Magic Lantern Moves into PBC

With the new year came a new location for Magic Lantern Playware as they made the Patton Block Center, located on the north side of the Public Square, their new home.

Paul Schuytema serves as owner of the local business, which is a part of Gold Creek Technology, and also operates an office in Dallas , Texas .

The old office, located above State Farm Insurance and the Warren County United Way offices, official closed on December 31 although the moving process began on December 12.

Magic Lantern's office, which is located on one floor in the Patton Block Center , now encompasses just over 2,000 square feet. That is almost double the space in their old location.

"The offices are a wonderful step up from our previous space. We've got tall 14 foot ceilings, restored floors and woodwork, and high speed Internet...it's a wonderful juxtaposition between the historic and the hi-tech," stated the owner.

He continued, "we're not fully settled in yet... we've got to get some shelving for storage and our custom-made desks aren't finished yet, so everybody is working on temporary tables now, but the karma here is great."

Adding to the magic in their office is the original trim, which was restored by Terry Cook Construction.

"The building had close to 2,500 feet of original trim dating back to the early 1890's... All of that was saved and Terry Cook and his team worked to sand and strip the trim, as well as restore the original doors, transoms and pocket doors. The results simply blew us all away... you just can't buy wood like that any more and seeing it in our office really puts us in touch with the historical spirit of the building," noted Schuytema.

Magic Lantern was first started in November of 1998. In April of 1999 the location in Monmouth opened for the first time.

Their latest game, Survivor Ultimate hit stores just before Thanksgiving. They are currently working on a new game, Castles and Catapults and are in the quality assurance process with the mythical game that is set in 13th century Europe . According to Schuytema, they will be finishing up work on that game later this month.

Magic Lantern currently employees seven people at the Monmouth location. "They are the nucleolus of a great and talented development team, but we still need a few components to make it so that we can do everything we need to in-house."

The decision was made to switch locations by Schuytema and his wife. "We fell in love with the Patton Block building back in 1992, and I dreamed of locating our offices there well before we even had a company-the building is just so rich in heritage and it's got that sturdy craftsmanship of the late Victorian era that I just love."

He continued, " It wasn't until Magic Lantern was up and running that we could turn that dream into a reality and began to visualize the building as a hub of hi-tech 'knowledge work' in our community. In fact, once we get past the rush of the holiday, one of my main goals will be to work towards recruiting other technology-based businesses into this location. My dream is not only have a vital and restored building on the square, but also a vibrant professional community here in Monmouth."

Magic Lantern's normal office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. However, Schuytema noted, "since we're a software developer, we need to log a lot of late and odd hours and often the midnight oil burns well past midnight (the view of the town square late at night is awesome-especially with the Christmas lights!).”

Back 01.07.2003.