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Millwork Commons in Omaha’s north downtown area welcomed a new tenant Thursday with the formal opening of an office space for tech company WP Engine.
The company occupies two floors of the Ashton Building in Millwork Commons.
Located near 13th and Nicholas Streets, the Millwork Commons neighborhood offers retail, residential and office space, including the Ashton Building, which has more than 180,000 square feet of space.
WP Engine is a WordPress hosting provider. WordPress is a free, open-source content management system that powers about 43% of websites, said Ben Jackson, vice president of products for WP Engine.
The company serves more than 200,000 customers to support websites that are built on the WordPress platform.
WP Engine, which is based in Austin, acquired Omaha-based Flywheel in 2019. Flywheel previously occupied an office on Harney Street in downtown Omaha.
The new 66,000-square-foot office in Millwork Commons features 47 conference rooms, 19 private phone rooms, multiple lounges, an outdoor patio and a small art gallery. Other amenities include beer taps and wine refrigerators as well as coffee and ice machines.
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The building has been ready to go since late May 2020, Jackson said. But the office space officially opened to employees in February.
Jackson said Thursday’s celebration marked the opening of the building to customers, guests and community members.
The Omaha office employs about 155 people. Most employees are working on a hybrid schedule. Fifty to 60 employees work from the office once a week, Jackson said.
WP Engine is hiring to fill 33 new positions in the Omaha office.
The company has put an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion. Over the last year or so, officials have created employee reference groups and a council of employees who share input and feedback, said Tarsha McCormick, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Of the Omaha office’s employees, 33% of the technical employees are women. Half of the employees do not have bachelor’s degrees.
The Omaha office of WP Engine employs about 155 people.
“It’s a barrier we’re removing for people who take a nontraditional pathway into tech,” McCormick said. “We make a conscious choice to embrace our differences, and we want to continue to open our doors wider and create opportunities for more people to have access to tech and to work in tech.”
The Millwork Commons location has a history with startup companies, Jackson said. WP Engine officials see themselves as being part of a “reemergence of north downtown.”
The Ashton Building dates to the late 1800s as a furniture warehouse. It has 180,000 square feet of flexible office space.
Much of the space’s original red brick was maintained and many of the original wood floors were restored.
“We did our best to maintain the integrity of the old space as best as we possibly could,” Jackson said.
Millwork Commons spans more than 50 acres near 13th and Nicholas Streets and includes a collection of retail, residential, event and outdoor spaces with more than 60 tenants.
The Ashton Building also is home to Kros Strain Brewing, Sweet Magnolias Bakery and Archetype Coffee.
Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2022
A pedestrian finds a moment in the sun while walking underneath Interstate 480 in downtown Omaha this week.
A four-alarm fire burns at a senior living center under construction on Applied Parkway near 144th and Pacific Streets on Sunday. The four-alarm was the first in Omaha since the Butternut Coffee building fire in 2004.
A four-alarm fire burns at a senior living center under construction on Applied Parkway near 144th and Pacific Streets on Sunday.
Creighton’s Tommy Lamb pitches against Arizona at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha on Monday.
Storms approach Blair, Nebraska, looking west on State Highway 91 as the sun starts to set on Tuesday.
Storms approach Blair, Nebraska, looking north on County Road 25, just north of State Highway 91 on Tuesday.
This squirrel stopped to nibble on flowers outside Andrews Hall on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln earlier this month. Squirrels, being primarily herbivores, mainly eat nuts, seeds, fungi and fruit, as well as a wide variety of plants.
Chris Jambor, left, and his son Dexter Jambor, 8, enjoy the Nebraska’s 2022 spring game from the sound end of the Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
UNO’s Eduardo Rosario tags out Nebraska’s Max Anderson at home at Tal Anderson Field in Omaha on Wednesday.
Nebraska takes the field for the start of the Nebraska football spring game in Lincoln on Saturday.
The Union For Contemporary Art announced that they are going to turn the F.J. Carey Block building into the Shirley Tyree Theater. The project also plans to preserve the historic architecture of the building.
Nebraska’s Trent Hixson talks to the media on Wednesday.
Millard West’s Drew Borner (4) celebrates his run in the fourth inning with his teammates in the dugout during the Millard West vs. Elkhorn South baseball game at Elkhorn South High School on Friday. Millard West won the game 16-0 in five innings.
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