Affiliated Central expands headquarters, eyes larger central

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Affiliated Central is putting the finishing touches on an expansion of its headquarters here, a prelude for the company’s plans to build a new central station within the next two years. The 2,500-square-foot addition was scheduled to be ready in June. It increases the company’s office space by approximately 30 percent, or to 8,000 square feet. An additional 4,000 square feet of space remains empty, ready for a new central station. “We’re going to be shifting people around and giving a little more space to our operations, with more customer service representatives and more dispatchers,” said Harvey Cohen, vice president and general manager of Affiliated Central, a company that employs more than 70 people. The cost for the expansion was not released. The addition includes a new conference room and provides more room for management, the IT department and the company’s growing dealer relations department, an area of the company that has experienced the most change in recent years. Michael Zydor, head of dealer relations and sales and marketing, said the dealer relations department has increased from two to 10 people within six-years. The most recent addition came two months ago when two new people were hired. Unlike some monitoring companies, Affiliated Central’s dispatchers focus only on alarm signals, while dealer service focuses on customer inquiries. “We keep the alarms and service items separate,” said Zydor. “It’s much better because if the dealer has questions or the customer has questions, you don’t have to worry about handling an alarm at the same time.”