Noble consolidates, leases Chesterfield building

Market-dictated downsizing by a notable Springfield advertising agency has paved the way for expansion by a burgeoning private school.

Noble advertising and marketing agency owner Bob Noble and partners under Noble/Dearborn LLC have leased Noble I to The Summit Preparatory School for a three-year term with an option to purchase. The deal was brokered by Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co. LLC agents Mike Fusek and Jeff Childs, who had listed it since December. The lease rate was not disclosed.

Summit Prep officials said the deal ends the school’s two-year search for a permanent home that involved more than 60 buildings.

Noble employees vacated the 28,800-square-foot building, 2155 W. Chesterfield Blvd., last year and consolidated into its other Chesterfield Village buildings, known as Noble II and Noble III.

The advertising agency has reduced its staff numbers in recent years – down from 300 total employees in 2005 between its Springfield and Chicago offices to roughly 140 today. However, Noble Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Keith Acuff said the lease deal does not indicate further cutbacks.

In fact, he said the company has added seven employees since the first of the year with plans to add more.

“Clients are spending again. It’s a better time for us,” Acuff said. “Don’t kid yourself - it’s got a long way to go. But the fact that we can hire people back is a good thing.”

He said spending among the firm’s 30 clients is up 5 percent to 10 percent across the board, and the Boston-based upscale restaurant chain Smith and Wollensky Steakhouse added Noble as its agency of record earlier this month.

Read more about Summit Preparatory School's plans in Chesterfield Village in SBJ's May 31 issue.