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Q&A with Sue Zazon, Huntington Bank's Regional President for Central Ohio

    

It’s been more than 150 years since Huntington Bank was founded in Columbus, Ohio.

Since then, it’s grown into one of the largest and most respected banks in the Midwest. Thanks to its growth, Huntington has been able to continuously invest in communities, including in Columbus. Its latest investment is a recently opened 210,000 square foot facility in the Northland area.

The Gateway Center is an adaptive reuse of the former Northland Plaza Meijer store that Huntington converted into a $35 million state-of-the-art office facility in less than a year. It currently houses 1,300 Huntington employees and has the capacity to hold an additional 300.

We talked with Sue Zazon, Huntington Bank's Regional President for Central Ohio, to learn more about this unconventional space.

Q: Huntington converted a grocery store into an operations facility. That’s a big undertaking, tell us more about that.

A: We have a strong partnership with Meijer with almost 100 Huntington branches inside their stores. It was just a matter of time before we came to inhabit an entire store! The large open design of a Meijer store is exactly what we were looking for, and our corporate real estate team and supplier partners worked diligently to bring together an incredible vision for the use of this space.

Q: What is the vision for the space?

A: In bringing our Gateway campus together, we sought to revolutionize the way our colleagues work together by providing an open and collaborative environment. Community is the predominant theme throughout the facility. Our corporate real estate and marketing teams vibrantly captured the theme throughout the center’s design and environment.

This is important to us because our company was founded in Central Ohio more than 150 years ago, and we wanted to pay tribute to our roots. We specifically highlighted neighborhoods, like Northland, that are going through urban renewal. The murals are a visual reminder of our commitment to make communities stronger. They also function as wayfinding points throughout the building. For example, a group of colleagues can meet at “Old Towne East” for a brainstorming session or “Merion Village” to review an annual report.

Q: The building is set up for colleagues to leave their desks. Why is that important? 

A: We are a company with a one-word tagline: welcome. People have different work and learning styles, and that’s why our facilities team created a versatile environment that provides flexibility, comfort, and convenience throughout the entire building. The sit-to-stand desks allow colleagues to adjust their area to what feels most comfortable to them.

And with 159 conference and huddle rooms, all equipped with digital signage and monitors, colleagues can collaborate with convenience. The follow-me print technology will send documents to the printer nearest to a person’s location in the building - no need to walk all the way back to your desk.

Our purpose is to makes lives better. That’s why we care about small details that result in a highly functioning, fun office environment where our colleagues look forward to coming to work and where they feel welcome.

 

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