TECH FIRMS and REAL ESTATE – LEASE or PURCHASE or VIRTUAL PRESENCE?

MANY ANSWERS, ONE TECH FIRM PURCHASED NEW HQ in TONAWANDA (Buffalo), NY

By James Fink  –  Reporter, Buffalo Business First

Jul 26, 2021, 12:46pm EDT

One tech company’s decision to sell its suburban office building has led to another tech firm acquiring the property.

360 PSG Inc., one of the region’s largest web design firms, has purchased the former headquarters of Arbeit Software at 678 Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda. The Building on Sheridan LLC – a 360 PSG affiliate – paid $685,000 for the nearly 9,000-square-foot building, according to documents filed in the Erie County Clerk’s office. AAAS 1 AM A Building LLC, an entity founded by Alex Villafranca, Arbeit Software CEO, bought the building in June 2018 for $360,000.

360 PSG Inc. will relocate from Commerce Drive in Amherst and reopen its office for the first time since March 2020. Arbeit plans to remain fully remote.

Joel Columbo, 360 PSG founder and president, said he considered a number of sites but the clincher was a building that had been occupied by a similar tech company.

“The building has a cool vibe. It has a real tech element to it,” he said. “I love the wide-open plan and design of the building. It gives us so much flexibility.”

David Schiller, a broker with Pyramid Brokerage Co. of Buffalo who handled the deal, said the transaction reflects different answers and directions for different companies.

“This is an example of the very diverging understandings of the future of office space,” Schiller said. “An ongoing successful software company going virtual while another technology company decides its future is in bricks and mortar for many reasons.”

Columbo started 360 PSG in 2005. The firm has developed more than 2,500 websites and digital marketing platforms. In addition to the Buffalo Niagara region, 360 PSG has clients in Tampa, Jacksonville and Madison, Wis.