A Look At The Coolest Offices In South Florida
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Some South Florida offices take the cake when it comes to cool office spaces taking us from a great birds eye view in Allapattah to a high-tech interactive yet earthy space in Hallandale.
And those are just two of the offices the South Florida Business Journal's (SFBJ) readers and CBS4 viewers have chosen as the coolest offices.
The top 10 are featured in the journal and "cool" is the key word, says SFBJ editor in chief Mel Melendez.
"We started thinking about name and cool just started to pop up because of all the cool workplaces in South Florida," Mel said.
Check Out This Slideshow Of Photos Submitted By All The Companies
In second place was PWC Digital in Hallandale - a company working together to help create digital solutions for their clients' most complex business challenges.
David Clarke has the cool title of "Chief Experience Officer."
"This office is all about people. We figured if we could do something fantastic for our people, they'd be excited. They'd be engaged and loyal to us, and then what happens out of that is our clients want to come here too," Clarke said.
PWC is filled with art by local artist Lebo. The 30,000 square foot space is open. Core value vignettes remind employees to be "Empowered to Lead" or to "Passion. Bring it."
Many, if not most of the employees are under 30-years old so the space is hip and engaging. A full-sized kitchen brings in a homey feel. There is a comfy nursing room for new moms, a gigantic dry erase board room for streaming ideas and an area called The Sandbox where the employees brainstorm new strategies with top clients.
"It has that earthy feel. We kind of want you to feel like your in spa but your going to work," Clarke explained.
The winner of the Cool Space contest is Mckenzie - a design build and craft service company for commercial and residential clients. Owner Gavin McKenzie gutted a 1938 structure in Allapatah that is now full of beautiful murals on the outside.
While welding and building goes on downstairs, office workers upstairs can see it all through the glass walls.
"We wanted to create this experience where we had the blue collar construction side of the business, with the white collar management in the same side of the building under one roof," McKenzie explains.
"So you can keep an eye on them and they can an keep eye on you," joked CBS4's Lisa Petrillo.
The 25,000 square foot space is put to good use.
The main floor plan is communal, where employees can work side by side in some spaces and alone in others. It's a juxtaposition of old and new with the goal of keeping employees creative and happy with great amenities thrown in like a yoga studio and more.
"We do some meditation and yoga classes here for the staff. We have a basketball court outside. We have a Kegerator with two local craft beers on tap. We like to create an environment that's enjoyable to work in and hopefully socialize in afterwards," said McKenzie.
If you'd like to see the other finalists. Check out The South Florida Business Journal.
