Lisa Gufford, an almost 20-year veteran of the executive suites industry, took an idea, analyzed its opportunities and then made the decision.
Downtown and its lawyers, mediators, court reporters and other professionals and groups needed more flexible conference space to rent by the hour.
And she would provide it.
“I just take an idea and it sticks,” Gufford said, explaining that she’s been refining it for about three years.
She considers it a leap of faith. “But I have complete trust and belief in my gut and I know it’s going to be successful,” she said.
On May 1, she anticipates unveiling the venture, which she and her husband, Wade, named Coastal Conference Center.
They leased the entire 20th floor of 10,700 square feet in One Enterprise Center, with views of Downtown and the St. Johns River. It will offer 16 meeting rooms with conference tables and executive chairs.
The seven largest conference rooms are named after the area’s bridges. Six can accommodate 14-24 people and the largest, the Mathews, can handle up to 40.
There also are five smaller conference rooms and four break-out rooms.
“There’s a need for it in Jacksonville – and everywhere else,” Gufford said.
Amenities include lounge nooks, the latest in technology and audiovisual equipment, a kitchen, copy room, catering, parking validation and other services.
Gufford declined to provide an estimate of her investment in the project.
One Enterprise Center is at 225 Water St., across the street from EverBank Center at 301 W. Bay St., where Executive Suite Professionals is 95 percent filled on the 14th floor.
EverBank Center is near the Duval County Courthouse and the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse.
Gufford said she realized the need for the new venture as people asked at Executive Suite Professionals about conference space, and she didn’t have enough.
Downtown hotels and other venues would be booked, and clients would need to lease suburban space while they preferred to be in the urban core.
“I hate to say no. I took the word ‘no’ out of the business model. I’ll find a solution,” she said.
Gufford is one of three partners in Executive Suite Professionals. She and her husband will own Coastal Conference Center.
She has been working on the idea for Coastal Conference Center since a court reporter mentioned the city needed more short-term rentable conference space.
Gufford anticipates the space will be used for arbitrations, mediation, corporate training, continuing-education classes, war rooms for mock trials, and civic clubs, like JAX Chamber councils.
“There’s a lot of potential there,” she said.
A New York Times report about hotels offering office and conference space for hourly lease found that “people are increasingly leaving work to get work done.”
The Guffords leased the space, a former bank office, as-is and are doing some tenant work. She ordered furniture and will operate the business with a general manager and receptionist.
Intense planning was necessary. “I ran the model a hundred times if I ran it once,” she said.
She checked – and rechecked – the competition, including statewide and nationally, and talked to clients and the area hotels.
Gufford intends to use local brick-and-mortar restaurants for catering. She said she also partnered with the Omni Jacksonville Hotel to send her its overflow, a business conference.
“I played with the model for a long, long time until I felt comfortable enough to say, OK, we can do this,” Gufford said.
Customers can rent the conference space by the hour at $35 to $85, based on the room. Gufford designed monthly membership packages ranging from $400 for eight hours to $2,000 for 40 hours, in any of the rooms.
Gufford will work in both buildings. She and two employees run Executive Suite Professionals, which offers office space and services on flexible-lease terms.
Her motivation in the executive-suites industry is the matchmaking. She brings together businesses that end up doing deals.
“Just standing back and bringing people together and watching them network kinds of rocks my world,” she said.
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