The Heavy Hand

Let’s role play…I’ll be the service provider managing my team of real estate solutions experts and you are the corporate real estate manager. You’ve just received an e-mail request for services from one of your business unit managers asking for a new 30,000-sf office in Anytown, USA. When you call the local business unit manager, she confesses the need is real but the 30,000 figure was arbitrary. You immediately engage me and my team to validate the requirement. We swing into action, but it’s not to evaluate whether the square footage requested is accurate. We start by making sure there’s a business case for the requirement in the first place. Determining the exact space needs is actually the sixth item in our process.

Anyway, we run through our formal validation process and let’s assume that there is indeed a driver and justification for new space. We then perform a thorough needs analysis and determine that your business unit needs roughly 19,000 sf. Based on the type and function of the particular business unit, my team suggests that they can locate in a class B suburban concrete tilt-up as long as there is nearby freeway access.

Even without the formal green light to proceed, we call on professionals in our broker network and conduct a preliminary site search. We find two locations that require very little in tenant improvements and are offering incentives such as three months free rent. We run the numbers and present an excellent package of options to you. You are very happy and as your client team leader, I encourage you that timing and open communication is critical. Because you represent the corporation’s heavy hand, you willingly recite the company policy to the end user. The policy says the company must use me and my firm exclusively and follow our guidance, adhere to corporate space standards, etc. all to ensure the business unit management makes the right decision every time.