A proximity card access control system, set up to serve multiple tenants, creates competitive value for the Tennessee complex and its developer.
Lenox Park is a 700,000 square foot office complex located in Memphis. The property leases to a variety of tenants seeking high-quality, high-tech workspaces, including a Fortune 50 and several Fortune 100 companies.
The complex is owned and managed by Clark & Clark, which has its headquarters in the space and was recently honored by the West Tennessee Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors and the International Interior Design Association.
“When we built Lenox Park, we wanted to create a high-end, high-tech location for speculative Class A office buildings,” explained Dan Chancey, commercial property manager for Clark & Clark. “Our product is the building itself and we want the best systems for it.”
Clark & Clark chose GE Secure Perfect (GE Security, Austin, Texas) access control system for Lenox Park. The company also uses GE proximity cards and 480 proximity card readers at as many access controlled doors across seven buildings at the office park. At any given time, there are about 2,000 users. All aspects of the security system are integrated into Secure Perfect.
“A multi-tenant building is a whole different animal. You don’t have the procedural controls of a corporate facility. That’s why we needed a system with a lot of reporting functionality and a lot of flexibility,” Chancey said. “We use electronic Best hardware here (Best Access Systems, Indianapolis) and Secure Perfect integrates extremely well with that hardware.”
Lenox Park tenants do not carry keys, unless they have a key to a private office within their individual suite. The complex uses magnetic locks on external doors. All internal doors have proximity card readers for access, including restrooms, stairwells and elevators as well as every external suite door. Various levels of access can be granted depending on each tenant’s needs.
Chancey’s office is responsible for creating employee badges and managing door security for each individual tenant. Some tenants have six levels of access control available that include time of day, doors and areas of which specific employees are allowed. Chancey and his staff can customize access levels for each employee.
“We have a customized sheet that each tenant fills out for each employee or vendor who will have an access badge,” Chancey explained. “For example, if a particular tenant required access for a new employee, the authorized representative of that tenant sends over a sheet on that person, and we process the information into the system and send a badge in the new employee’s name with the specified access criteria. We work directly with one or two people for each tenant and those people are responsible for funneling the information for the regular employees to us. We get an information sheet on every single badge we issue, even down to the tag number of their car.”
Occasionally, Chancey is asked to remove certain employees from the system and this can be accomplished quickly and efficiently with the system.
“We had one tenant that went through a major corporate change, and everybody in charge was let go,” he said. “We might be asked to disarm 80 badges at a quarter to five, and it takes us only 15 minutes to deal with all the badges and send a verification report back to that tenant that says the badges have been disabled.”