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Providence Corp. moving headquarters to The Scott

February 08, 2010 (8:21 pm) | Permanent Link

Teya Vitu

thescottProvidence Service Corp., a Tucson-based national provider of behavioral and education services, will move Downtown this summer to 64 E. Scott Ave., a historic building rechristened The Scott after a façade restoration.

Providence has 11,000 employees nationwide and about 50 employees at its corporate headquarters, 5524 E. Fourth St. The company is outgrowing its space at Fourth and Craycroft Road and looked around the East Side, before hooking up with Kevin Madden at Madden Media.

Providence’s move comes on the heels of Madden Media’s move to Downtown last summer. Madden moved 70 employees from Fort Lowell Road, and helped recruit Providence Downtown, along with the mayor’s office and the Downtown Tucson.

“Our staff was reluctant to move Downtown,” Providence Chief Executive Fletcher McCusker said in an interview. “Their staff love it Downtown. Some of the staff moved to the MLK Apartments. Our staff just became incredible enthusiastic.”

Tucson Electric Power, which plans to build a new corporate headquarters across Scott Avenue from The Scott, was also instrumental is persuading Providence.

“TEP is going to change the character of Downtown,” McCusker said. “Downtown should become a business center for corporate Tucson. There’s a group of entrepreneurs that will make Downtown happen.

In the company’s release announcing the move, McClusker noted that his firm’s move Downtown helps support that business environment by putting two of Tucson’s public companies side by side. There were other benefits he noted, as well.

“The recent improvements Downtown, such as the Scott streetscape, Rialto block facade improvements, new restaurants, retail and fitness space along with the promise of a more friendly business environment, helped convince the Company to relocate.”

Patricia and Ron Schwabe, who own The Scott, got $125,000 from the city’s Façade Improvement Program to restore the original 1909 brick façade and the adjoining 1919 Prairie School design. These two buildings had been hidden under a single façade in 1984. Patricia Schwabe had negotiated with a bar and grill to go downstairs but she said Providence needed all the downstairs space as well as the upstairs offices.

“Providence could have gone anywhere in the city,” Mayor Bob Walkup said in a statement. “We are thrilled to see them come Downtown. Hopefully this is another spark to get local and national businesses to see the value and long term prospects of a Downtown Tucson location.”

For more information on Providence, visit provcorp.com.