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  • David Brakenwagen, left, president of NEOTech, and Aurora Mayor Richard...

    Steve Lord / The Beacon-News

    David Brakenwagen, left, president of NEOTech, and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin talk during the opening event for NEOTech's new downtown Aurora location.

  • David Brakenwagen, left, president of NEOTech, and Aurora Mayor Richard...

    Steve Lord / The Beacon-News

    David Brakenwagen, left, president of NEOTech, and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin have a conversation during the opening event for NEOTech's new downtown Aurora location.

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John Jensen had more than one reason to be proud during the unveiling of the new downtown Aurora offices of NEOTech.

First, he had something to do with the company he is a part of deciding to relocate into the fifth and sixth floors of the former Aurora National Bank building at Broadway and Galena Boulevard. Second, his son, Jeremy Jensen, a partner in JH Real Estate Partners LLC, developers of the former bank building, did the rehab work in the offices that look like what they are, slick new digs for a cutting-edge, high-tech company.

It wasn’t always that way. John Jensen, as well as Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, marveled at what the new offices looked like Wednesday as opposed to March, when they first saw the sixth-floor space.

“From March 4 to today, this is an incredible feat,” Jensen said.

NEOTech is an $850 million national firm with 15 sites across North America that designs, builds and manufactures products used by companies in their technological systems. It boasts firms like FedEx as clients, as well as hospitals and health companies and hospitality businesses, just to name a few, according to David Brakenwagen, NEOTech president.

Brakenwagen came from the company’s California base for the event. He said that about six years ago, the company acquired a group based in Naperville. That was John Jensen’s group, founded by himself and two other people who had recently retired as engineers from Bell Labs Lucent Technology. Their team grew to more than 30 people, designing high-end electronic devices.

It is a group Jensen lovingly refers to as “the gray beards.” NEOTech decided by purchasing the group, it could begin designing the devices it already was building. Jensen now is director of engineering.

But Jensen was not satisfied with just the gray beards. He started bringing in recent engineering graduates from Northern Illinois University and technicians from College of DuPage. They were hungry to begin designing, and the gray beards became their mentors. It gives the young engineers a chance to work while also getting further education. Jensen said he plans to add Waubonsee Community College students to the ranks.

Brakenwagen said the decision to bring in the engineers was a good one.

“We feel very strong about it,” he said. “It helps us create a lot of goodwill in our customers.”

When Irvin pointed out at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting that a Naperville-based firm was relocating to downtown Aurora, the mostly Aurora business people broke out into applause.

But Harish Ananthapadmanabhan, the ‘H’ in JH Real Estate Partners LLC and the owner of the former bank building, said it is just the start. His company owns several other buildings downtown, and he told the crowd the NEOTech opening is “just the first of many things to come.”

“You will be hearing a lot about us,” he said.

slord@tribpub.com