The office of M2G Ventures is designed to feel like a house, a place where employees are free to pick up their laptops and work anywhere, whether it be at their desk, on the couch in the break room, or in the sunroom out back — the same way a remote worker can float about from room to room while working from home.
Ironically, the team found themselves doing just that this past spring when COVID-19 forced many offices to temporarily close. The commercial real estate company has since returned, resuming normal business hours about three months ago.
Thankfully, the office’s deliberately homelike design has made the transition back a little easier, says co-president Jessica Miller Essl.
“[The design] encourages productivity, but it also encourages people to not feel stuck in their space,” she says. “I can think of so many offices I’ve been to, where you’re assigned one space, and that’s really it. Then you reserve the conference room, and those are your two spaces that you go through. We really want people to feel like they’re in their house, where they’re transitioning room to room depending on their mood.”
The private offices of M2G Ventures' co-presidents feature large windows that overlook the conference room.
Located along White Settlement Road in The Foundry District, one of M2G’s own projects, the 3,600-square-foot space was the former office of interior designer Joseph Minton, who’s since consolidated his work in Dallas, allowing M2G to move in and make its own mark on the design.
Essl credits M2G’s former director of marketing and innovation, Jenny Sanders, for her handiwork on the office’s interior. The space takes inspiration from the homes of the company’s co-presidents, Essl and twin sister Susan Gruppi. Colors are kept generally neutral. Greenery from local plant shop The Greenhouse 817 freshens each room, while shelves carry books and trinkets from places the sisters have traveled.
Exposed ventilation creates an industrial feel.
Essl describes the space’s overall aesthetic as a cross between “a well-traveled author and an artist.”
“We’re not huge readers,” Essl says with a laugh. “But we do love the aesthetic of the way books look and how homey they make you feel … [we as real estate developers] truly are storytellers. Having books around, and just the thought of a well-traveled author being in this space, really gives resonance to what you do — how do you peel back the story for every single project?”
A former loading dock was transformed into a kid-friendly sunroom.
Being in a development like The Foundry District, whose claim to fame is a corridor of wall-to-wall murals dubbed Inspiration Alley, M2G would be remiss not to incorporate art within its own space. Artist and chief creative Katie Murray curated or created each piece at M2G. Two particularly notable works hang in the conference room — paintings by Murray that depict abstract yet feminine forms, a homage to the sisters and founders of the company.
ExpandOffice Space 8.26.2020-20271.jpgOlaf GrowaldLiving room-esque spaces add to the office's homelike vibe.
While the office layout is mostly open concept, Essl and Gruppi have their own private spaces upstairs, complete with large windows that allow them to see one another from across the floor.
The office’s exterior is relatively low key. There’s no large signage or life-size mural announcing its location, just a wall of lush, green foliage draped over the building’s white brick.
Greenery accents the otherwise neutral tones throughout the space.
“A lot of our buildings are a little bit of a surprise for people,” Essl says. “Typically, you see something that’s kind of old and junky, and a lot of people don’t want to mess with it; we usually see something that has a new life and a new way of using it … [our office] feels so on-brand with M2G.”
She says the space feels nothing short of a “dream office.” Then again, real estate developers have a tendency to be “nomadic,” so she’s not counting out the possibility they’ll move again.
But not anytime soon. Right now, this is home.
“It feels like you never have this transition moment from home to office,” Essl says. “You feel like you’re coming into another version of your house. It’s just so warm and comfortable.”
