Web services firm plans downtown office, 300 jobs

San Francisco-based Appirio Inc., a cloud-computing service provider, announced Wednesday morning that it plans to spend $2 million to open a downtown Indianapolis office that will employ 300 people by 2015.

The company, which has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, will initially occupy 12,500 square feet on the 11th floor of the Pan American building. The investment will go toward leasing, renovating and equipping the space, the company said. The company has options to lease additional floors as it expands.

The Indianapolis location, expected to open in October, is the company’s second in the United States.

“Opening an office and cloud development center in Indianapolis gives Appirio access to a large, highly educated talent base with close proximity to customers and partners,” Appirio CEO Chris Barbin said in a prepared statement.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. said it will provide the company up to $5.6 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based on its job-creation plans. The city of Indianapolis will consider additional property-tax abatements.

Founded in 2006, Appirio has more than 500 employees in five countries. The company has moved more than 2 million users from 350 companies to cloud platforms such as Salesforce, Google Apps and Amazon Web Services.

Appirio is not the only company moving into the Pan Am building, which has struggled to attract tenants in recent years. The adjoining Pan Am Plaza is being renovated.

North Carolina-based Quintiles, a contract researcher for drug companies, said it will lease 12,000 square feet in the building for the next five years in a move to get closer to Eli Lilly and Co., one of its major clients.

The office, which initially will employ 50 people, is a collaborative project of the two companies, Quintiles spokesman Phil Bridges told the IBJ.

“We’ve been working on this collaboration for three years,” he said. “The goal is to develop an integrated approach to eliminate inefficiencies and use big data to drive better drug development.”

Quintiles is set to move in Sept. 25. The office could employ as many as 65 by the end of the year.

The addition of Appirio and Quintiles, two companies that will bring high-paying jobs to downtown, will provide a much needed boost for the Pan Am building.

The 12-story, 138,800-square-foot structure is only about 64-percent occupied and showing signs of wear. Most of its first-floor retail space is vacant, its sidewalks are crumbling and the lobby could use an update.

The building was almost 100-percent occupied when a predecessor to Sacramento-based Coastal Partners LLC bought it for $8 million in 2003.