Planning firm: Sports-themed office to provide recruiting tool

When Jeff Codega of Jeff Codega Planning and Design Inc. wanted to expand his business, he let his passion for sports dictate his means of attracting new talent.

Codega is slated to move in this week to a new office at 750 Sand Hill Road in Reno's South Meadows area. The first floor of the 15,000-square-foot space includes a 1/8-scale replica of AT&T Park in San Francisco, home of the city's baseball Giants. As a rabid fan, Codega doesn't mind sharing office space with the field's bright-yellow left-field foul pole.

The second floor layout is equally sports-themed. A football gridiron complete with yard lines runs in and out of offices, and old-fashioned drafting tables dot open areas for impromptu business "huddles."

"They are for quick meetings where we can thrown a set of plans down, make some decisions and go about our business," he says.

The motifs in part were designed to retain a younger work crowd and to cultivate a hip office culture.

"We are trying to create an environment that is an attractive workplace for 20- to 30- to 50-year-olds and beyond," Codega says. "A lot of our industry is attracting top talent."

Overall, costs for the project were competitive with tenant improvements designed with the same end in mind, he says.

"You won't find deep cherry wood like you find in law offices, but it is all cost-effective and fun. Certainly tenant improvement allowances are not enough to do much and have to be augmented anyway."

To encourage better cross-communication between co-workers, Codega says the office won't be divided departmentally. Rather, employees will be scattered throughout the building. "Making profits, serving customers and having fun all go hand-in-hand," he says.