Hyatt's New Call Center Lands in Moore, OK

Hyatt's shared service center at 830 City Ave. will have 150 employees by year's end to handle customer accounting and internal payroll services for all 217 full-service Hyatt hotels and resorts in North America. Hyatt plans to eventually have 300 employees in the Moore facility, a goal that will provide a total annual payroll exceeding $6 million.

Richard Pritchett, a broker with PrecorRuffin LLC in Oklahoma City, tells GlobeSt.com that the space had its call center and data infrastructure in place, thanks to the previous tenant, ClientLogic of Nashville. "It worked out well for Hyatt's needs," says Pritchett, who represented the property owner, New City Center LLC from Hendon, VA. "We were fortunate to land a name such as Hyatt there."

According to a joint press release from Global Hyatt and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Hyatt officials first visited the Moore site close to a year ago. Jim Melvin, Hyatt's vice president, says in the release that the workforce and incentives were "very attractive to our company." He also praised the hard work of the state of Oklahoma, city leaders, CB Richard Ellis' Labor Analytics Group in Phoenix and the Moore Norman Technology Center in encouraging Hyatt to set up shop in the city. Representatives from Hyatt, Oklahoma Department of Commerce and Moore Economic Development Department weren't available for comment by deadline due to the ribbon-cutting gala at New City Center.

Pritchett says Moore was a logical choice for Hyatt because of the new residential and retail growth in the area. "The employees will have a lot of amenities available," Pritchett says. "Hyatt felt like it was a good fit."

Hyatt has financial shared service centers in Europe and Asia. Its select hotel brands--Hyatt Place, Hyatt Summerfield Suites and Hyatt Vacation Ownership--will continue to operate separate centers in the US.

New City Center was built in 1963. In the past 10 years, the 90%-occupied shopping center has undergone more than $3 million in renovations. Major tenants include Cendant Corp., Ferguson Enterprises Inc., Family Dollar, Ace Hardware and Western Wear.