Fishers lines up tenants for construction firm’s HQ

Three businesses will sublease space in construction firm Meyer Najem’s $5.5 million Fishers headquarters—one of the publicly backed projects city leaders hope will transform the suburban downtown.

The Fishers Redevelopment Commission agreed in 2013 to master lease the 17,500-square-foot second floor of the building, acting as landlord for high-growth companies in need of flexible lease terms.

Fishers also provided startup funding for the popular Launch Fishers co-working space, located just across the railroad tracks from Meyer Najem in the city’s burgeoning Nickel Plate district.

Meyer Najem Corp. moved its operation into the first floor last week, giving up leased space at State Road 37 and 131st Street.

It is slated to be joined this year by growing mobile app developer Bluebridge Digital, which is subleasing more than 9,000 square feet; city employee health-clinic operator QuadMed, which will occupy about 3,150 square feet; and California-based Memory Ventures, which is moving its corporate offices into about 3,200 square feet.

Lease terms will be public when the appointed commission votes on the agreements this month.

Bluebridge is the kind of homegrown success story officials are hoping to tell again and again: Founder Santiago Jaramillo was Launch Fishers’ first member in 2012, and his promising startup outgrew space there within a year.

So in 2013, economic development leaders came up with a complicated plan to keep Bluebridge and web marketing firm BlastMedia in Fishers.

BlastMedia downsized its offices in the Forum Credit Union building east of Interstate 69 ahead of a planned move into an office-retail development in the works on the former Fishers Train Station site along 116th Street. Bluebridge has been subleasing the old Blast space from the redevelopment commission.

Bluebridge plans to move into the Meyer Najem building April 1. It has more than 20 employees now and is expecting to double in size after landing $1 million in venture funding last year. Its lease on the Forum offices runs through August.

Fishers is working with Forum to fill the space once Bluebridge departs. It’s on the hook for about $30,000 if no tenants materialize, said city spokeswoman Autumn Gasior.

TIF revenue would cover any shortfall between what the town owes and what it collects from tenants.