C1 Bank Plans Google-Style Downtown HQ

C1 Bank World Headquarters Design Wall

Detail of floor plan for C1 Bank Headquarters. Image courtesy C1 Bank.

A major new employer is turning the first floor of the Tampa Bay Times building into the kind of place where dream jobs are born.

Credit two major reasons C1 Bank is calling downtown St. Pete home, according to CEO Trevor Burgess. For one thing, the Burg is centrally located between the bank’s 21 branches spread from south Pasco to Charlotte County. But more importantly, Downtown St. Pete will help attract the type of employees Burgess wants to hire, with plans for up to 75 positions.

"We’re looking to attract the absolute best knowledge workers and we knew we could do so in a community that is focused on the arts and entertainment, as well as quality of life," Burgess says. "We want to be the employer of choice– Where people want to come to work."  

Previously based in Lakewood Ranch and formerly known as Community Bank, the five-year lease for the 11,000 square foot space is already a boon to the city in more ways than one. Downtown design firm Space, headed by designer Rob Bowen, has been commissioned to design the interior of all existing branches and the main headquarters while local architectural firm Wannemacher Jensen Associates developed the blueprints.

Bowen says the bank’s corporate board "really thought outside the box" when it comes to design. "Throw out your preconceived notions of how corporate headquarters should look and think Google and Facebook. Think energetic, lively, unique and with fewer walls."

The Bank’s main Conference Room will be wrapped in a continuous roll of the matting in this detail