\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By David Lyons<\/div><\/div>\n

What\u2019s the future for office space? Employees are being called back to the office, but the new office-home balance likely won\u2019t be clear until the end of the summer.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2013 After months of keeping employees at home to dodge COVID-19, companies in South Florida are concluding that the best place for most of their workers is back at the office.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The pandemic proved that people don\u2019t need to sit in the office full time, but many South Florida employers are bringing people back on at least flexible schedules, shattering the illusion of a workplace revolution that leaves most people signing on from home.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has that full crystal ball,\u201d said Jenni Morejon, president and CEO of the Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Downtown Development Authority. \u201cHuman beings are creatures of habit, and the notion that people will never go back to the office \u2013 that is probably a lot of hype and hysteria.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She believes the real question is the degree to which workers are burned out \u201cfrom remote working full time.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A national survey of 185 companies by CBRE, a real estate service firm, suggests that managements now see the office as a better means of supporting collaborative work than relying on remote communications.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s Spring 2021 Occupier Survey found 41% of companies interviewed intend to return to steady office use in the third quarter of this year, while 20% are targeting the fourth quarter. Another 23% said their workers have already returned to their places of employment.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMultiple factors support this sentiment, including the ongoing rebound of the U.S. economy and companies\u2019 realization that they need to retain more office space than they previously thought,\u201d said Julie Whelan, CBRE\u2019s head of occupier research.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some observers think companies have no choice but to recall most workers because clients are restless about the services they\u2019re receiving.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest user of office space in South Florida tends to be banks, investment shops, wealth management companies, law firms and real estate companies,\u201d said Stephen Bittel, chairman of the real estate services firm Terranova. \u201cWe tend not to have large corporate users here. Those service firms had businesses that are well designed to work from home.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey congratulated themselves\u201d for cutting expenses through remote work, he said. But the cuts may have boomeranged for some.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have spent no money on travel and client entertainment, and have not replaced employees and support staff,\u201d Bittel said. \u201cThey think they\u2019ve bottled lightning for a moment. The flip side is that clients and customers are screaming about the incredibly slow pace of transactions getting completed.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While many acknowledge that remote work demonstrated the benefits of technology, there is a strong belief that communication and training are better done in person. That includes people who are learning on the job.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Isabella Guttuso is a student intern from the University of Florida at EDSA of Fort Lauderdale, a decades-old architectural firm. She insists that human interaction is important for growth and for learning how to collaborate with other adults in the workplace. She is studying landscape architecture and believes it\u2019s unlikely she\u2019d pick up the nuances of the business via Zoom.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to learn and get my feet wet,\u201d she said. \u201cI definitely needed that interpersonal experience. We\u2019re constantly sketching and working together and getting people\u2019s feedback in that way. I feel like even for people not in the design field, that sense of community you get from the workplace is so important.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Training is better done in person, agreed Brandon Isner, associate research director for Florida with CBRE. Technology can accomplish only so much.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people come into the office everyone is so glad to see each other,\u201d he said, \u201cTechnology is great, and I love Zoom. That said, that human element cannot be replicated by Zoom. That\u2019s eventually what\u2019s going to win out.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Firms heading back to the office<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
During the pandemic, the benefits of remote work depended on the industry. While harder to pull off in hospitality and leisure, which relies heavily on personal contacts with customers, professional service firms found an easier path.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cAllowing employers to work remotely on a wholesale basis will in some situations be driven by the industry,\u201d said Denise Heekin, a labor and employment lawyer and Broward County resident who manages the Miami law office of Bryant, Miller, Olive P.A.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, technology has made it a lot easier for attorneys to work from home and staff to work from home, and certainly it\u2019s nice to have that option,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
The firm allowed employees to work at home except for one person who staffed the office.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWe just recently went back to having each person come in at least twice a week, and we rotate that,\u201d Heekin said. \u201cWe have papers and files and documents that may not all be on our computers, We will need a brick-and-mortar footprint.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Some believe it will take until the end of summer before most South Florida employers settle on where their employees should land as managements try to figure out a new normal while COVID-19 variants lurk in the background.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
One upshot could be smaller spaces for some companies that conclude that portions of their work forces can continue spending some of their workweeks at home.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
At the same time, office spaces that remain empty are likely to be snapped up by out-of-state companies seeking new homes for their headquarters or regional operations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI do think we will have a reduced footprint in South Florida and around the country,\u2019 said Siri Terjeson, professor of entrepreneurship at Florida Atlantic University\u2019s College of Business. \u201cBut the good news is more and more companies are relocating to South Florida. That\u2019s your silver lining.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Some companies will reduce spaces \u201cbecause you don\u2019t need people in the office eight hours a day, five days a week,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people\u2019s leases are up for renewal they will dial back the space,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
The volume of companies seeking office space is on the rise, said Ken Krasnow, vice chairman of institutional investor services at Colliers International, the real estate services firm.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cSix months ago, at the height of the pandemic, there was a real thought of \u2018do people need to go back to the office in total?\u201d \u2018he said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve heard from our clients is the number of companies looking for space has exponentially increased in the last 30 to 60 days. You talk to office brokers out there and they\u2019ll tell you there are a lot of tours.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
The theme is an important sales point for commercial real estate brokers who have clients with space to lease.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the board, whether companies are adopting more flexible office schedules or not \u2013 the space itself is being viewed as a place to support a company\u2019s ability to attract and retain talent,\u201d said Tere Blanca, CEO of Miami-based Blanca Commercial Real Estate, which represents large commercial landlords in Broward County.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Locally, the demand for space from companies seeking to relocate is on the rise, brokers say,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
A unique market<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
From Miami to West Palm Beach, analysts say, the office market is unlike any other in the country, with more new tenants signing leases,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cMiami and South Florida are a bit of an outlier,\u201d said Isner of CBRE. \u201cNo one\u2019s concerned about our office market right now. We\u2019ve seen an unprecedented amount of new interest in this market.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Isner has seen heavy leasing activity by new tenants in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Plantation and Fort Lauderdale. \u201cThey\u2019re signing leases and they\u2019re expanding,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Interior design firms are getting a lift.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a major impact in our industry all the way around in the last six months or so,\u201d said Brianna Brown, president and CEO of Fine Line Furniture and Accessories in Coral Gables.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seen a huge increase in professionals wanting to reopen their businesses, or we have an influx of corporations coming from other places in the U.S.,\u201d she said. \u201cThey know and they understand how people feel about returning to work. They\u2019re really trying to alter their atmospheres. Some people want to jump back in. For those [employees] who are hesitant, they\u2019re trying to make it a better environment to appease them.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
In downtown Fort Lauderdale, which has seen a building boom of high rises designed for office, retail and apartment living, economic development advocates argue the city\u2019s business district will remain attractive as a center for work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI think downtown Fort Lauderdale is going to be well-positioned\u201d as a place for more companies to set up shop, said Morejon, at the Downtown Development Authority. \u201cThere\u2019s this sense of community and place as opposed to suburban office parks where you\u2019re back to driving to the parking lot and walking into the building.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
The city\u2019s leasing rates are cheaper than its counterparts, which is another incentive to move downtown, she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Christina Stine Jolley, a vice president of Blanca Commercial Real Estate in Fort Lauderdale, said the 35-floor The Main Las Olas, a new 1.4 million-square-foot, mixed-use office, residential and retail community, is leasing up quickly.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cOver 50% of that activity is from out of the [local] market,\u201d she said. Two professional service firms from New York each signed for between 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. She declined to identify them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re over 50% leased right now,\u201d Stine Jolley said. \u201cIf we close every deal we are negotiating, we would only have two floors left.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Allure of suburbia<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
Outside the city limits, brokers and employers see advantages operating in the suburbs, where people don\u2019t have to jostle each other in crowded elevators and battle downtown traffic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like there is a reevaluation taking place of the need to be in an urban center,\u201d asserted Jonathan Calderon, director at Gibraltar Realty & Management. His firm represents Monarch Gardens in Miramar, which offers nearly 100,000 square feet of office and retail space.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThis whole [pandemic] experience has proved how people can work outside of the office, but on a human level there is a desire to collaborate in person and not have appointment-driven dialogues with your peers,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
How companies choose to reconfigure workspaces \u201cwill come down to the resourcefulness and empathy of each individual company,\u201d he said. \u201cThose companies that want a smaller footprint will undoubtedly have an easier go of it than somebody occupying an entire floor plate.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a9 2021 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
Go to Source<\/a>
\nAuthor: kerrys<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Lyons What\u2019s the future for office space? Employees are being called back to the office, but the new office-home balance likely won\u2019t be clear until the end of the summer. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2013 After months of keeping employees at home to dodge COVID-19, companies in South Florida are concluding that the best place for most of their workers is back at the office. The pandemic proved that people don\u2019t need to sit in the office full time, but many South Florida employers are bringing people back on at least flexible schedules, shattering the illusion of a workplace revolution that leaves most people signing on from home. \u201cNobody has that full crystal ball,\u201d said Jenni Morejon, president and CEO of the Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Downtown Development Authority. \u201cHuman beings are creatures of habit, and the notion that people will never go back to the office \u2013 that is probably a lot of hype and hysteria.\u201d She believes the real question is the degree to which workers are burned out \u201cfrom remote working full time.\u201d A national survey of 185 companies by CBRE, a real estate service firm, suggests that managements now see the office as a better means of supporting collaborative work than relying on remote communications. The firm\u2019s Spring 2021 Occupier Survey found 41% of companies interviewed intend to return to steady office use in the third quarter of this year, while 20% are targeting the fourth quarter. Another 23% said their workers have already returned to their places of employment. \u201cMultiple factors support this sentiment, including the ongoing rebound of the U.S. economy and companies\u2019 realization that they need to retain more office space than they previously thought,\u201d said Julie Whelan, CBRE\u2019s head of occupier research. Some observers think companies have no choice but to recall most workers because clients are restless about the services they\u2019re receiving. \u201cThe biggest user of office space in South Florida tends to be banks, investment shops, wealth management companies, law firms and real estate companies,\u201d said Stephen Bittel, chairman of the real estate services firm Terranova. \u201cWe tend not to have large corporate users here. Those service firms had businesses that are well designed to work from home.\u201d \u201cThey congratulated themselves\u201d for cutting expenses through remote work, he said. But the cuts may have boomeranged for some. \u201cThey have spent no money on travel and client entertainment, and have not replaced employees and support staff,\u201d Bittel said. \u201cThey think they\u2019ve bottled lightning for a moment. The flip side is that clients and customers are screaming about the incredibly slow pace of transactions getting completed.\u201d While many acknowledge that remote work demonstrated the benefits of technology, there is a strong belief that communication and training are better done in person. That includes people who are learning on the job. Isabella Guttuso is a student intern from the University of Florida at EDSA of Fort Lauderdale, a decades-old architectural firm. She insists that human interaction is important for growth and for learning how to collaborate with other adults in the workplace. She is studying landscape architecture and believes it\u2019s unlikely she\u2019d pick up the nuances of the business via Zoom. \u201cI\u2019m trying to learn and get my feet wet,\u201d she said. \u201cI definitely needed that interpersonal experience. We\u2019re constantly sketching and working together and getting people\u2019s feedback in that way. I feel like even for people not in the design field, that sense of community you get from the workplace is so important.\u201d Training is better done in person, agreed Brandon Isner, associate research director for Florida with CBRE. Technology can accomplish only so much. \u201cWhen people come into the office everyone is so glad to see each other,\u201d he said, \u201cTechnology is great, and I love Zoom. That said, that human element cannot be replicated by Zoom. That\u2019s eventually what\u2019s going to win out.\u201d Firms heading back to the office During the pandemic, the benefits of remote work depended on the industry. While harder to pull off in hospitality and leisure, which relies heavily on personal contacts with customers, professional service firms found an easier path. \u201cAllowing employers to work remotely on a wholesale basis will in some situations be driven by the industry,\u201d said Denise Heekin, a labor and employment lawyer and Broward County resident who manages the Miami law office of Bryant, Miller, Olive P.A. \u201cCertainly, technology has made it a lot easier for attorneys to work from home and staff to work from home, and certainly it\u2019s nice to have that option,\u201d she said. The firm allowed employees to work at home except for one person who staffed the office. \u201cWe just recently went back to having each person come in at least twice a week, and we rotate that,\u201d Heekin said. \u201cWe have papers and files and documents that may not all be on our computers, We will need a brick-and-mortar footprint.\u201d Some believe it will take until the end of summer before most South Florida employers settle on where their employees should land as managements try to figure out a new normal while COVID-19 variants lurk in the background. One upshot could be smaller spaces for some companies that conclude that portions of their work forces can continue spending some of their workweeks at home. At the same time, office spaces that remain empty are likely to be snapped up by out-of-state companies seeking new homes for their headquarters or regional operations. \u201cI do think we will have a reduced footprint in South Florida and around the country,\u2019 said Siri Terjeson, professor of entrepreneurship at Florida Atlantic University\u2019s College of Business. \u201cBut the good news is more and more companies are relocating to South Florida. That\u2019s your silver lining.\u201d Some companies will reduce spaces \u201cbecause you don\u2019t need people in the office eight hours a day, five days a week,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen people\u2019s leases are up for renewal they will dial back the space,\u201d she added. The volume of companies seeking office space is on the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}