Engineering Success
Celebrating its 25th year, Karpinski Engineering dresses up its Cleveland headquarters

By Lou Kren

It's a long way from two guys toiling in cramped space above a Chesterland Dairy Queen, but from that modest start Karpinski Engineering has achieved a milestone. This month marks the 25th anniversary of its founding, and to celebrate, the company has unveiled its renovated and expanded headquarters offices in its home since 1989, the three-story Midtown Professional Building at 3135 Euclid Ave. Now occupying 6,000 square feet on the second floor and 11,000 on the third, Karpinski Engineering (KE) has ample office and meeting space for its 73 Cleveland-based employees, tasked with providing complete mechanical, electrical, technology, plumbing and fire-protection engineering services for new facilities as well as for expansions and renovations of existing buildings. The company also maintains offices in Columbus and Uniontown, Ohio, and Ashville, New York.

The renovation grew out of Karpinski Engineering's strategic plan about two-and-one-half years ago, with construction beginning in May 2007 and completing this past February. Perspectus Architecture, Cleveland, provided the renovation design with The Krill Co. Inc., Cleveland, serving as construction manager. Major project goals included consolidating the offices, especially focusing on grouping the company's engineering services in one area, giving the space a fresh look, opening the floor plan and adding conference areas to increase interaction, and achieving LEED certification.

"We want to grow and to do that we have to reinvest in the company," says Ken Borah, Karpinski Engineering executive vice president. "We had to get away from our old, gray 15-year-old space, so we chose to reinvest to give our employees a better place to work and expand our culture."

Prior to the renovation, employees were scattered throughout the building, with engineering split between the first and third floors and some employees forced to occupy the basement.

"Employees on three floors made efficient operation difficult," recalls Dennis Wessel, senior vice president and director of marketing. "So we decided to move the front office as well as the marketing and accounting functions to the second floor and place all of our engineering services on the third. And the renovation has provided about 20% additional space for expansion."

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