Another downtown development project is now complete after several years of planning and renovations.

The Great Lakes Insurance building at the corner of 12th and State Street now houses dozens of employees.

Pete Zaphiris from Great Lakes said his goal was to create an environment that his employees like being in. The building includes a kitchen, rooftop, fitness center and large office spaces.

He added it’s great to see people working in the new building and enjoying what downtown Erie has to offer.

“We started working on it almost two years ago, but (now) we are in. Our staff loves it downtown, we can walk to lunch and it’s very vibrant. We built this office to expand. We’re going to go from roughly 35 people in here now to about 90 in the next three years, so it’s great to be right in the center of downtown Erie,” said Zaphiris.

Zaphiris went on to say he plans to develop other buildings in downtown Erie to create more apartments for people looking to live in the city.