Crisis Management<\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/09\/01a.jpg\")
<\/a>Graph image by lvcandy\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\nEmergency preparedness for property managers has long meant being ready for pretty much anything, but weather is a major concern of late. Just in the past few months, the nation has seen three earthquakes in two days centered on Ridgecrest, Calif.; Hurricane Barry in the Gulf of Mexico; and flash flooding in Maryland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe seem to have more extreme storms,\u201d noted Dan Ashdown, national director of compliance for Transwestern.<\/p>\n
But even in the age of climate change, it\u2019s the human threats that sometimes loom largest. Civil disorder is more of a worry now, Ashdown said, and an active-shooter scenario is \u201cthe emergency of the day.\u201d Those events are hard to plan for because actual circumstances will vary widely.<\/p>\n
Recently, a high-rise office building managed by Transwestern in Rockville, Md., had an incident in which a couple of windows were shot out overnight. No one was in the spaces in question at the time, but one of the tenants was reluctant to continue occupying its suite. Although the police investigation appears to be ongoing, Ashdown reported, the authorities seem to suspect vandalism and nothing worse. Reassured by the police that the building is safe, the tenant has decided to remain in place.<\/p>\n
Collaboration<\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/09\/02a.jpg\")
<\/a>Amenities image by AJ Watt\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\nIn 2016, Millennials became the largest segment of the U.S. workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. Therefore, attracting and pleasing this tech-savvy, team-oriented cohort that is also prone to job-hopping is a major focus for office property managers.<\/p>\n
Thomas Larance, head of experience management for JLL, noted that conveniences for tenants have broadened to include wellness programming, work-life balance support, tenant engagement and sustainability. \u201cThe amenities race is certainly on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Determining which amenities are offered and how certainly depends on the resources available. Larance contrasted two buildings managed by JLL. At a large trophy office property, JLL built out a multimillion-dollar, full-floor amenity center with a fitness facility (which costs individual tenants just $200 a year), grab-and-go food items, a tenant lounge with conference areas, and a bar. \u201cIt\u2019s priced to be affordable,\u201d Larance said. While helping draw tenants, the amenities floor will soon be a profit center on its own.<\/p>\n
In contrast, a smaller building without an onsite community manager created a self-managed tenant lounge\/community space that was in line with its budget.<\/p>\n
The amenity mix also depends on who is occupying the building. A tech company, for example, is culturally different from a high-profile law firm. Beyond that, Larance\u2019s team tracks trends by individual metro areas because \u201cdifferent geographic areas have different twists.\u201d Yoga is big in the Midwest, but in California, \u201csound baths\u201d (typically using gongs or bowls) are popular right now. \u201cYou have to know your audience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Carbon<\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/09\/03a.jpg\")
<\/a>Energy image by Petmal\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\nThis year\u2019s frightening and deadly heat waves around the world, along with unprecedented and widespread peat fires in Siberia, have brought further attention to global warming and carbon\u2019s role in it. But for office building owners and managers, there\u2019s only so much capacity for generating renewable, carbon-free energy on site.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the best energy opportunity for property managers right now is offsite renewables, according to Sara Neff, senior vice president of sustainability at Los Angeles-based Kilroy Realty Corp. \u201cYou can achieve a lot of scale that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And achieve scale Kilroy has. Through an offsite power purchase agreement with a company in Texas, the office building REIT is buying 84 megawatts offsite versus the 5 megawatts it\u2019s currently generating from onsite solar. Kilroy negotiated the power purchase agreement directly, though it\u2019s common for companies to work through a broker. While the offsite power is all solar, with a different provider, it might be wind or a mix.<\/p>\n
Kilroy doesn\u2019t use that<\/em> electricity, of course. \u201cThe electrons go straight to the grid,\u201d Neff said. \u201cIt\u2019s more of an offset, but one with meaningful additional capacity to the grid. We are grappling with a new relationship with our grid.\u201d<\/p>\nKilroy also sometimes feeds power back into the grid through its onsite solar. \u201cAnd our batteries take our buildings offline based on pricing signals,\u201d Neff said.<\/p>\n
Financially speaking, the power purchase agreement should be accretive for Kilroy, and it\u2019s increasingly important for tenants and for investors. \u201cThis is a major shift,\u201d said Neff of the transition from counting energy to counting carbon. \u201cEnergy was a proxy for carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connectivity<\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/09\/Fiber-optics-photo-by-graphicmesut-iStockphoto.com_.jpg\")
<\/a>Fiber optics photo by graphicmesut\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\nThe average office worker simply wants fast and reliable online access. But there\u2019s a lot that goes on behind the scenes for that to happen. In fact, it has become more common over the past few years for tenants to want two parallel options from different telecom providers. \u201cTenants are looking for redundancy,\u201d said Jessica Rosati, a San Jose-based regional portfolio manager with RiverRock Real Estate Group. So, for owners of buildings with only one telecom provider each, she explained, \u201cit can be a hindrance for leasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
What historically was provided via DSL moved to fiber, and now more tenants are demanding copper or fiber and copper in parallel. The \u201crace for speed,\u201d Rosati said, is driven by the widespread use of software-as-a-service and the practice of keeping data in the cloud. \u201cEverything we do now is web-based,\u201d Rosati said.<\/p>\n
Landlords generally approach negotiations for access agreements with telecoms by applying two strategies. One approach is to drive additional revenue through up-front incentives from telecom providers, along with ongoing monthly revenue (rent, really) over a term of possibly five years. The other strategy focuses more on attracting tenants by giving them the best possible online access.<\/p>\n
There are other complexities to these negotiations. For example, older buildings pose more of a cost risk for telecom providers because of potential unknowns during the installation process.<\/p>\n
Any telecom provider wants to know how many potential customers it will have\u2014the more tenants, the more fixed costs can be spread\u2014in a given building, says Rosati. \u201cTelecom companies are really chomping at the bit to expand their customer bases,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
In Silicon Valley, all of this is complicated by high occupancy rates in office and lab space. But while landlords have more leverage, they still have to balance their own priorities with tenants\u2019 need for secure, fast, redundant online access.<\/p>\n
Concierge <\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/09\/05a.jpg\")
<\/a>Call bell image by bgton\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\nIncreasingly, landlords attract tenants through services offered by a building\u2019s management staff\u2014or at least, that\u2019s the goal, said Georgia Collins, co-leader of Host, CBRE\u2019s workplace experience services platform.<\/p>\n
Particularly over the past year or two, she explained, there has been an emphasis on not just constructing but operating the office building in such a way as to optimize the office experience.<\/p>\n
With the increased competition for workforce talent, Collins finds, there\u2019s more emphasis than ever on issues like: Does the building let people be productive? Is the building easy to get to and easy to get in and out of?<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to manage their lives,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I can save you time, I\u2019m making that a better workplace for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
One side of that is not having to make five calls to get something fixed but perhaps instead using an app to easily submit a work order. Another side is what Collins calls \u201critual and delight.\u201d A ritual might be the annual Christmas holiday party or Monday morning doughnuts. Delight would be something that helps create community at work, like Soccer Tuesday during the World Cup. (One pitfall, she noted, is that \u201cdelight\u201d can easily become routine.)<\/p>\n
One approach Host has been using to strengthen its capabilities in this realm is to hire personnel from the hospitality industry. \u201cNobody thinks of CBRE as a hospitality organization,\u201d she added, but jobs at Host offer a more 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday schedule. That can be quite attractive to someone from a hospitality background.<\/p>\n
\u201cA higher level of customer experience is becoming standard,\u201d concluded Collins, who predicted that these services and expectations will eventually filter down from Class A space. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be in a Class A to have a great work experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cybersecurity<\/h2>\n
Cybersecurity is a mounting challenge for property managers. While commercial properties are becoming ever more thoroughly automated and networked, a growing number of laws and regulations mandate that the private sector protect the data it collects from tenants. And of course, hackers\u2019 and cybercriminals\u2019 infiltration methods are becoming more sophisticated and destructive.<\/p>\n
Further complicating the problem is that computer systems functioning in a building change every day.<\/p>\n
The Institute of Real Estate Management has cautioned property managers against tackling cybersecurity issues themselves and has advised calling in an in-house IT expert or an outside consultant. BOMA also advocates partnering with cybersecurity pros in its recently issued guidance on the multiple vulnerabilities inherent to intelligent building management systems or \u201csmart buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>Graph image by lvcandy\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Emergency preparedness for property managers has long meant being ready for pretty much anything, but weather is a major concern of late. Just in the past few months, the nation has seen three earthquakes in two days centered on Ridgecrest, Calif.; Hurricane Barry in the Gulf of Mexico; and flash flooding in Maryland.<\/p>\n \u201cWe seem to have more extreme storms,\u201d noted Dan Ashdown, national director of compliance for Transwestern.<\/p>\n But even in the age of climate change, it\u2019s the human threats that sometimes loom largest. Civil disorder is more of a worry now, Ashdown said, and an active-shooter scenario is \u201cthe emergency of the day.\u201d Those events are hard to plan for because actual circumstances will vary widely.<\/p>\n Recently, a high-rise office building managed by Transwestern in Rockville, Md., had an incident in which a couple of windows were shot out overnight. No one was in the spaces in question at the time, but one of the tenants was reluctant to continue occupying its suite. Although the police investigation appears to be ongoing, Ashdown reported, the authorities seem to suspect vandalism and nothing worse. Reassured by the police that the building is safe, the tenant has decided to remain in place.<\/p>\n Amenities image by AJ Watt\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n In 2016, Millennials became the largest segment of the U.S. workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. Therefore, attracting and pleasing this tech-savvy, team-oriented cohort that is also prone to job-hopping is a major focus for office property managers.<\/p>\n Thomas Larance, head of experience management for JLL, noted that conveniences for tenants have broadened to include wellness programming, work-life balance support, tenant engagement and sustainability. \u201cThe amenities race is certainly on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Determining which amenities are offered and how certainly depends on the resources available. Larance contrasted two buildings managed by JLL. At a large trophy office property, JLL built out a multimillion-dollar, full-floor amenity center with a fitness facility (which costs individual tenants just $200 a year), grab-and-go food items, a tenant lounge with conference areas, and a bar. \u201cIt\u2019s priced to be affordable,\u201d Larance said. While helping draw tenants, the amenities floor will soon be a profit center on its own.<\/p>\n In contrast, a smaller building without an onsite community manager created a self-managed tenant lounge\/community space that was in line with its budget.<\/p>\n The amenity mix also depends on who is occupying the building. A tech company, for example, is culturally different from a high-profile law firm. Beyond that, Larance\u2019s team tracks trends by individual metro areas because \u201cdifferent geographic areas have different twists.\u201d Yoga is big in the Midwest, but in California, \u201csound baths\u201d (typically using gongs or bowls) are popular right now. \u201cYou have to know your audience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Energy image by Petmal\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n This year\u2019s frightening and deadly heat waves around the world, along with unprecedented and widespread peat fires in Siberia, have brought further attention to global warming and carbon\u2019s role in it. But for office building owners and managers, there\u2019s only so much capacity for generating renewable, carbon-free energy on site.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the best energy opportunity for property managers right now is offsite renewables, according to Sara Neff, senior vice president of sustainability at Los Angeles-based Kilroy Realty Corp. \u201cYou can achieve a lot of scale that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n And achieve scale Kilroy has. Through an offsite power purchase agreement with a company in Texas, the office building REIT is buying 84 megawatts offsite versus the 5 megawatts it\u2019s currently generating from onsite solar. Kilroy negotiated the power purchase agreement directly, though it\u2019s common for companies to work through a broker. While the offsite power is all solar, with a different provider, it might be wind or a mix.<\/p>\n Kilroy doesn\u2019t use that<\/em> electricity, of course. \u201cThe electrons go straight to the grid,\u201d Neff said. \u201cIt\u2019s more of an offset, but one with meaningful additional capacity to the grid. We are grappling with a new relationship with our grid.\u201d<\/p>\n Kilroy also sometimes feeds power back into the grid through its onsite solar. \u201cAnd our batteries take our buildings offline based on pricing signals,\u201d Neff said.<\/p>\n Financially speaking, the power purchase agreement should be accretive for Kilroy, and it\u2019s increasingly important for tenants and for investors. \u201cThis is a major shift,\u201d said Neff of the transition from counting energy to counting carbon. \u201cEnergy was a proxy for carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n Fiber optics photo by graphicmesut\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n The average office worker simply wants fast and reliable online access. But there\u2019s a lot that goes on behind the scenes for that to happen. In fact, it has become more common over the past few years for tenants to want two parallel options from different telecom providers. \u201cTenants are looking for redundancy,\u201d said Jessica Rosati, a San Jose-based regional portfolio manager with RiverRock Real Estate Group. So, for owners of buildings with only one telecom provider each, she explained, \u201cit can be a hindrance for leasing.\u201d<\/p>\n What historically was provided via DSL moved to fiber, and now more tenants are demanding copper or fiber and copper in parallel. The \u201crace for speed,\u201d Rosati said, is driven by the widespread use of software-as-a-service and the practice of keeping data in the cloud. \u201cEverything we do now is web-based,\u201d Rosati said.<\/p>\n Landlords generally approach negotiations for access agreements with telecoms by applying two strategies. One approach is to drive additional revenue through up-front incentives from telecom providers, along with ongoing monthly revenue (rent, really) over a term of possibly five years. The other strategy focuses more on attracting tenants by giving them the best possible online access.<\/p>\n There are other complexities to these negotiations. For example, older buildings pose more of a cost risk for telecom providers because of potential unknowns during the installation process.<\/p>\n Any telecom provider wants to know how many potential customers it will have\u2014the more tenants, the more fixed costs can be spread\u2014in a given building, says Rosati. \u201cTelecom companies are really chomping at the bit to expand their customer bases,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n In Silicon Valley, all of this is complicated by high occupancy rates in office and lab space. But while landlords have more leverage, they still have to balance their own priorities with tenants\u2019 need for secure, fast, redundant online access.<\/p>\n Call bell image by bgton\/iStockphoto.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Increasingly, landlords attract tenants through services offered by a building\u2019s management staff\u2014or at least, that\u2019s the goal, said Georgia Collins, co-leader of Host, CBRE\u2019s workplace experience services platform.<\/p>\n Particularly over the past year or two, she explained, there has been an emphasis on not just constructing but operating the office building in such a way as to optimize the office experience.<\/p>\n With the increased competition for workforce talent, Collins finds, there\u2019s more emphasis than ever on issues like: Does the building let people be productive? Is the building easy to get to and easy to get in and out of?<\/p>\n \u201cPeople need to manage their lives,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I can save you time, I\u2019m making that a better workplace for you.\u201d<\/p>\n One side of that is not having to make five calls to get something fixed but perhaps instead using an app to easily submit a work order. Another side is what Collins calls \u201critual and delight.\u201d A ritual might be the annual Christmas holiday party or Monday morning doughnuts. Delight would be something that helps create community at work, like Soccer Tuesday during the World Cup. (One pitfall, she noted, is that \u201cdelight\u201d can easily become routine.)<\/p>\n One approach Host has been using to strengthen its capabilities in this realm is to hire personnel from the hospitality industry. \u201cNobody thinks of CBRE as a hospitality organization,\u201d she added, but jobs at Host offer a more 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday schedule. That can be quite attractive to someone from a hospitality background.<\/p>\n \u201cA higher level of customer experience is becoming standard,\u201d concluded Collins, who predicted that these services and expectations will eventually filter down from Class A space. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be in a Class A to have a great work experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Cybersecurity is a mounting challenge for property managers. While commercial properties are becoming ever more thoroughly automated and networked, a growing number of laws and regulations mandate that the private sector protect the data it collects from tenants. And of course, hackers\u2019 and cybercriminals\u2019 infiltration methods are becoming more sophisticated and destructive.<\/p>\n Further complicating the problem is that computer systems functioning in a building change every day.<\/p>\n The Institute of Real Estate Management has cautioned property managers against tackling cybersecurity issues themselves and has advised calling in an in-house IT expert or an outside consultant. BOMA also advocates partnering with cybersecurity pros in its recently issued guidance on the multiple vulnerabilities inherent to intelligent building management systems or \u201csmart buildings.\u201d<\/p>\nCollaboration<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Carbon<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Connectivity<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Concierge <\/h2>\n
<\/a>Cybersecurity<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/09\/06a.jpg\")
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