VOL. 132 | NO. 119 | Thursday, June 15, 2017

Wunderlich Securities Inc. is preparing to move its corporate headquarters – currently in East Memphis, where the investment firm employs 110 people – to Downtown’s One Commerce Square.

That’s according to the firm’s CEO Gary Wunderlich, who said a lease hasn’t been signed yet but that Wunderlich employees were told of the impending move in a meeting Wednesday, June 14. The firm has signed a letter of intent, and the plan, according to Wunderlich, is for the firm to take about 30,000 square feet at the Downtown tower.

The firm, he added, is in the late stages of negotiating a lease for at least 12 years at One Commerce, where the firm is looking at occupying the 16th and 18th floors.

Wunderlich, which was founded in 1996, has called East Memphis home at 6000 Poplar Ave. for more than a decade, and about 100 employees appear set to make the move to Downtown in time to start business there on May 1, 2018. Wunderlich plans to keep a presence in East Memphis, though details of where have yet to be determined.

Downtown Memphis Commission president and CEO Terence Patterson was on hand for the June 14 employee meeting to help talk up the benefits of being Downtown. Wunderlich said the firm will also be applying for incentives from the commission.

“We're very excited about (this) long term and significant commitment to Memphis,” said Wunderlich, who added that the firm’s name will be atop the building on two sides and that the firm’s presence there will help sell new Wunderlich recruits on both the firm and the city.

"We believe a Downtown corporate headquarters will prove extremely beneficial to our continued growth both here in Memphis and across the country. All of us are honored to become part of the Memphis skyline and eager to take advantage of all Downtown Memphis has to offer."

Word of the relocation comes less than a month after the announcement that the firm is being acquired by a publicly traded Los Angeles-based financial services firm, B. Riley Financial, in a $67 million deal.

That deal, though, doesn't do anything to the Wunderlich brand or its operations. On the contrary, Wunderlich’s top executive stresses - the firm is doubling down on its commitment to Memphis, he said, as the relocation shows.

The more high-profile space is a symbol of that commitment, and “our headcount here in Memphis will grow.” The firm reiterated last month that its name is staying the same, as are its clients’ advisers, in the wake of the B. Riley Financial deal.