vice president of digital, loves the easy access she enjoys to the new space on her commute. “We’re just off 59,” she says, “And our proximity to the highways is terrific. I feel like I have the best of both worlds: a great space and an easy commute.” Perhaps no one has become a bigger champion of Downtown than Marion herself, who has always recognized the area’s importance as a business and cultural center. Thrilled to “The connection be a Downtown business owner, she feels she has a new perspective on what being we feel here is Downtown means. She counts the Greater exceptional. we're Houston Partnership, Opportunity Housreally at the ton and Shell as clients, and works closely with NRG on what she terms innovation heartbeat of projects. MMI also services Memorial City the city.” and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, two locations absolutely convenient to the company’s new home. There’s little doubt, however, that Downtown has become another part of MMI’s identity. “The connection we feel here is exceptional,” Marion says about MMI’s new spot. “We’re really at the heartbeat of the city.” That connection and the pulse of activity are evident all over MMI’s three floors, many covered with whimsical geometric rugs that indicate creativity lives here. There are cozy corners with end tables and chairs where staffers can break away for quick project chats. White boards line multiple walls, perfect for penning inspirational quotes, doodles and the results of brainstorming sessions. The huge first-floor conference room with its tables and chairs on rollers allows the entire team to gather in the same place at the same time, something denied the team at its former home. Conference rooms of varying sizes sport fun names of TV shows that Caption goes here.
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feature advertising or advertisers as part of the story, including Mad Men, Bewitched and Bosom Buddies. In a funky twist, each of the building’s rest rooms is an entirely individual design, ranging from the kind of classy man cave that would look at home in a cigar bar to a chandelier-laden ladies room with bright green accents, a hold-over from when the original architect turned his own team loose to do whatever they wanted in the space. The front entry is open and airy, a stunning white space that gives visitors the feeling they’re in for something marvelous when interacting with this team. There’s even a kitchen with a restaurant-quality convection oven and an induction stove, and a smaller coffee room, where the staff has been known to blow through nearly five dozen carafes in a day, proving creativity really is driven by caffeine. And there’s plenty of parking, both in the lot at the back of the building and the adjacent parking lot that Marion leased next door. Since moving in nearly a year ago, Marion says the new location has really allowed her team to come into its own. In addition to adding staff and taking on new clients, she’s felt a new sort of team spirit, saying that everyone is excited over the move and the opportunities it presents in terms of working together, networking and morale. “Everyone is just really happy in a very different way now,” she says. “So many of our team are 20- and 30-somethings and this location is just great in terms of activity they can participate in after work and the morale and creativity have really spiked. This has been fantastic for morale.” “It feels like we’ve come into our own,” agrees Malek. “This is so very different from where we came from.” “We really feel lucky to be here,” says Marion, who has plans to expand the space into adjacent lots. “This is everything we could’ve wanted on every level.”