API Healthcare, a health care workforce management software company, is moving from GE Healthcare’s campus at the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa back to its former headquarters in Hartford.
About 200 employees will return to API’s former 74,000-square-foot office at 1550 Innovation Way in Hartford, a move prompted by GE Healthcare’s sale of API to private equity investment firm Veritas Capital in July.
General Electric acquired API in 2014 and relocated the company’s operations from Hartford to GE’s Wauwatosa campus at the end of 2016. GE Healthcare announced in April plans to sell its enterprise financial management, ambulatory care management and workforce management (API Healthcare) units for $1.05 billion to Veritas Capital.
Amanda Lemke, senior director of finance for API, said the company has a long-term lease at its former headquarters, which has remained vacant over the last 18 months.
API employees are expected to move back to the Hartford location by the end of September.
“Our folks are excited to get back to the office and create the culture we’re used to,” Lemke said. “Everyone is pretty excited about it.”
Lemke said the company expects to hire more employees over the next year.
“We are going back to our roots,” Lemke said. “We were part of a private equity firm prior to coming into GE Healthcare. It’s going to give us the ability to grow the way we need to grow and develop the software we need to develop in order to satisfy market demand and client needs.”
API develops software for hospitals to help facilities manage staffing and scheduling needs, as well as software to manage human resources, payroll and business analytics.
Tom Hostad, executive director of the Hartford Area Development Corp., applauded the company’s return to the city.
“We’re certainly happy to have them back here in Hartford,” Hostad said. “200 (employees) is a very good and encouraging number for us to have return to the Hartford economy.”
City administrator Steve Volkert said the move benefits not only the city but also API employees, many of whom live in Hartford and have commuted to Wauwatosa over the last 18 months.
“We’re very excited to not only have a great building occupied again, but also to have them back here greatly helps people who lived in Hartford to work once again in their home environment,” Volkert said. “I really feel it’s great to have all these Hartford residents working in Hartford.”
The city has made a concerted effort in recent years to redevelop the downtown as a way to help area employers attract and retain employees. That effort has led to new housing developments, including 300 new apartment units either opening or being planned within the past 18 months.
“We’ve added a lot more housing options since (API) left,” Hostad said. “Certainly for young professionals we have a lot more housing options if they weren’t already living in Hartford.”
Volkert said he expects API’s return to enhance the city’s recent “growth spurt.”
“When you bring that many people back into the 9-5 life in the city of Hartford, a lot of our businesses are going to see an impact,” he said.
