Aptera celebrates opening of new office
Aptera, a tech firm that creates websites, mobile apps and business services, will celebrate the opening of its new downtown headquarters today. A ribbon-cutting is scheduled at 10 a.m.
Aptera invested more than $2 million in renovating a building at 113 W. Berry St. that had been vacant since 2015, where it now has 39,000 square feet, according to C. Ray Harvey, the company's director of strategic services.
The previous location was at 201 W. Main St., where Aptera had 13,500 square feet.
The company has nearly 90 employees and the additional space with the expansion will allow it to add at least 20 jobs, according to a news release from Greater Fort Wayne Inc., a metro chamber alliance.
Aptera had nine employees when it initially moved downtown in 2008.
In a news release, Aptera president and co-founder T.K. Herman credited downtown revitalization for helping the company compete for talented workers.
“It's been amazing to see the transformation over the last nine years and I would emphatically say yes, the things that are happening downtown are absolutely not only allowing us to attract, but also retain people, for sure,” Herman said.
The grand opening celebration will last throughout the day. Along with the ribbon-cutting, Aptera will serve as a stop on the Downtown Improvement District's “Art This Way” Art Crawl from 5 to 9 p.m. Tours of the building will be available to art crawl ticketholders.
