All Gen Z Wants for Christmas is To Be Back In The Office & Developers + Landlords Are Teaming Up Trying to Cash In

Opening Bell ??: The gap between Boomers and Gen Z workers might be closing. Recent studies are showing our workforce’s youngest generation is craving more time in the office. A stark 180 from the stance they first took when taking their first job over the last 5 years.

Keeping up with the times, developers have been eager to give Gen Z what they want and that extends well beyond a ping pong table and kombucha on tap. Throw a stone in Austin lately and you’re bound to hit some new development aiming to capitalize on the trend.

Market Snapshot ??: 1,411,676 SF of office space is set to enter the Austin market between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 ??. Here’s how the top 5 projects stack up:

From idea to execution, projects like The Republic (49% preleased) and the Bouldin (75% preleased) are experiencing much higher success compared to Zilker Point & 415 Colorado (0% preleased).

Dive Deeper ??: Why are some of these projects seeing early success vs others? Those that are building a cohesive work-live experience are seeing the highest leasing rate, i.e. The Bouldin with attractive anchor tenants like Life Time Athletics and Postino Wine Cafe. These trendy, elevated tenants that act as amenities for future office tenants position projects to appeal to top talent as seen by NVA’s leasing of the top floor.

Pro Insight ???? : When you zoom out and look at typically trend setting markets like San Francisco, you’re seeing more early-stage startups ditching the remote work and bringing their employees to the office at least four days a week.

While it’s not the 5 day in office of the past, it is indicative of where the market is going. Top talent wants to be close to all the action, and these shiny new projects that are able to execute everything under one roof or two, have an advantage when it comes to attracting top tenants.

Final Buzzer ??: Maybe Adam Neumann wasn’t that crazy after all, he’s been shouting this since the early WeWork days. Look for Landlords to adjust their strategies moving forward to capitalize on what Gen Z and the next generation of companies want.

Expect to see more wellness, coffee shops that double as wine bars as the work day shifts into happy hours, and elevated casual dining experiences that are sure to end up on the IG feed.

The projects that are able to position themselves closely to capitalize on Gen Z’s newfound craving of being in person stand the most to gain as office CRE makes it’s comeback in the coming years.