Business law firm McGlinchey Stafford has signed a lease to move its Baton Rouge operations from the One American Place office building downtown into II Rivermark Centre in June.
The Baton Rouge office is McGlinchey’s second largest, with 44 employees including attorneys, legal staff and firm administration. McGlinchey will rent an entire floor in the commercial portion of the newly renovated Rivermark Centre, formerly the Chase North Tower.
The firm had been operating in One American Place since 1993 when it merged with Rubin, Curry, Colvin, and Joseph to open a Baton Rouge office.
“We toured numerous spaces around the city and decided that it was important to our people to stay downtown,” McGlinchey’s Baton Rouge office managing member Zelma Murray Frederick wrote in an email statement. “I am excited for McGlinchey to be a part of this new chapter of one of downtown’s most iconic buildings.”
Chase Bank and multiple engineering, financial and law firms, including Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, Baker Donelson, Adams and Reese and Donohue Patrick & Scott, have offices in Rivermark Centre.
Mike Wampold, owner and developer of Rivermark Centre, says the office space in the building is at 85% occupancy.
“They [McGlinchey] looked at other buildings and chose to stay downtown and we think a factor was the renovation of the Rivermark Center,” Wampold tells Daily Report. “That’s a great law firm, and they’ll hopefully be in that building for a number of years. It’s important for downtown to keep its major law and financial firms.”
A part of the extensive Rivermark Centre renovation included converting part of the adjoining I Rivermark Centre into 168 luxury high-rise apartment units, which are 92% occupied, according to Wampold.
McGlinchey’s move from One American Place comes during a time of uncertainty for the building. The East Baton Rouge Parish seized the One American Place property due to a lawsuit claiming the owners defaulted on the mortgage. One American Place Operating LLC owed roughly $23.9 million to Wilmington Trust National Association. A representative with the sheriff’s office says a sheriff’s sale for the property is scheduled for Oct. 2.
Wampold says other businesses with offices in One American Place have spoken to him about potentially moving to one of the buildings Wampold Companies manages.
“The instability of One American Place and the stability of Rivermark Centre being locally owned and managed versus having remote ownership is a factor in having other businesses in One American Place considering either Rivermark Centre or City Plaza downtown,” Wampold says. “We own and manage those. I think they’re looking at that.”
McGlinchey was founded in New Orleans in 1974 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. WHLC Architecture will support the architectural layout and design for McGlinchey’s II Rivermark office space.
