Syracuse, N.Y. -- A dragon's head will burst out the entrance and its tail will double as a slide for employees to quickly get from the second floor to the first.

Rooms will have themes from the Star Wars and Harry Potter movies and the Super Mario Bros. video game, as well as a pirate ship.

TCGplayer's new headquarters at the Galleries of Syracuse won't look like any other corporate headquarters in Syracuse - and maybe not anywhere else.

The company, which operates an online hub for trading card games and "geek culture collectibles," showed off plans Thursday for its 44,000-square-foot headquarters overlooking South Warren Street in the Galleries.

The company's 230 employees will move from three smaller offices in Armory Square to the Galleries after $3.3 million in renovations to the space are completed in November.

Founder and CEO Chedy Hampson said the new office will "show off our quirkiness and culture," as well as help recruit and retain employees as the company continues its rapid growth. (In the last four years, its young workforce has grown by more than 200 people.)

"I think it's really going to excite the youth of the community," he said.

A giant dragon from the "The Hobbit" film series will hang from the ceiling, its head bursting through the glass above the entrance to hang outdoor above the sidewalk.

Inside, the dragon's tail will hang above a castle-like reception desk. Its tail will double as a slide for employees and visitors who would rather not take the stairs to get from the second floor to the first.

"It'll save a little time and people can have a little fun," said Hampson.

Six rooms along the glass front of the office will feature workspaces "that will make it feel as though you are entering different worlds."

One will have a pirate ship. Another will be decked out like the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's ship from the "Star Wars" movies.

Another will look like the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the "Harry Potter" movies. And yet another will be decorated like a Super Mario Bros. video game.

The offices, which will be visible to passersby along South Warren Street, are being designed by QPK Design. Hampson said the company will offer public tours of the offices and will keep the lights on at night to entertain pedestrians walking by.

TCGplayer emerged in 2008 from a web design company, Ascension Web Design, that Hampson, a 1992 Corcoran High School graduate, and Ray Moore, the company's chief innovation officer, started in 1998.

The company provides an online marketplace for the buying and selling of new and used collectible cards for popular games such as Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and HeroClix - games that feature lots of wizards, elves, dragons, goblins and other creatures.

TCGplayer has been growing rapidly, necessitating a need to hire software writers, marketing and financing personnel, product engineers, operations and support personnel.

Hampson said he expects to create 168 new jobs at the headquarters over the next five years, with an average salary of nearly $54,000.

In June of 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced $50,000 in state funding would be available to TCGplayer from his Upstate Revitalization Initiative, as well as $300,000 in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits. Due to the company's growth, TCGplayer is now eligible for up to $2.4 million through the Excelsior Program and up to $550,000 will also be provided to the company through a Central New York Regional Council capital grant, tied to job creation commitments, Cuomo's office said Thursday.

TCGplayer's move to the Galleries helps to solidify South Warren Street as something of a technology corridor. The Syracuse Technology Garden, a business incubator for tech start-ups, is a block to the south.

"Downtown has become a place where you can live, work and play together," said Hampson, a downtown resident.

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