Urban Design and Development Firm Relocates to 3CDC Space

Posted on October 2, 2023 by aatkinson

YARD & Co. Settles into Unique New Office in OTR

CINCINNATI (October 2, 2023) –YARD & Co., a local urban growth firm, recently relocated to its brand new 2,922-square-foot office space at 1537 Race Street in Over-the-Rhine. Situated within Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC)’s Elm Industries project, the new space is the perfect mix of corporate and whimsical.

Designed by experiential design firm Otherwhere, the same group responsible for the build out of Somerset OTR, YARD’s new space was intended to spur creativity and ideas, while also remaining a functional space for staff members. It features a variety of different work areas to accommodate group meetings, Zoom calls and more. Whether employees need a place to entertain clients or a quiet space to focus, the new office has it all.

When designing the space, Otherwhere set out to create a welcoming, inspiring laboratory of thought and community – one that ebbed and flowed with the needs of the team and future uses of the space that have yet to be imagined.

“There were two main concepts that we eventually decided to converge into one era-bending theme,” said Charity Williamson, Co-Founder of Otherwhere. “YARD is a really dynamic, creative team with no pretense, so we thought we’d lean into that by cultivating a space that’s vibrant, with the energy of a studio or atelier rather than some run-of-the-mill office.”

The design team chose to keep the building’s original bright white interior, adding pops of color for contrast in tonal ‘YARD’ greens and blues, as well as other bright pops of color that play into eras from the 1940s-1980s. The new office is outfitted with pieces sourced from private collections in Germany, France and Denmark, in addition to some local finds via Tim’s Picks OTR, Lost Hospitality Headquarters and female artisans in Morocco and Italy. From the Memphis chairs by Karl Friedrich Förster to the Dirk van der Kooij ‘chubby chair,’ Otherwhere carefully selected furniture and décor that symbolize out-of-the-box thinking – a reflection of what YARD & Co. does each day.

“The new office is quite an improvement over where we were before,” said Kevin Wright, Director of Operations and Strategy with YARD & Company. “In the last 12 to 18 months, our staff has grown by over 100% — and we needed a space that would not only meet that growth but allow us to continue expanding in the future. The new office is large enough to accommodate that growth and it’s in a great location. When I walk out the door, I can see Washington Park in one direction and Findlay Market in the other – and TQL Stadium and Ziegler Park are just around the corner, too. The quality of reinvestment in OTR, combined with the historic preservation, is simply unmatched. We are thrilled to be in the heart of Downtown Cincinnati, with other growing companies and entrepreneurs, in such a unique, well-thought-out space.”

In addition to providing extra room for YARD & Company’s growing staff, the new office features a pop-up retail storefront. YARD will be looking for businesses and entrepreneurs to program and activate the space in the near future.

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