ARA move to Texas could take 2 years, says board president

An international trade association based in the Quad Cities is moving its headquarters to Texas to be closer to business associates. That’s the word from Robert H. Pedersen, the president of the American Rental Association (ARA) Board of Directors, and president/CEO of A Tool Shed, Inc., in Santa Cruz, California. “This has been talked about, […]

An international trade association based in the Quad Cities is moving its headquarters to Texas to be closer to business associates. That’s the word from Robert H. Pedersen, the president of the American Rental Association (ARA) Board of Directors, and president/CEO of A Tool Shed, Inc., in Santa Cruz, California.

“This has been talked about, discussed for years. … This move is going to take time, but it will probably happen in two years,” Mr. Pedersen said Wednesday, March 19, during a phone interview with the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal. The ARA, which was founded in Moline and based for decades at 1900 19th St., Moline, is an international trade association for equipment and event rental operations and manufacturers and suppliers of rental equipment. The ARA headquarters has been in Moline for 70 years. “After an exhaustive, nationwide search process, the American Rental Association is strategically positioning itself for the future needs of its members and its workforce by beginning a headquarters transition to Dallas,” ARA said in a news release dated Sunday, March 9. “This transition will be a gradual process, taking years to fully complete, ensuring the least disruption for current staff.”  Mr. Pedersen told the QCBJ that the exact timeline and speed of that move will largely be determined by when ARA’s headquarters building is sold.  The organization’s 19,072-square-foot headquarters, located near the intersection of Avenue of the Cities and Interstate 74, is currently for sale by Iowa Realty for about $2.2 million. (Go here for more information on the listing.) Once that sale is complete, ARA will move forward on finding a new business home in the Dallas area, and current employees at ARA headquarters might begin transferring to Texas. Mr. Pedersen said those transfers will be done on an “individual basis” with some workers making the move, and others not going to Texas and perhaps leaving the company. The board president added that the move to Texas has been in the works for years. The main motivation behind the relocation is to position the ARA headquarters in a more centralized business site that is more convenient to the group’s members across the country. The ARA building was listed recently on various real estate websites. Here are some of the details on the building from those sites:

• Asking sale price: $2.195 million.
• Building interior: The two-story building includes several private offices, conference rooms, collaboration space and open work environment, large storage room with overhead door, large outdoor patio/picnic area, a diesel backup power generator, and a server room with independent air conditioning. 
• Land: Located on 1.86 acres with interstate exposure.
• Parking: 65-space parking lot.
• Year built: 1980.

When the building is sold, the ARA indicated it may have dedicated office work space for staff in Moline for as long as needed before relocating to Dallas. The ARA has about 64 employees at its headquarters.  The association’s central goal is to support the success of 12,000 members across 52 countries and advance the rental industry through strategic pillars that include education, technology, market intelligence, consumer awareness and workforce development.