A downtown historic building recently welcomed new tenants.

Elite Innovations and a new public relations firm called Fluent PR are now in a 1,200-square-foot office together in the mezzanine at the Murchison Building, an 11-story brick-and-marble structure built more than 100 years ago at 201 N. Front St.

Elite Innovations, a product development firm founded in 2014, moved to the building in January from Chandler’s Wharf at 225 Water St., also in downtown Wilmington.

The Murchison Building had some recently renovated space and was well priced, said Andrew Williams, Elite Innovations founder and CEO. And the startup company has been growing rapidly.

“This year we’re hoping will be our break-through year when we’re most successful with some of the products that we’ve finished,” Williams said.

The firm’s own products include TacLace, a means of securing footwear quickly, and TailGator, a modular truck bed extension system.  

Fluent PR was formed recently by Ann Revell-Pechar and Margee Herring, both established Wilmington public relations practitioners. The company is focused on media relations, product launch, content and digital media, strategic influencer engagement and communications strategy. Additional offerings from the new firm include event management, public speaking training and podcasting.

Fluent PR’s co-location with Elite Innovations is a strategic move for both firms, according to a news release.

“Having Ann and Margee in the office to meet directly with clients in their early and mid-level stages assures marketing and messaging considerations are top-of-mind,” Williams said in the release. “It gives us and our clients a decided go-to-market advantage, and the introductions we offer Fluent will help them grow quickly as well.”

Fluent PR aims to provide local enterprises with a national platform, and in doing so spotlight the city's developing business and startup climate, the release stated. Revell-Pachar and Herring had been considering a partnership since meeting in the founding work group in 2014 for Cucalorus Connect, when Herring was the original Connect conference coordinator, the release stated.

Among their clients are Atlantic Neurosurgical & Spine Associates, Vavaroom, myBeeHyve and River Place, a downtown mixed-use redevelopment project that Revell-Pechar and Herring can see from their office next door. Crews are clearing debris at the redevelopment site, where the $86 million project by East West Partners and the city of Wilmington will hold a 13-story structure with luxury apartments, condominiums and commercial space as well as a new parking deck.

Williams, Herring and Revell-Pachar felt downtown Wilmington was the place they needed to be.

“I wasn’t looking anywhere else. I’m a big supporter of the downtown scene. I think it’s a good spot, especially for startups,” Williams said.

Herring said that in addition to having a view of the progress of River Place, “Downtown is just such a vibrant part of the overall business scene in Wilmington.”

Herring had an office on the seventh floor of the Murchison Building when she moved to Wilmington 30 years ago.

“It’s really poignant to be circling back,” she said.