Brothers Shep and Ian Murray, chief executive officers and co-founders of vineyard vines, announced the company will move its headquarters to support the rapid growth of the business.
The new office space will be located at 181 Harbor Drive at Shippan Landing, a coastal business park in Stamford, Conn.
The move will be effective January 2015 and construction will begin at the 91,040 s/f waterfront space in August 2014.
With the goals of establishing a permanent campus for the growing company, vineyard vines has collaborated with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to promise job creation as part of its upcoming move.
“Our growth has been so exciting and more space is critical to continue to support that growth,” said Shep Murray, vineyard vines CEO and co-founder. “With help from the great teams at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF), George Comfort & Sons, CPG Architects and Jones Lang LaSalle, we found and are outfitting a space that will truly reflect the core values on which we founded and have built vineyard vines.”
James Ritman, the NGKF executive vice president and fellow Brunswick student alongside Shep and Ian, worked with vineyard vines and Shippan Landing owner, a partnership involving George Comfort & Sons and Angelo, Gordon & Co., to negotiate the waterfront lease.
“This is an ideal site that resonates the cofounders’ vision and work lifestyle they have spent years building,” said Ritman. “Their employees will thrive in the space the open floor plan affords them along with enjoying the outdoor area beside the waterfront, the same liberating environment that inspired this company.”
Through a deal focused on creating 200 new jobs over the next five years, vineyard vines will receive financial assistance from the DECD to put towards the build out of its new office.
The announcement of its planned growth through job creation at the Connecticut headquarters is coupled with unprecedented retail growth for the brand, which plans to open 10 stores by year’s end in major markets throughout the U.S. vineyard vines, a company best known for its whimsical neckties and smiling pink whale logo, was founded in 1998 on Martha’s Vineyard when brothers Shep and Ian Murray cut their ties with corporate America.
