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InfoCision Opens Offices In Phar-Mor Building
By Dan O'BrienYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Six weeks ago, the fourth floor of the Phar-Mor building in the city's downtown was a wreck.Six weeks later, the floor is fully renovated, jammed with more than 100 newly installed computers and work stations, and is now home to InfoCision Management Corp.'s new downtown offices.Public officials, company executives, employees and about 100 guests were on hand Monday evening at a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the opening of the Akron-based teleservices company's new location at Phar Mor, soon to be renamed 20 Federal Place."We have the best technology in the business," said Carl Albright, president of InfoCision. "The hardest part is picking an area" to perform this work.He said InfoCision opted for the Youngstown location because of the generous incentives offered to the company through the city's economic development department. Under a recently approved lease agreement, the company received a 75% tax abatement on personal property and a full year of rent-free occupancy. From there, the company will lease space in the building at $4.50 a square foot.Recently, the city acquired title to the building from Strouss Building Associates, making the lease agreement possible.What also tipped the scale in favor of the Youngstown location were incentives such as tax credits and job training credits provided through the state of Ohio. Another reason was the success of InfoCision's existing call centers in the area.Albright stressed the company will not even consider relocating operations overseas, like many competitors have done. Last year, a call center operated by MCI in Niles shut down and displaced about 700 workers because the company relocated most of those operations to Asia."I get calls every day for doing offshore stuff. I tell them that's not our business," Albright added.Initially, he said the downtown offices will employ about 250, but that could double within the next few years.InfoCision employs about 1,000 people in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, said Steve Brubaker, senior vice president of corporate affairs. The company has offices in Boardman, Austintown and New Castle. "We'll expand significantly," with this operation, he said.InfoCision's new offices occupy about 10,000 square feet with the potential for future expansion. Brubaker noted that if these offices grow according to expectations, then there are plans for expanding into the additional space very soon.Plans are to establish a bilingual call center at the downtown offices in an effort to reach out to the hispanic community and customers, Brubaker said. This region, he elaborated, has a growing hispanic population that has a strong command of both English and Spanish.The call center industry, Brubaker emphasized, represents 6% of the nation's GDP, and is a fast growing segment of the nation's economy.InfoCision is an inbound/outbound call center that represents political organizations, charities, religious organizations and private companies, Brubaker reported. It operates 23 call centers and employs 3,000.The downtown offices perform inbound and outbound services and has a contract with one of the country's largest technology firms, Earthlink.Mayor George M. McKelvey said the InfoCision project succeeded because of broad cooperation that involved local, state and private concerns. "You get your team together, and ask 'how can we help?' and then get out of the way," he told the crowd.McKelvey said he envisions InfoCision growing to a point where there are "750 to 1,000 employees in the building within a reasonable time frame."Visit InfoCision at www.infocision.comContact Dan O'Brien at [email protected]"