Within the last 12 months, the firm has repositioned its entire portfolio with energy-efficient windows, lighting and design features. Hidrock also markets its custom build-out program as well as its pre-built spaces to help make the building as turn-key as possible for the tenant.

“We not saying here’s a vanilla, cookie-cutter type of build-out,” he said. “What we are doing is giving a little bit more in an upgrade than our competitors do.”

And while managers need to lay a significant amount of capital to do these improvements, Lezamiz says the returns on the investment are worth it. “When you are able in this marketplace right now to secure a tenant in-place and have them sign for a deal of at least five-years or more, and your cost is still more or less in-line with 10% more than you would normally spend, in the long-term, it is much better for us because the asset valuation is so much higher,” he says. “By having a tenant in-place and having your portfolio in the 90% leased range, it makes sense.”

Energy efficiency is also a strategy at New York City-based Malkin Properties, an owner/manager with 10 million square feet of office properties in Manhattan, Fairfield County and Westchester County. The family’s portfolio includes the iconic Empire State Building, which has undergone a $550 million makeover. Since then, it has achieved LEED Gold status by the United States Green Building Council.

“Tenants are very well-informed and educated today about the benefits of energy efficiency, saving and preserving the world’s natural resources, lowering their occupancy cost through energy efficiency and creating and providing for a healthy workplace environment for their employees,” Thomas P. Durels, CEO of Malkin Construction tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s important for staff retention and staff productivity.”

Malkin developed a groundbreaking initiative and model working with the Clinton Climate Initiative and Rocky Mountain Institute for energy efficiency and retrofits for occupied commercial office buildings. As a result, tenants have seen cost-savings in their energy bills, and overall leasing activity is up throughout the portfolio. “It keeps tenants happy, and it attracts new tenants,” Durels says, noting that the company has developed standards for tenant installations that incorporate performance guidelines that help tenant installations so that they are more done in a way that’s more energy-efficient. “We’ve rolled that out throughout our entire portfolio, so not only have we done retrofits for base building, as each tenant space gets filled up, we’ve provided the template and the guidebook for our tenants so when the architects and engineers design the space, it’s done in a way that’s most energy efficient,” he says.

On the amenities side, Malkin creates tenant-only conference centers, fitness centers and several dining choices to help provide variety. Suburban offices are more likely to have in-building cafes, while its New York City properties have white-table cloth restaurants at the base of the skyscraper. “We want to provide our tenants with better quality choices,” Durels said.

Russell Matthews, EVP of the Albanese Organization, has taken a similar approach just 20 miles outside New York City. Albanese has invested in Garden City, NY, a village within the town of Hempstead in Nassau County.

“It has really grown in prestige over the last several years,” Matthews says. “Garden City has transitioned from a shopping destination to a mixed-use, mixed-professional office use.”

The company has taken advantage of the existing infrastructure on Franklin Avenue in the village’s downtown. “It has great bones,” he says. “We’ve been fortunate in acquiring a number of sites and buildings that we’ve gut-renovated and the tenants have been really receptive to that.”

Two of those buildings—855 Franklin Ave. and 1000 Franklin Ave.—have attracted the eye of financial services companies and other professional services firms, such as Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Ameritrade, E-Trade and North Shore LIJ-Health System. Matthews says the deals speak to the strength of the Garden City office market, which has a 4% vacancy rate.

“They are architecturally distinctive,” Matthews says. “In our portfolio, we go for high-quality construction, levels of service of first-class. Brokers when they bring prospective tenants here, it is a brand. You’re in an Albanese building, and that means something.”

But in the end, service is the most important element, managers agree. Both Malkin and Hidrock provide online service requests to streamline the building maintenance process and increase communication with tenants.

“We are very focused on tenant feedback and tenant satisfaction,” Durels said. “What a lot of real estate operators fail to understand is that we are in the service business. We are in the service business of keeping our tenants happy. It is neglected by many landlords and we focus on it tremendously.”

Lezamiz adds: “A lot about making a tenant happy is retaining of a tenant. In order to retain a tenant, one of the aspects that I believe is really crucial is having the tenant interact with not just the building personnel, but the owners and managers.”

At the same time, price is still a factor. While the economy is healthier, tenants are still trying to maximize the most value they can. Jon Bourbeau, managing principal at Newmark Knight Frank’s Miami office, tells GlobeSt.com that concessions—whether TIs or free rents—are crucial to getting a client to sign on the dotted line.

“It is a good time to do deals because well-funded landlords can give those up-front concessions,” Bourbeau says. “The payoff is that the face rent may be a little bit higher if you are getting more free rent or TI, so it is a win-win because the tenant gets the benefit of that up-front concession and landlord gets the higher rent that they could use to sell the building.”

Being able to structure a transaction in creative ways may also benefit a tenant. “A lot of the bigger deals are 10-year deals, but after the recessions, people are a lot more focused on downsizing,” he says. “Lease terms are down, but there are significantly more termination options and contraction options during the term of that lease to keep the company flexible.”

Bourbeau says while the market hasn’t gone from a 10-year market to a 5-year market, there is a prevalence of termination and contraction options. “It’s more on the forefront of the tenants mind’s,” he says. “Everybody saw the downturn and they may have been swimming in too much space. People now are taking that experience and saying ‘I want the right to terminate the lease at some point’ and I also want the right to give back space during the lease.’ It can cripple the company if they are taking too much space.”