Staffing firm launches growth spurt

Company's West End office moving, Cool Springs location doubling

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

Photo: FRI Investors

Robert Half International is doubling both its local offices with plans to hire more than 50 people.

In April, RHI will move from its West End office, where it has been for more than a decade, to the 15th floor of the Regions Center downtown. The company, which specializes in accounting, finance, IT and administrative positions, has signed a six-and-a-half-year lease for about 10,000 square feet, double its West End footprint.

At the same time, RHI is preparing to similarly ramp up its presence in the Cool Springs II building. Jimmy Miller, a broker at Highwoods Properties, said the company has signed a five-year lease, effective March 1, to double its space there to almost 5,000 square feet.

“We’re really excited about Nashville,” said Rachelle Saitta, senior regional vice president of RHI. “We specialize in what we do and there’s always a need for great talent.”

Saitta said the company has no time frame for reaching its staffing goal.

Rob Hibray, manager of the West End office, said his One American Center home could no longer accommodate the firm’s local growth – West End’s Class A vacancy rate is less than 5 percent, while the CBD’s tops 13 percent.

The move downtown also will bring his team of almost 50 people, now split between two floors, together in one space.

Bruce Reed of Chas. Hawkins Co. Inc. represented RHI in its deals. Brian Schiedemeyer at FRI Investors represented FRI Investors. Schiedemeyer said his company’s 590,000-square-foot building, which will lose a large tenant in Bass Berry & Sims when the Pinnacle at Symphony Place opens, is now about 95 percent occupied.