Construction is under way on a new office building at Fasig-Tipton’s Newtown Paddocks property near Lexington. The structure, which will be located in front of the sale pavilion, will have three levels – two above ground and a basement. A walkway will connect the second above ground level of the office building with the second story of the sale pavilion.
Fasig-Tipton’s “expanded vision,” which involves higher levels of customer service, increased efforts to recruit buyers and consignors, and the promotion of North American breeding and racing, made the new office building necessary, according to Terence Collier, Fasig-Tipton’s director of marketing. The company’s staff will grow, and “we didn’t have anywhere to put them (the new employees),” he said.
Work on the new office building began “a couple of days after” the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select mixed sale, according to Collier, and is scheduled to be completed in November of 2009. The structure will have a “complementary style to the sale pavilion, and there will be features that you would see at some of the more traditional horse farms,” Collier said.
Even though the new office building is being constructed in front of the sale pavilion where the parking lot is located, there still will be plenty of parking available, according to Collier.
The current one-story office building is being evaluated to determine its best use, Collier said. Offices for buyers and consignors to use during sales probably will be located there.
Fasig-Tipton was sold earlier this year to Dubai-based Synergy Investments, which is headed by Adulla Al Habbai, a close associate of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed. Plans announced at that time including expanding Fasig-Tipton’s operations and role in the Thoroughbred industry.