It’s one thing to work downtown. It’s another when you are drawing on its energy and using it in your career to help rebuild a substantial portion of the city.
Rachel Price is celebrating her four-year anniversary at the GBX Group, which recently moved its headquarters into the Superior Arts District.
Price, who works at GBX as a project manager, played a role in the company moving its headquarters to the Empire Improvement Building at 2101 Superior Ave.
“The majority of the work we do nationwide is in urban centers, so it only makes sense to locate our headquarters downtown,” says Price.
“I have learned so much more about GBX and historic renovation and preservation than I ever thought I would. My colleagues convinced me to go back to school. So I am currently working on my master’s degree in urban planning and real estate development at Cleveland State University.”
The Superior Arts District where GBX is located was once home to one of the largest garment manufacturing centers in the nation, Price explains.
“So a lot of the historic buildings down here were once in the garment industry,” she says. “After World War II, the garment industry declined and a lot of artists moved into the neighborhood. Now the entire district is on the National Register of Historic Places.”
Which also gives a lot of personal satisfaction and meaning to her work at the GBX Group.
For Price, working in downtown has no real drawbacks. She lives just across the river in Ohio City.
“So the commute is nothing,” says Price, who grew up in Aurora and still has family there. “Working downtown and going to school downtown, I literally have everything I want right here. I work, live and play all in one area.”
Working downtown also offers easy access to the many restaurants and nightlife options the city offers.
“In addition to meeting friends after work, my family also likes to come down to visit,” Price says. “My mom recently texted me telling me she was in the Flats. So I can explore the city with my family, not just my friends.”
Despite what has to be a hectic schedule, working downtown makes living easy, says Price.