Nearly four years after facing delays, a large IT consulting company has resumed work on its new East End headquarters.
Construction has started back up again on V-Soft Consulting Group LLC's new nearly $12 million headquarters that’s to be located on 2500 Eastpoint Parkway, northeast of Anchorage. The approximately 48,000-square-foot office will be next to Limestone Bancorp Inc.'s offices.
President Purna Veer said V-Soft currently occupies a total of about 9,000 square feet on three floors in One Oxmoor Place and has some associates in other parts of town. The reason for the move is to bring all the company’s employees under one roof.
“We have been able to continue to grow during Covid and needed more space than what we had,” Veer said. “We wanted to get that project completed and move everyone when we all come back to the office.”
The project was first proposed in 2018. Veer said construction began on the site in late November. The firm is expecting the project to wrap up in about 10 months, just in time for the company’s 25th anniversary next year.
The plan has always been for V-Soft to operate in part of the building and lease out the remainder. The firm is planning to occupy about 24,000-square-feet of space in the three-story structure, and it is working with JLL to lease the remaining offices.
A few delays pushed the project’s timeline back. In 2019, we reported V-Soft ran into financing trouble. Louisville-based Kelley Construction Inc. and Louisville Paving Co. filed mechanics' liens against the property. Michael Ross, chief marketing officer, said the issue with the contractors was resolved, but soon after, the pandemic caused more problems.
“I think it was all a bit of a learning experience,” Ross said. “It kind of slowed it down, and then Covid hit us as well.”
The current contractor is Jeffersonville, Indiana-based FDA One, LLC. Donhoff Kargl Nall Architects have been leading the design on the project since its start.
Growth is also a reason for the move. V-Soft has been featured on Louisville Business First’s Fast 50 list, including in 2020. Michael Grendi, chief financial officer for V-Soft, said the company saw a significant increase in revenue for 2021.
“We should come in roughly 25% top-line growth for 2021,” Grendi said. “Purely organic too. So that’s a great year, and we’re planning for another great year in 2022.”
In 2019, the company had revenue $114 million. In 2020, its revenue came in around $97 million, according to figures the company provided.
The new headquarters will accommodate the company’s growing digital arm. Veer said the company has some new offerings on the digital side which is where most of the company’s growth will be located.
“With the demand of digital transformation being at the forefront of every company’s technology roadmap, our new headquarters will house our updated vision for V-Soft Digital, our innovative arm of V-Soft Consulting, with a digital lab and growing our senior level enterprise class developer team” Ross said in an email.
The company is looking to have approximately 100 employees in the new building over time. Veer said it employs about 70 people in Louisville now, but the firm is launching some initiatives to increase that number.
Associate Recruiter Program
One of those initiatives is the Associate Recruiter Program. Grendi said every six months starting with the graduating class of December 2021, the firm will hiring five recent college graduates to train in V-Soft operations.
“We’re looking for young, aggressive go-getters who want to come in as recruiters,” Grendi said. “Within a year or two, if they want, they can cross the fence and become salespeople.”
The program will be offered at five Kentucky schools—University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, Western Kentucky University, Bellarmine University, and Northern Kentucky University. They are also willing to hire anyone with up to three years of experience.
Not only is this initiative meant to grow the company’s workforce, but Veer said it’s also meant to help retain talent in Louisville. The initiative is meant to give job opportunities to recent graduates so they don’t leave Louisville for opportunities in other cities.
“If you don’t give recent college graduates opportunities here locally, they’re going to leave,” Grendi said.
Grendi said interested parties can contact LaToya Barber at lbarber@vsoftconsulting.com.
