TEAM Staffing cuts ribbon on new downtown office

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - TEAM Staffing Solutions moved into new digs in November, but popped the top on its new facility Friday morning with about 25 guests and Fort Madison Chamber Ambassadors.

TEAM Staffing moved from it's previous location in the Lodi strip mall, on Fort Madison's west side, to downtown after branch manager Angie King saw a story about the new building going up at the corner of Bus. 61 and 10th Street.

Local property owner Dustin Ilmberger refurbished the former Bentler Rentals building, that was later turned into a car parts outlet and a Chinese Buffet. The building had been sitting vacant until the FMHS grad grabbed it up and turned it into commercial space.

"I had originally seen what his vision was going to be in the paper. So I drove by and thought that would be a really good space," King said Friday.

"So I called my boss and had him come down and look at it. Here we are."

King said TEAM Staffing has seen substantial growth in business over the past several years and was looking for more space.

"We were really starting to grow and we knew we were going to have to have a larger space," she said. "The downtown area is really starting to grow and we felt this would be a really good location."

Don Lampe, TEAM Staffing's operations manager out of Muscatine said the resurgence in downtown was a key part of their decision.

"A vibrant growing downtown points to a healthy growing community.  Fort Madison is investing in their downtown area and TEAM Staffing Solutions is happy to be a part of that effort and the downtown area," he said.

Lampe said the investment by TEAM Staffing is not only an investment in better services for its current and future clients, but also an investment in Fort Madison.

"By investing in our new building, TEAM Staffing Solutions is investing in the overall Fort Madison community.  We are grateful to all of our partner businesses for their support and business.  Without them this would not be possible," Lampe said.

"I also want to thank Dustin Ilmberger for his vision and work during the construction of our new office space."

King said Ilmberger worked with the company to design the office space to TEAM Staffing needs. She said the flow now for candidates is smoother and more efficient with the new office design.

"It's designed for exactly what we need, which makes a huge difference in our process and efficiently working candidates through," King said.

Ilmberger said he saw the opportunity to do something new in Fort Madison.

"There really hadn't been a lot of new stuff in town. When they had it for sale, I walked through and saw the potential and I told myself if it was cheap enough I'd do it," Ilmberger said.

"I wanted to do something nice for Fort Madison. I've lived here my whole life, and this gave us the opportunity to do something."

Ilmberger said he goes downtown frequently and sees nice offerings in Fort Madison. He works out of town so when he comes home he sees the beauty of Fort Madison and thinks it could be a potential tourist destination.

The building will have 5,000 square feet of commercial space when all the work is completed. TEAM Staffing occupies the front 2,000 feet on the Avenue H side, but Ilmberger said there are two more office suites for lease on the north side of the building with 1,500 square feet each. He said it could be made into one suite if there was interest in a larger office.

It was Ilmberger's first commercial rehabilitation project, but he has homes and apartments that he owns and has rehabbed. He said would consider doing additional commercial property facelifts if the opportunity was right.

"I would do it differently, I would do it a lot quicker. This was a big project for me and a learning concept, but sure... I'd do it again," he said.

TEAM Staffing Solutions Inc., is a regional workforce agency headquartered in Muscatine with seven locations around southeast Iowa. The Fort Madison branch is staffed by eight including King, Casey Nickel, Stephanie Sonneborn, Chelsea Boecker, Jessia Seitz, TJ LeMatty, Brandi Taylor and Amanda Huebner.

Angie King, downtown, fort madison, offices, Pen City Current, TEAM Staffing Solutions, workforce

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