19th century mansion restored for company's local offices
A great deal of Columbus history is wrapped up in the two stately mansions built at 620 and 630 E. Broad St. in the 1870s. But to keep them from becoming history themselves, it took the efforts of a Colorado-based company specializing in crane games, gumball machines and kiddie rides.
Rich Gerhardt, Kevin Wall and Bill Lewis are executives of National Entertainment Network. They bought NEN, the struggling entertainment-services segment of Coinstar, in 2009 for an undisclosed price.Wall, who is CEO, works from the company's headquarters in Louisville, Colo.
But Gerhardt and Lewis are central Ohioans who wanted to remain in the Columbus area. Initially, they leased office space in Grandview Heights."It was small and temporary, and we knew we wanted to buy a building," Gerhardt said. The search seemed to drag on, and then, "we drove by these two buildings and said, 'They're fantastic,'" he said. Andrew Denny Rodgers built the French Second Empire mansion at 630 E. Broad St. that is now home to the local offices of NEN.
Rodgers was elected to the state legislature, was a major in the Union Army during the Civil War and was the founder of the Columbus Club and the horse-drawn Columbus Consolidated Street Railway Co., according to Architecture: Columbus, a 1976 publication.
Benjamin Huntington built the mansion next to the Rodgers home. He was the brother of Peletiah Huntington, founder of the bank that bears their name.
In the 1920s, Benjamin's house at 620 E. Broad was converted into offices for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, which later created an automobile-insurance company that eventually became Nationwide.
But like so many other once-grand manors, these two bastions of brick and mortar fell into a sad state of disrepair, despite being on the National Register of Historic Places.
"The outside wasn't too bad, but we went inside, and it was a complete debacle," Gerhardt said of the mansion at 630 E. Broad.
What was fantastic were the exteriors — and the potential of the two mansions. The interiors needed a lot of work.
This section of E. Broad was "once a fashionable residential corridor in the late 1800s," according to the National Register. "As the city expanded eastward and the upper class chose to move even further east ... the once-residential areas of the street were absorbed by the growing downtown."
Many of these mansions were torn down; others rotted.
"You could see through the floors, and the ceilings and walls had water damage; there was terrible, old track lighting, and the whole place smelled really bad," Gerhardt said of 630 E. Broad.
The mansion next door was in slightly better condition, and a small part of the 24,500-square-foot building was and still is leased to Decker Vonau, a law firm.
The buildings were owned by Harrogate Associates, a limited liability company that Gerhardt, Wall and Lewis bought in December 2011. Gerhardt declined to state the purchase price, but he said the three partners own the two buildings and lease space in the 630 E. Broad building to NEN.
The project received a $313,145 Ohio historic-preservation tax credit in June.
Gerhardt solicited the help of designer Mary Evangelista to renovate the building at 630 E. Broad.
"I wanted to bring it into the current day without taking away from its character," she said. "The bones and structure were in good shape, with rounded windows and beautiful moldings; it was a beautiful space to start with."
A new roof was added, and Evangelista filled the 8,500-square-foot mansion with a neutral color scheme, with rich brown and gray highlights "to give it a little pop," she said.
She also added photos of Columbus scenes, and ornate doors were added to the entrance to the conference room, to once again add a little pop.
Another highlight is the sweeping wooden staircase.
The lunch room is chock full of NEN games, including a pop-and-shoot basketball game and an air hockey game.
The renovation cost about $500,000, Gerhardt said. The renovation of the second mansion probably will cost even more, he said.
Gerhardt, Wall and Lewis also have set about renovating their company. Coinstar's entertainment-services business was in a state of disrepair equivalent to that of the Rodgers mansion before the renovation.NEN is one of the country's largest coin-operated amusement companies. The company's products include skill crane games, gumball and toy machines, rides for children and video games. It manufactures and operates these amusements, which can be found in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Coinstar sold the company for a "nominal consideration." Revenue was $238.9 million in 2007 but had plummeted to $90.6 million in 2009, when it was bought.
As in many other industries, companies involved in coin-operated amusements struggled during the recession and are still recovering. The total revenue for amusement-machine companies in 2011 was $4.67 billion, a 2.7 percent decline from the previous year, according to Vending Times, an industry publication.
"We're the largest company out there," Gerhardt said of his amusement business, whose products often are found in stores, movie theaters and bars.
NEN has about 20,000 crane games scattered across the country in venues such as Walmart, Denny's, Kroger and Steak 'N Shake. In some cases, they are leased; in others, the revenue is split between the host company and NEN.
Revenue will be just under $200 million this year and should top $200 million in 2013, Gerhardt said.
"We turned it into a right-sized company in terms of the number of employees and real estate and unnecessary spending," he said of the turnaround.
Many of the company's 700 employees were put back on commission.
"We told everyone: 'We'll rebuild this together,' " Gerhardt said. "And we told everyone: 'Let's run it like we all own it, lean and mean.' We improved everything: the products, the logistics and buying. We cut our real estate in half and really engaged our customers."
Seven NEN employees work from the renovated Rodgers mansion.
From his office, Gerhardt has a nice view across E. Broad and east to I-71. Like his company and industry, this section of Columbus is slowly recovering but still has a long way to go.
"There's so much character in these buildings, and we're close to Downtown ... and we have our own parking," he said.
The only drawback, he added, is the lack of lunch spots within walking distance.
"But that's coming," Gerhardt said.
Reposted from the Columbus Dispatch