A software company that serves as the investor backbone for giant global corporations picked downtown Hamilton as the point for an aggressive expansion.

Toronto's Q4 Inc. announced Jan. 21 it is hiring 100 technology workers for its new 9,500-square-foot Gore Park space at 59 King St. E., next door to the development on the former Kresge's block.

"We see Hamilton being a significant part of our global workforce," Dorothy Arturi, Q4 senior vice-president of people and culture, said of an investor relations operation that serves clients such as Apple, Nike and Shopify from offices in Toronto, the U.S., Britain and Denmark.

Approximately 2,200 large publicly listed companies worldwide use Q4 software and data services to help them engage with shareholders, said founder and CEO Darrell Heaps, a York University computer sciences and business graduate who built two other companies before establishing Q4 in 2006.

Q4 has grown rapidly as a private Canadian financial tech company and now provides investor relations analysis tools to 64 per cent of the companies on the Dow Jones and 37 per cent of those on the S&P.

Two-thirds of its clients are U.S.-based, one-third are spread out internationally, and just under 200 are Canadian.

Renovations are underway at 59 King St. E. | Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator

Those companies typically are worth more than $500 million in market capitalization, said Heaps, who described Hamilton as its "centre of excellence for web-based products" to serve a growing list of international clients.

"In Hamilton, it will be highly visual, engaging work and very rewarding because of the pace by which we launch investor sites with the latest technology," Heaps said.

On Q4's quest to broaden to a new location and add a hundred staff to its payroll of 240, the company narrowed its search to a short list that included cities in the U.S., Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Darrell Heaps, founder and CEO of Q4, in the space that he's renovating for his company at 59 King St. E. | Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator

"The driving reason for setting up a second large office in Hamilton was based on the fact that Hamilton is a vibrant location with a great talent pool with proximity to our headquarters in Toronto to move talent between locations," Heaps said.

"It's a city feel without the cost of living in downtown Toronto," said Arturi, noting that "all the boxes were checked" as they reviewed Hamilton as a growth destination.

Judy Lam, Hamilton's manager of commercial districts and small business, recalls the turning point last June when a tour of prospective sites with Q4 officials stopped in on the Core Urban development on King.

"It was an urban vibe that fit their culture," Lam said.

"We took them for a walk downtown and at one point they said, this 'King William area makes us feel like we're in London in the U.K.'."

But it goes beyond being able to bike to work or have a meeting over a drink in the Collective Arts beer garden planned for the top floor of their new address, Lam said.

Karol Murillo, left, and Judy Lam from the commercial district and small business department of economic development at The City of Hamilton touring 59 King St. E. | Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator

"For the first time, some of their employees will be able to start a family and afford a house or condo to live in," Lam said.

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"With Q4, I feel they are at the forefront of a technology hub that's going to be coming to downtown Hamilton," she said. "You won't recognize the city in a couple of years."

As an interim step, Q4 has been leasing space at 12 James St. N. for a handful of employees but will move to the new location with new staff when construction is finished in March.

Hiring is expected to rapidly ramp up over the next 12 to 16 weeks for the first phase.

In its second phase, the firm expects to expand to another 7,500 square feet within the King Street building, bringing the total lease space to 17,000 square feet.

Q4 will occupy the second and fourth floors of the building located across the street from Gore Park. | Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator

To assist with the wholesale hiring binge, Q4 is organizing a job fair Feb. 5. They expect to draw staff from Toronto, St. Catharines, Guelph and Waterloo Region, as well as from the pool of recent graduates at McMaster University, Mohawk College and Redeemer College.

The arrival of Q4 and its assembly of skilled workers drawing salaries that average $55,000 has the potential to move the meter on the closely watched national "tech talent" scoreboard, says Karol Murillo, the city's senior business development consultant specializing in the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector.

The annual report by research group CBRE, which ranks Canadian cities by their ability to attract technology companies and skilled staff, placed Hamilton ninth in the country last year - with Quebec City in the No. 8 spot and Edmonton at No. 10.

"I honestly feel that with Q4 and tech developments over the past couple of years, the message is that we're not just poised for success - we have arrived," Murillo said.

"It helps leverage the point that tech lives here."