Who?
Vivísimo

Vivísimo founders Raul Valdes-Perez,

Chris Palmer, and Jerome Pesenti

Mayor Murphy addresses the party on

Vivísimo Day, June 28th, 2005

This Carnegie Mellon University spin-off was placed in their first space in Squirrel Hill by Cool Space Locator back in 2001 when the company had just five employees.  Founders Raul Valdes-Perez, Jerome Pesenti, and Chris Palmer wanted to impose some rational order in searching the web, much like the Dewey Decimal System did for the written word in libraries.  Now their growing data clustering technology is being used by companies and individuals all over the world to better organize data.  Their online search engine is www.clusty.com.

Where?

1710 Murray Avenue, Suite 300, at the corner of Forbes & Murray in Squirrel Hill

The company was growing fast, and there was little room left to walk in their 2500 s.f. office without running into a wall or another person.  They contacted Cool Space Locator because they wanted to explore their options with respect to price, location, and amenities.  Cofounders felt strongly about staying in an urban environment, somewhere that they could walk outside and into a restaurant, bookstore, or library without having to get into their car to do so; this wouldn’t be an option in a sterile office park in the suburbs.

Vivísimo’s 26 employees fit comfortably in space that will eventually hold close to 100.  Plus, their new “infill” building offers them a lot of flexibility with room for future expansion.  Employees were happy to stay in Squirrel Hill; they like the amenities of the neighborhood and feel more comfortable there than downtown because of the neighborhood’s small scale and around the clock vitality; plus, CEO Raul Valdes-Perez enjoys his daily bike ride to work. 

With great expectations from the City of Pittsburgh for growth and economic development, Mayor Tom Murphy proclaimed June 28 Vivísimo Day, which representsed their 5th anniversary in 2005 and the day of their opening in their new space.

VP of Operations Denny Brestensky appreciated the knowledge and skill set that Cool Space Locator brought to the process; CSL made sure that the right terms were included in their lease, and reviewed the lease before an attorney got involved, helping deter some legal expenses.

When asked what advice he would give to others thinking about moving into a new space, Denny recommended “setting your criteria first.  There is such a wide variety of options that it’s important to know before hand what you can afford, where you want to be, and how you want to position yourself in the minds of visitors, whether they be your employees, customers, or partners.  Before making a move, you should know what it is that motivates you to go to work everyday, and be sure that this motivation is reflected in your space.”