Gemesis downsizes with new building

The recession has drilled a hole through Gemesis, a cultured diamond manufacturer struggling to turn its unique technology into big-ticket success.

The latest punch came last month, when Gemesis moved from a 60,000-square-foot facility in Lakewood Ranch to one nearby that's less than 25,000 square feet. “We are now more adequately sized for our business,” President and CEO Stephen Lux tells Coffee Talk.

Still, the move shines a light on the depths of the economic downturn.

In fact, only four years ago Gemesis was on the cusp of a highly touted expansion partially financed by Sarasota County-approved incentives. At a 2007 groundbreaking for the project, a 31,000-square-foot building to make room for the company's expected boom in production, local politicians nearly fought over the microphone to gush first over Gemesis.

“This is the crown jewel of the county,” then Sarasota County Commissioner Shannon Staub said that day. “Literally and figuratively.”

Gemesis, founded in 1995, is indeed based on a tantalizing concept: diamonds made by machines that replicate the conditions under which diamonds are created in nature. The company's business model is to sell its diamonds to jewelry designers and wholesalers.

While Lux maintains the company's future is bright, he concedes sales and the employee count has dropped substantially. Lux declines to discuss specific sales figures, but employees are down from at least 50 in 2007 to 15 to 20 today.

So now, Gemesis' newer building, plus one next door it has occupied since 2002, sits empty and is up for lease. “By the time the new building was built,” says Lux, “it was never properly utilized.”

Lux doesn't believe the setbacks will last long. He says Gemesis will have several positive announcements later this summer.

He also says diamond prices are increasing worldwide, another good sign. Says Lux: “We think that bodes well for Gemesis in the future.”