Royal Oak builds up day time office worker numbers with the opening of new Gongos Inc. HQ

Decision intelligence company Gongos, Inc. has left its Auburn Hills home for a brand new 20,000 sq. ft. headquarters in downtown Royal Oak.

The decision intelligence, or market research, company made the move official Tuesday, Aug. 28 when it opened its doors. On Thursday, Sept. 13, Gongos will celebrate the move with a ceremony that includes the release of 100 local Michigan butterflies from its third-floor balcony, likely a symbol of the company’s transformation.

Roughly 140 employees made the move from Auburn Hills to downtown Royal Oak.

"Our growth and evolution made it clear that we needed to create an environment that fit the company we were rapidly becoming," said president & CEO, Camille Nicita.

"In early 2018, we recalibrated our people system to adopt a more agile approach to serve our clients’ continuously expanding needs."

Gongos and its new headquarters is a key component of downtown Royal Oak’s RethinkRO initiative, the city’s plan to boost its daytime office worker numbers, which at the same time is boosting the height of the buildings throughout downtown. According to the RethinkRO website, the building which Gongos now calls home will eventually welcome other companies as tenants, resulting in a total of 350 more daytime employees in downtown Royal Oak.

There is also the Royal Oak Civic Center project. Currently, under construction, that development includes a new six-story office building, 30,000 sq. ft. city hall, 581 space parking garage, police station, and public park.

Other RethinkRO projects include the Woodward Corners by Beaumont shopping district, the Hyatt Place hotel project, a proposed nearly 100,000 sq. ft. mixed-use development at 600 S. Main St., the $4 million Kinetic Creations headquarters on Fourth Street, and more.

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MJ Galbraith is a writer and musician living in Detroit. Follow him on Twitter @mikegalbraith.