Two creative firms plan to share property on Cooper
A small but dynamic firm that designs everything from advertising to the look and feel of a business will become joined at the hip with another firm that dominates architectural awards.
Loaded for Bear expects to move by Dec. 1 into 673 S. Cooper, the long-vacant one-story brick building that is connected by a covered walkway to 663 S. Cooper.
The 663 building, also vacant and brick but larger, will later become the new headquarters for archimania.
A real estate entity called Filament and owned by archimania’s principals Barry Yoakum and Todd Walker purchased the sibling buildings last year with the intent of using the larger structure for its new office and leasing out 673 S. Cooper.
Loaded for Bear was revealed to be the tenant early last week when it applied for a building permit to renovate its part of the property. The firm of 10 employees plans to spend about $500,000 to tailor the space for its needs, principal Michael Carpenter said.
“It was a great combination to me of timing and needing a bit more space,” Carpenter said. “I loved the visibility we picked up on Cooper.”
The agency has long been housed a bit off the beaten path, on the ground floor of the Pie Factory mixed-use building at 2259 Young.
The old-fashioned label for his business is “ad agency,” but Carpenter says Loaded for Bear is more accurately defined as a full-service “creative agency.”
The term may reek of vague corporate speak, but it makes more sense when Loaded for Bear lists all the services it provides: branding, advertising, websites, environment, naming, strategy, public relations, social media, video and even apparel.
The firm actually designed the branded T-shirts and hoodies sold by one of its clients, the hot-chicken restaurant Hattie B’s, a client for 12 years.
In fact, Carpenter said, the proximity of Loaded for Bear’s future home to the new Hattie B’s Memphis location at 596 S. Cooper will be an advantage for the agency.
Carpenter anticipates taking prospective clients across the street to demonstrate a “case study” of what Loaded for Bear can do.
“To have new clients or existing clients to be able to walk across the street and not only eat their famous Nashville-style hot chicken but also to see great examples of the work we do,” he said.
“Everything from signage to (furniture and fixtures) to paint schedules to environmental designs. It really kind of runs the gamut of everything we do in one tight little location.
“That’s pretty neat that we’re not looking at things on a screen here ... but we can literally just walk across the street, have lunch and literally be in the type of environments we create for our clients,” Carpenter said.
Another high-profile client has been Crosstown Concourse, the $200 million mixed-use redevelopment of the blighted Sears mail-order warehouse. Loaded for Bear helped Crosstown Concourse create its branding, names, website, environment, strategy, public relations, social media presence, advertising and videos, according to the firm’s website.
Loaded for Bear’s future office will be about 3,300 square feet, not too much bigger than its current home on Young.
“But it’s going to feel a lot bigger,” Carpenter said because the space will be designed around the firm’s needs.
The new office will be simple and not heavily branded.
“We like to think of our space as kind of an art gallery, an art studio,” Carpenter said. “We’re making art for other people.”
The two buildings at 663 and 673 Cooper are connected with a walkway canopy. Archimania’s renovation design keeps a connection, but with a grated metal structure that lets light through.
The space between the buildings will become a courtyard.