Chiat/Day has begun moving out of its signature 'Warehouse' building in Venice, Calif., the agency's latest move to bolster the bottom line." />
Chiat/Day has begun moving out of its signature 'Warehouse' building in Venice, Calif., the agency's latest move to bolster the bottom line." /> MAIN-STREAM: Chiat Packs Up, Out of 'Warehouse' <b>By Shelly Garci</b><br clear="none"/><br clear="none"/>Chiat/Day has begun moving out of its signature 'Warehouse' building in Venice, Calif., the agency's latest move to bolster the bottom line.
Chiat/Day has begun moving out of its signature 'Warehouse' building in Venice, Calif., the agency's latest move to bolster the bottom line." />

Chiat/Day has begun moving out of its signature ‘Warehouse’ building in Venice, Calif., the agency’s latest move to bolster the bottom line." data-categories = "" data-popup = "" data-ads = "Yes" data-company = "[]" data-outstream = "yes" data-auth = "">

MAIN-STREAM: Chiat Packs Up, Out of 'Warehouse' By Shelly Garci

Chiat/Day has begun moving out of its signature 'Warehouse' building in Venice, Calif., the agency's latest move to bolster the bottom line.

Inspiration meets innovation at Brandweek, the ultimate marketing experience. Join industry luminaries, rising talent and strategic experts in Phoenix, Arizona this September 23–26 to assess challenges, develop solutions and create new pathways for growth. Register early to save.

All the shop’s staffers will move into the Main Street offices, known as the ‘Binocular’ building, which opened in November 1991. Though those offices are not equipped to house all the agency’s employees, Chiat has worked out an ‘agency of the future’ system which takes into account the time employees spend out of the office, and accommodates the full staff by sharing work stations and making use of portable phones.
Employees were ushered into meetings last week to prepare for the move, which comes as Jay Chiat has begun putting out feelers to evaluate interest in a sale of all or parts of the Chiat/Day network. Chiat/Day executives were not available to comment for this story.
It’s not known whether the office space consolidation is related to any of the reported sale talks, but the expense of operating both buildings was a major factor in the move, sources close to the agency said. The Main Street building, some seven years in the making, is an architectural showcase designed by Frank Gehry, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. It’s believed to carry a mortgage of almost $16 million. Together with the ‘Warehouse’ building, which is leased, Chiat/Day was carrying far more space than it needed to house its employees.
But when the new building was completed, many employees chose to stay behind.
With its corrugated paper furniture, conference rooms called ‘The Fish’ and ‘The Boathouse,’ and enough floor space to handily bicycle from one end to the other, the leased space had served as the stage upon which the Chiat/Day creative actors performed. Its funky kind of snug atmosphere seemed more conducive to the work at hand than the austere design of the Main Street offices.
If the concrete ‘Warehouse’ floors echoed with youthful exuberance, the ‘Binocular’ building, whispered discretely that Chiat/Day was all grown up. Employees often brought their dogs to the Warehouse. On Main Street, there were rules against pinning personal items around desks.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)