Jacob Zuppke's businesses — Traffic and Venture Park — are growing fast. lilt 1111111111 11 111111111 ,_ aft iimilier ,, Inie UM Ns illi INN itialk 111 ■ 11111111111 imea arm 111111111111 aft ism out ilimi Nit eft iiiiilimi MN WM 111111111 11111111111111111111111111MIN loll ills III NMI 11111 11111111 lift 11111111 Sall MIS 11111111111111 RINI MN arailimien ow au am MI 1111111 maim 11111 Ina IOW 111111111111 11111111111111m1 NM 1111111111111111111 MN isa am 1 Walla 1111111111111i aft 11111481111111111111ta Ilia NM MN .1111111. UM 1111111111111111111111111ft11111111111111111111111111111101•11111111111 as Ills 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Ilia MINIM MIN IIIIIIM mil weiling um Imanumearra Ilimaiminiimas aft assems in Int in 1 1111111111111111111111111 WHIM VIII MN Milk Silt 1111111111 1111111111111111111111 NM III MIN IMP MI MN RID 111111111111111111 VIM= NIS MIR 11111 ; LOIN Ira ions 111111111111111111111101111111111ma insimiairmima um tar nilla 1111/11111119111111 --- -8111 Cool New Workspace In Royal Oak Allan Nahajewski Contributing Writer S tanding in the middle of a gutted building on Fourth Street in Royal Oak, Jacob Zuppke was describing his vision for his newest venture. Called Venture Park, the 15,000-square- foot former Knights of Columbus hall is being redesigned to be right for startups, tech companies, entrepreneurs and the independent types who have been using coffee shops as offices. The vision is the kind of hip, creative workspace that young tech work- ers dream about. The only structure remaining from its K of C days is the 40-foot L-shaped bar. That's being refurbished Jacob Zuppke and will have two kegs on tap. The ceiling tiles are gone; the new look includes exposed ductwork, birch wood trim, black epoxy floors and lofts with ladders. One section of the building will emulate a streetscape. Private offices will have awnings over the doors, surrounding an open workspace, ideal for collaboration. Upstairs, walls are being removed, adding to the openness. After hours, the shared work desks in the bar area will be cleared to create a meeting 24 August 22 • 2013 space, available for rent. Traffic, the digital marketing company that Zuppke co-founded a year ago, is in the building next door. Both buildings will have glass garage doors that on nice days will open into a shared 1,900-square-foot court- yard, which is being equipped with a stereo system, lighting, arborvitae and a firepit. Future plans include working space on the roof of Venture Park as well. Zuppke works fast. It was July 22, a day before construction on Venture Park was scheduled to begin, and he expected it to be ready for occupancy by the end of August. Even the space rental arrangement is unique. "It's a membership model: says Zuppke. "You can get 8-to-5 access for $175 a month:' He notes that coffee shop workers are likely to be spending more than that already. "If you're at a coffee shop all day, you're prob- ably spending 10 bucks a day on coffee. That comes up to $200 really quickly' he adds. "Here you get free coffee, a mailing address, printer access, WiFi, a conference room, and you're surrounded by like-minded people:' Zuppke, 25, is already a seasoned vet- eran in the startup world. He co-founded his first company — a bagel delivery ser- vice — at age 16. After graduating from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School, he co-founded Zuppler Services, a power- washing and landscaping company, while also helping Market Square get into digital marketing and the pizza business. He also co-launched two online coupon compa- nies, Oy What a Deal and Hip City Deals. Today, Zuppke splits his time between Venture Park and Traffic, the market- ing firm he started with Jeremy Sutton, 34, one of his college professors at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the first college in the United States to offer a degree in digital marketing. Zuppke was the program's first graduate. He trans- ferred to U-M Dearborn after two years at Oakland University "In my first semester, I tried to join the class two weeks late. I bugged the profes- he sor, Jeremy, every day to let me recalls. "Eventually I got in, and we hit it right off. I told him about my experience with my startups. He was a startup guy himself, and we just saw eye to eye. It was the first A+ I ever got in college:' Traffic already has 21 employees, not including its nine interns. Its clients include 1-800-LAW-FIRM, Cottage Inn Pizza, 1-800-4BLINDS, Levine & Sons Plumbing, Yottabyte, 1-800-0BRYANS, Rhino Shield, Lumeria Hotel, Reverie, Fairlane Ford, Skyward Group Real Estate and the Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP law firm. "We just started a new brand, Rad by Traffic, a video production company:' Zuppke says. "We have three full-time members, plus contractors. They're incredible. Chevy just sponsored them to drive cross country and film the whole road trip. They won two awards along the way for one-day films:' Current tenants at the Traffic and Venture Park complex are Coleman Media, a visual effects company that has worked on feature films, and Tylar and Company, a marketing firm. The facility hosts a monthly networking event for entrepre- neurs, called Bootstrappers, and has also hosted a Jewish Federation NEXTGen Detroit event. What next? "We're going to continue to build the Traffic brand:' Zuppke says. "By the end of this year, we'd like to have 25 full-time staffed employees and an additional 15 part-time who work under our roof, and we have plans to open a second office in Baltimore in November. We also want to build Rad by Traffic into a larger company. "It's a lot of fun. I really do love it:' he adds. "We added three more people in the last two weeks. We started this without a dollar. We've done a lot of cool stuff in one year. It's excit- ing to think about what we're going to do next. I never imagined we would accomplish this much in one year:' ❑ Venture Park and Traffic are located at 404 and 412 E. Fourth St., three blocks east of Main. Web addresses: trafficdigitalagency.com and venturepark.org.