General

Condley and Company, LLP has been serving the Abilene community for several decades in the downtown landscape. Recently, they have made the executive decision to expand their space and services to a bigger location. Renovations are underway at North 3rd and Pine Street to transform the historic department store building into Condley’s new home. As business activity and expansion continues to heighten, Condley’s new downtown location will give them the flexibility to take on more clients, employees, and further the economy.

Condley’s decision to invest further in the downtown area helps our community work further towards creating downtown Abilene as a center of employment and investment. Learn more about their company below and the 70 plus employees they’re retaining with this location.

Basics

• Condley was founded in 1939 and has been located in downtown Abilene for its entire history (82 years). We have been in our current location on the corner of Third and Pine for 44 years.
• We provide reliable accounting and consulting services to clients throughout Texas, as well as the United States. The firm maintains a heavy concentration serving banking entities, not-for-profit organizations, healthcare providers, construction companies and closely held businesses.
• We are the largest locally-owned firm in Abilene. We aim to provide personal and exceptional client service, and our membership with the RSM Alliance network means we also have access to global resources that allow us to offer quality financial services with a personalized approach.

Personnel

• We currently have over 70 employees, including 11 full-time partners
• Condley is retaining all employees in the move, and we will have more room to grow once we are there. The extra space will also allow us to offer additional services in the future!
• Our staff enjoys unique advantages such as diverse projects, experience, and clientele; a healthy work/life balance; direct interaction with partners and client executives; career advancement and support; and competitive compensation and benefits.
• Condley is committed to civic involvement and encourages our staff to be involved in the Abilene community. A large percentage of our staff serves on non-profit boards or in volunteer positions.

Grant Building

• Projected completion date: end of 2021/beginning of 2022
• We are working with the Texas Historical Commission and the National Park Service to repurpose the building while attempting to retain as much remaining historical character as possible. There have been some interesting discoveries in the building so far, such as a “secret” staircase, windows on the mezzanine level that we have uncovered, and a painted advertisement on the third and fourth floors from an adjacent building that was torn down.
• What we are looking forward to: Having more windows than our current office space, remaining downtown where we see lots of potential and great things happening, and room to expand.

Click Here to View Renderings

A new video produced for the Downtown Abilene Initiative (Downtown ABI) highlights several properties available for redevelopment and features other successfully completed adaptive reuse projects. Noted urban explorer and documentarian Jonny Goodday recorded drone and hand-held footage, while accompanying Downtown ABI executive director Steve Dieterichs and residential housing developer Jim Sari on a tour in February.

Among the locations the team visited were the West Texas Utilities power plant, the old cotton warehouse, ruins of the Matera Paper Company, the Mill Wine Bar, SoDA District Courtyard and the private residence of Tim Smith.

Goodday edited the footage into a 90-second video, adding text inviting developers and investors to dream of new uses for the old downtown properties.

“With a robust state historic tax credit program, local incentives, and a development-friendly city management, downtown Abilene, Texas, is an ideal place for those looking to develop real estate projects in secondary and tertiary markets,” Dieterichs said.

The video is currently being promoted on LinkedIn and Facebook, with the hope of attracting developers, private equity fund managers and individual investors to consider construction projects in downtown Abilene. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Dieterichs at 325-704-5301 to arrange a tour.

Steve Dieterichs, executive director of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce Downtown Initiative, was presented his credentials as a Certified Tourism Executive (CTE) at the conclusion of the 2018 session of Travel & Tourism College, a program of the Texas Travel Industry Association (TTIA).

In addition to completing the coursework, Mr. Dieterichs also completed a capstone project required for the certification designation. The project detailed his contributions to culinary tourism in the Granbury area, as a founding principal of Acton Local Market.

“Entering into alumni status is bittersweet,” Dieterichs said. “I’ll miss the intensity of the training, but at the same time, I’m excited to apply the skills in my new leadership role in downtown Abilene. As downtown becomes a better place for visitors, destination marketing will become more and more important.”

Travel & Tourism College (TTC) provides participants with an intensive professional education full of marketing, leadership and management courses taught by college professors and seasoned travel and tourism professionals from around the country.

“I am amazed by the amount of innovative solutions and ideas that I was able to add to my skill set over these past three years,” Dieterichs said. “The Granbury CVB’s 2015 TAMI and Marcom Award-winning advertising campaign was a direct result of a session I attended my freshman year.”

Over the past three years, Mr. Dieterichs attended TTC courses that covered such topics as the emotional IQ of today’s marketing campaigns, hands-on strategies for handling any crisis situation, how to create eco-friendly, sustainable tourism products, management excellence, positively outrageous customer service, essential strategies for tourism marketing success, and how relationships affect advocacy and engagement.

“With this CTE designation, Steve has taken his career a step further, increasing his knowledge and expertise in all aspects of travel & tourism marketing and management,” said David Teel, President/CEO, Texas Travel Industry Association. “He has increased his knowledge on current trends in the travel industry, social media and research, and is prepared to take on new and larger responsibilities within the travel industry.”