Certified Vacations, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will open a new travel and vacation reservations center in the Salt Lake Hardware Building, 105 N. 400 West, in November.
The company is the first full-floor tenant in the building, which is being renovated as tenants lease space. Certified is leasing 45,000 square feet, and by the time the company takes occupancy in October, there will be four new elevators, new windows, new electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems and parking for more than 800 cars.Jill Vales, senior vice president of operations and finance, said, "We conducted extensive research on more than 20 cities to evaluate them as possible reservation center sites. The eventual selection was Salt Lake City, a location where both the local community and Certified Vacations will benefit."
Gastronomy Inc., the company renovating the old building, has been vital in renovating other buildings in Salt Lake City. John Williams, company president, said Certified Vacations' decision to locate in the Salt Lake Hardware Building is a significant boost to the central business district.
Certified Vacations will have 150 employees by the end of 1995 and 350 within two years. It will operate every day of the week as the company attempts to double its sales in the next four years, said Bob Blumberg, marketing vice presi-dent for Certified.
Nationally, Certified has 850 employees who operate vacation programs for more than 110 destinations worldwide, booking an average of 7,700 reservations per week and handling more than 4 million calls annually.