How You Can Help Your Office Properties Right Now

Nearly four years after the pandemic began, your office tenants are still fine-tuning their work-from-home policies.?

Occupancy remains a top concern for landlords and property managers. There are things you can do to help get your tenants’ employees back in the building or otherwise put the space to good use.?

Work With Your Existing Tenants

Ever since the pandemic demonstrated that many office jobs could be effectively done from home, there’s been a shift in the relationship between employers and employees. “Employees have more leverage in their relationship with employers than in the past,” Curtis says.

Businesses have been trying to figure out what employees want. Your tenants may be trying incentives, like better pay, or strict mandates to get people back onsite.?

Ask your tenants if there’s anything you can do to make the office itself more compelling. Changes like creating outdoor spaces to work or eat lunch could help. “I don’t think we’re where we were in the 2000s, where employees were looking for foosball tables and slides,” Curtis jokes. “But if a tenant asked for them, a landlord may put them in at this point.”

Seek Out New Tenants That Must Be In-Person

The effects of remote work vary across industries. Your metro’s office market may fare better or worse based on which industries are concentrated there.?

Remote work has impacted San Antonio’s office market less because industries like cybersecurity and biomedical have jobs that must be done in-person. “You have to connect to some of these secure servers onsite,” Curtis says. “You don’t have a full laboratory at home. And if you did, you wouldn’t want to be testing anthrax there.” Meanwhile, Dallas’s office market has faced more challenges because of the metro’s remote-friendly financial jobs.?

Medical tenants have been a bright spot, Curtis says. Most medical professionals see their patients in offices. He has seen many office properties adapt to medical uses to attract medical tenants.?

Consider Complementary or Unusual Uses

One option that has worked is converting some space for self-storage or business storage, Curtis says.

A building in the Chicago metro is trying indoor farming. The glass building gets a lot of sunlight, and the tenants are trying to grow food hydroponically, he says.?

Converting office space to multifamily housing sounds attractive but is typically too expensive or complicated.

Even if your office property isn’t facing these issues, it’s good to keep these tips and strategies in mind. The office market overall is still in flux. The better prepared you are, the more likely your chances of navigating whatever happens next. ?