Profile: American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH) is one of the nation’s leading health and wellness companies. ASH provides health plans, employer groups, insurance carriers, and trust funds with a wide range of population health management, fitness and exercise, and specialty health care management programs to improve the health of their members or employees.

Challenge: ASH developed a strategic plan to split its operations, customer service, and IT functions into three distinct geographic regions. Each of these regions must support the company’s growth plan well into the future, including hiring, building space, and state and local economic development incentives to aid the company’s expansion. Further, ASH determined it would relocate its headquarters to Carmel, Indiana.

Strategy and Solution: After extensive study, CARMEN identified a number of suitable office sites where ASH could confidently grow its business for at least a decade. CARMEN conducted negotiations with three separate property owners to leverage the best possible lease terms. CARMEN negotiated business and economic terms to ensure ASH would be able to fulfill its regionalization goal while relocating its headquarters from San Diego to Carmel.

CARMEN led the economic incentive negotiations with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and the City of Carmel on ASH’s behalf. CARMEN’s thorough understanding of the political and economic climate was instrumental in positioning the company to maximize the incentives available through ASH’s commitment to the State of Indiana to add 675 professional positions in the first five years of operations in Carmel.

As part of its service to ASH, CARMEN provided Project Management services for furniture procurement, planning, construction management, and interior design.

Result: With its commitment to the State of Indiana to bring 675 jobs to Carmel, American Specialty Health was able to procure $11M in incentives from the State of Indiana to help the company offset a portion of its investment in building infrastructure and relocation costs. American Specialty Health leased 58,000 square feet of office space located in Duke Realty Investments’ Hamilton Crossing development, located in Carmel, Indiana. The lease terms allow the company to grow unabated during its lease term.They leased 16,000 square feet of office/industrial (“flex”) space located ½ mile from the Hamilton Crossing site which will support the Operations Center and company headquarters.