ZitatA billion-dollar investment advisory company, fed-up with the instability of the city of Seattle, has decided to leave Seattle and move to Phoenix, Arizona.
Cole Smead, the president and CEO of Smead Capital Management, which manages roughly $1.58 billion, told KTAR News 92.3 FM, “The unrest that has taken place in the city of Seattle … there is really is not a downtown business community today.”
Smead continued, “We’re hearing rumors of 40-story buildings that will be only 20-percent occupied by October … My biggest concern for Seattle was what the business community is going to come back to, and what kind of businesses are going to come back for customers.”
Smead asserted, “My colleagues can pick the socio-economic rung of life that they want … live their lives, build their households and have a family if they’d like. Where we’re coming from just wasn’t like that.”
“We are playing the long game for our company, colleagues, clients and shareholders with this transition to our new location. As we plan for the next chapter of our organization, we believe that we gain tangible and intangible benefits through Greater Phoenix and its surrounding communities,” Smead added, according to businesswire.