A new office for MHK Architecture, which operates offices all over the country, has opened in Highlands, with a new office at 1152 N 4th Street.
Company founder Matthew Kragh originally came to Highlands a few years back when he and his family visited from their Greenville offices.
“We’re just over the top excited to be a part of the community,” he said, adding that they were making “a big investment” in the area.
He added that they would be working on keeping developments with a historic look but also “new and exciting.” The MHK building is a curiosity to Kragh because of its strange angles, which came from how they had to work with the way the area was set back into the hilly terrain of the mountains.
The building also offers an apartment below the offices which Kragh said will be available to traveling staff members of the company. It comes with a TV, a bed and art on the walls, along with a view of the mountains.
A press release states MHK works “to help successful and visionary people build their dream home with a process more enjoyable than they ever thought it could be,” and is “committed to the historic craft and practice of architecture, yet always driven by and responsive to the wishes of the client.”
Asked what people could expect from the new MHK location, Kragh answered that there would be both local experience and a larger scope from the company’s multiple locations around the country.
“We bring local experience and local staff, but we also have global experience for techniques and research,” he said. “We have the advantage of us being here, servicing a small community with local staff, but with the backbone of all 128 staff members nationwide.”
Keith Gilbert, a senior architecture associate with MHK who moved up from Greenville after originally starting with the company’s first office in Naples, Florida, said he’d become enamored with Highlands.
“It’s a beautiful area,” he said. “I love the four seasons. Summer’s just cool enough to keep the windows open. Winter can be cold, but generally it’s not too bad. There’s not a lot of snow. I like being able to go hiking and the people in the community are fantastic.”
The ribbon cutting was followed by a bustling party at the MHK building where people ate from a wide array of snacks and drank champagne. Cindy Trevathan of REACH of Macon County, which provides help and services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, was in attendance with others from that organization. Trevathan was happy to support MHK because the architecture company had designed a new facility for them free of charge.
“I needed a new office for REACH,” she said. “Everybody I talked to said ‘I’m two years out.’ I saw MHK just opened up, so I cold-called them, and they said ‘what kind of décor do you use?’ We just do bare bones – but they designed the whole facility for free.”