The Co-operators will be closing the doors on its current downtown offices and finding a new home in the city’s south end.

According to a news release from the City of Guelph, the insurance and financial services company will be building a new “state-of-the-art facility” for 2023 in Guelph’s south end.

Bernie Mitchell, the Co-operators' vice-president of human resources and work place services, said in an emailed statement that she expects construction on the site will begin by late 2018. She added the new location will be the workplace for approximately 1,000 employees.

The new location will consolidate the company’s offices at 130 Macdonell St., 98 Macdonell St. and 649 Scottsdale Dr., which will have their leases expire at that time.

The news release does not specify the exact location of the new headquarters. Michelle Robichaud, a spokesperson for the Co-operators, says she is unable to share the exact location of the new headquarters at this time.

Mayor Cam Guthrie says the insurance company had been looking at options outside of Guelph prior to the south end location being found.

“It’s very positive that they are choosing to stay in Guelph, and from a business perspective, I appreciate their present needs, which include the consolidation of three of their offices into one, but they’re also looking at their future growth needs, and that a potential opportunity for them where they would like to build allows them that flexibility for that future growth as well,” he tells the Mercury Tribune.