“In the process [of our transition], we were looking at ‘Who do we want to be tomorrow?’” —Douglas Hilberman
Celebrating its 75th anniversary last year, AXIA Architects has played an influential role in designing and planning our local communities. It’s a general practice firm that’s completed a wide range of public projects in education and local government, as well as custom and mixed-use residential, hospitality, commercial and technology work.Over the past five years, the firm has been in a planned transition as a couple of the founding principals have retired. This initiated the firm to look at itself and determine the best way to move forward—for itself, the community and its clients. For a forward-thinking, innovative and future-oriented firm like AXIA, it was only natural that it would strive to continue its long-lasting legacy by moving toward an employee-owned firm.
“In the process [of our transition], we were looking at ‘Who do we want to be tomorrow?’ says Douglas Hilberman, president of AXIA Architects (Karen Pregler is the other current principal). “One of the things we realized is that we wanted to be a firm that really works together. We’ve always been a family-oriented firm but, in this case, we really wanted people who were putting in the extra effort for AXIA to also reap the benefits of that—and, quite frankly, we all have that long-term commitment together. It also makes a stronger firm going into tomorrow.”
The retired principals’ shares were split among several deserving employees who’ve now become shareholders themselves, bringing the current number of owners to five. Moving forward, the firm will be looking for key energetic employees who exhibit partner potential as it expands the base of firm owners.
“It’s comforting to know we’re more respected and that they trust us to take on more responsibility,” says Jason Weaver, a project manager at AXIA and one of the new owners. “We can help grow the firm, and it’s not just the top preaching down to us. Everyone is truly working together on all levels.”The new ownership team is looking toward a future that includes projects with substantial potential impact on the local community. One current project is the conversion of a 120,000-square-foot wine storage building in Santa Rosa (on the corner of Piner Road and Coffee Lane) to a full-service recreational and entertainment facility. As this area of Santa Rosa has moved from an industrial focus to more neighborhoods coming in, a facility for residents and families was needed. This adaptive reuse project will benefit the local community greatly and will include four indoor soccer fields, a full high school-size basketball court, a health club, three restaurants, a family entertainment area and 16 lanes of bowling. The project plans to break ground early this summer.
No matter what project AXIA is working on, the firm will continue to enhance its reputation for building relationships with its clients and engaging with, serving and greatly impacting its local community.
