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PhillyDeals: Teleflex moves into Tredyffrin office complex

Teleflex has put itself through a corporate makeover: In recent years the $2 billion (yearly sales) company sold or closed its old vehicle- and industrial-controls factories, cut its workforce in half, and remade itself as a multinational medical-devices maker.

CrossPoint , a Tredyffrin office park near U.S. 202, is now home to Teleflex, a multinational maker of medical devices.
CrossPoint , a Tredyffrin office park near U.S. 202, is now home to Teleflex, a multinational maker of medical devices.Read more

Teleflex has put itself through a corporate makeover: In recent years the $2 billion (yearly sales) company sold or closed its old vehicle- and industrial-controls factories, cut its workforce in half, and remade itself as a multinational medical-devices maker.

This worked, at least for shareholders: Teleflex stock has been trading at record levels.

Next step was to do something about its 1970s-era offices in Limerick Township.

"We were in a large campus, off the main thoroughfares, where we had manufacturing facilities for the now-divested operations, reflective of our previous era," says Cam Hicks, Teleflex's vice president for global human resources. "We wanted a place where we could get access to new talent, and position ourselves for growth, while increasing our visibility, without a net increase in commute time" for a mostly suburban staff."

Teleflex moved into its new digs last week at CrossPoint, a Tredyffrin office park near U.S. 202.

There's "a lot of light, some very attractive shared meeting space, a gym, a restaurant," Hicks said. "And King of Prussia Mall and Wegmans and a lot of restaurants are just down the road. You don't have to get down on the highway and go a few exits, like at our last place."

Like the company, this office has been recycled: To build CrossPoint, two 1970s-era buildings at the former Valley Forge Office Center have been connected by a glass atrium, packed with the amenities that office workers used to have to drive off site to find.

In 2010, after tenants General Electric and Keystone Blue Cross moved out, owner Keystone Properties, of Bala Cynwyd, defaulted on more than $40 million in debt on the property, and the loan servicer put it up for sale.

Boston developer and investment-fund manager Jonathan Davis made the successful $30 million offer, outbidding local buyers, including West Conshohocken-based MIM-Hayden. Davis says his broker then suggested he invite the Hayden group into the turnaround project, noting that they were "well-connected" locally.

The two groups hit it off, went to work updating CrossPoint, and have since joint-ventured in the Oaklands office center in Exton and at Five Tower Bridge in West Conshohocken.

Teleflex moved 130 employees to CrossPoint last week. It has room to boost the staff to 200. The new owners have also attracted the offices of two media-software companies, Rovi Corp. and ColdLight Solutions. Davis is still trying to fill about a third of the building.

Don't cool companies want to be downtown? "There's a very strong interest among millennials to live in the city," Davis agreed. But higher urban operating costs aren't for everyone, he continued.

Suburban townships such as Tredyffrin, faced with rising office vacancies and falling commercial real estate tax collections, are updating zoning to allow cafes in office districts and other new uses.

"The township really expedited the approval process," Davis said.

"These buildings are starting to redefine the suburban office," he concluded. "And you can still drive right up and park for free."