing Group, Inc. Brokerage accounts are serviced and securities offeredthrough TradeKing Securities, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC. Assets are custodied and clearing services are providedby Apex Clearing Corporation. TradeKing Group, Inc. is not a broker-dealer.© 2015TradeKing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.