Someone noticed recently that the “Assurant” lettering had been removed from this building in the Heritage Plaza. (Photo taken July 26, 2023.)
Sometimes it takes a while before outsiders notice that a business is gone or has moved. This apparently is the case with a big call center that shared space in the Heritage Plaza commercial center in Albany.
What prompted this observation was an email I got from a reader.
“We take our old cars to informal car shows by Assurant on Thursday evenings,” Kay Burt wrote, “and I had noted the large lot there is mostly devoid of cars and then saw the Assurant sign was gone. Thought maybe shifts were working from home. Maybe I missed the call center‘s demise, but wonder if it is up for sale.”
The bike took me there, to the heart of Albany’s commercial district. (Which, I must say, during heavy mid-day traffic is not the most bicycle-friendly part of town.)
At 1880 14th Ave. S.E., the doors were open and I looked inside the building, built as a supermarket but occupied in recent years by the Albany call center of Assurant, a company whose website says it has 13,600 employees in 21 countries and 360 million customers of its insurance and related services.
The space is huge — 40,000 square feet — and is owned by William H. Ziering, of Vista, Calif. The owner has a city building permit to demolish the interior partitions and install new ones to split the space into two “vanilla” commercial shells for lease. Future tenants would determine their use.
What happened to the local Assurant office?
It moved a couple of blocks away to 1243 Clay St. S.E., next door to the Albany child support branch of the Oregon Department of Justice. I stopped there on Thursday and found a large, mostly empty office divided into many cubicles. Two people were there.
The Assurant office made the move to Clay Street in February and still has about 300 employees, I was told. All but a few of them work from home all over the place, not just in Albany. Mostly what they handle is calls related to cell phone insurance.
Just recently the new office got the company sign and logo out front over the door. So there’s no more mystery where Assurant went. (hh)
Inside the old Assurant call center, being remodeled as two “shells” for potential future tenants.
The company’s office moved to this address, 1243 Clay St. S.E., in February and just recently got its new sign.
That is reassuring.
In the old bowling alley building?
Thanks for keeping us informed!!
I was one of the former security guards, Assurant killed our contract shortly after the move because they felt having a security guard was not a necessity.
They also did parking lots repairs, they finally got that nasty pot hole between bk and applebeees patched up finally
What is the building renting for how many apartments? located at 222. First st Albany