Merced supervisors approve lease agreement with Golden Valley at Castle

When AT&T announced the closure of its two Atwater call centers at Castle Commerce Center in August, Gerald Boyer’s phone blew up with calls and text messages.

The former area manager for AT&T had left the corporation a year ago to accept a job at Golden Valley Health Centers. But his old AT&T colleagues were reaching out to share the devastating news.

“There were rumors over the last year or two that AT&T was closing down,” said Boyer, who worked at the AT&T call center for 17 years. “But when it finally did come out, it was sad for the families.”

Boyer, working as the call center manager for Golden Valley, saw the AT&T closure as a potential opportunity for his current employer. The following week, Boyer and Golden Valley’s chief operating officer, Mark Millan, drove to the AT&T call centers to look at the outside of the building.

They toured the inside of the building a few weeks later and knew it was a perfect match, Millan said.

Less than a year later, Golden Valley Health Centers has secured a five-year lease for the 52,482-square-foot building, gaining unanimous approval from the Board of Supervisors at a board meeting Tuesday.

County officials say the contract will restore half the revenue lost when AT&T left. Golden Valley will pay $13,098.80 a month through the life of the five-year lease.

Golden Valley plans to transfer 250 employees to the former Air Force Base, allowing room to expand its clinical services at its Merced campus on Childs Avenue. Millan said at least 25 jobs will be added, with that number expected to double by the end of this year.

The “golden opportunity” would not have been possible without Boyer’s relationship with AT&T, Millan said.

“We might have heard about the building, but we wouldn’t have heard about it as soon as we did when Jerry brought it to our attention,” Millan said. “I thought, ‘This is it. This is a solution and we need to make this happen.’”

Millan said Golden Valley Health Centers had outgrown its current space and wanted to expand for some time. In fact, it was one of Boyer’s job responsibilities to help find a new site to expand the call center. The former AT&T building was appealing because it already had electrical connections and phone lines installed, requiring no major upgrades.

It also helped that Merced County offered the building at a very competitive rate, said Golden Valley CEO Tony Weber.

“We were not looking for a building that big, but then this building became available,” Weber said. “The county was offering a very good rate, and we could actually get more space for the same or less money per month.”

Another bit of good news is that Golden Valley could hire some of the 400 displaced AT&T workers. Boyer said he’s received calls from his former co-workers, many of whom are excited to return to the old AT&T building under a new opportunity.

“The employees are telling all their friends and the word is spreading,” Boyer said. “AT&T employees have the best customer service skills so we tried to transfer some of those skills to Golden Valley Health Centers.”

Golden Valley’s lease agreement with Merced County begins March 1.

This story was originally published February 3, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Merced supervisors approve lease agreement with Golden Valley at Castle."