We’re excited to share that Fresh Energy’s office is moving to a new location at 81 on Seventh in downtown Saint Paul. Over the past six months, we have been working with building management and a construction team to envision and build out the space in a way that captures and expands upon what Fresh Energy staff have loved about our former office space in the Hamm Building.
“Staying in downtown Saint Paul is important to Fresh Energy and a crucial factor in our decision-making,” said Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, chief executive officer at Fresh Energy. “Proximity to the State Capitol, Minnesota state agencies, and partners — not to mention the wonderful new Pedro Park and nearby businesses — played a huge role in our decision.”
Over the years, Fresh Energy has worked to co-create an office environment that reflects our organizational values. We’ve accomplished this through collecting and acting upon staff feedback, collaborating with Minnesota-based artists, and further exploring what hybrid work means to Fresh Energy. These themes and more carry over into our new space, which includes:
- An emphasis on a welcoming and safe environment for staff and partner organizations with an engaging design concept maximizing natural light and an open concept.
- The opportunity to live our values through planful repurposing of prior office furniture and equipment such as cabinets, seating, technology, and more in the new space, as well as building-supported organics composting and recycling.
- A kitchen that provides a communal dining environment to support group lunches, team potlucks, and holiday gatherings balanced by a myriad of breakout rooms to foster collaborative and team-based work.
- An historic building that has been modernized with care and consideration for maintaining its original charm, including original wood beams and stamped tin ceilings, while also increasing sustainability through construction and reuse of salvaged building materials to minimize waste and environmental impact.
- A building that makes the most of downtown density, utilizing District Energy Cooling and Heating which has a closed-loop water system between the building and District Energy’s central plant, thus reducing the emissions impact of the building.
- Multi-modal-friendly access to ensure staff and visitors can get to the office via bike, bus, walking, carpooling, or personal vehicles.
“Repurposing as much as we could from our former office space was incredibly important to the whole team,” said Steve Merino, director, executive operations at Fresh Energy. “We are grateful for the collaboration with the building management at 81 on Seventh and particularly appreciative of our designer, Vicki Kotsonas at Archimea Interior Design, and builder, Tom Rick at TCR Construction Services Co., who ensured we gave as much of our prior furniture and equipment a second life as we possibly could.”
Fresh Energy’s leadership and Operations Team is excited to welcome staff into our new office space on Wednesday, September 16. We have been working with the building and USPS to ensure no interruption in mail delivery service and that any mail inadvertently sent to our prior office in the Hamm Building is promptly forwarded to the new office space. Check out photos from the construction process, which is still ongoing at the time of publishing, below. We look forward to welcoming partners and friends of Fresh Energy into our new space over the coming year!
