NEW YORK CITY—Despite their many years of combined experience, three veteran, high-level commercial real estate professionals are finding themselves working in several new paradigms, they revealed early this week at the latest members luncheon of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Entitled "Big Picture, Big Deals of 2015 and Beyond," the panel discussion covered the state of the office and residential markets, touched on foreign investors and provided an outlook for 2016.
Decisions on location or office design are no longer made in the C-suite, the panelists said. "The TAMI universe is driving the market," declared Tim Callahan, CEO of Callahan Capital Properties.
Added Maryanne Gilmartin, CEO & president of Forest City Ratner Cos., "In today's innovation economy, talent drives the location and workplace. Companies with a flexible arrangement are creating 85% of the product in NYC."
And they're willing to pay for modern space with the open floor plan that so many firms seek today, noted David Levinson, chairman & CEO of L&L Holding Co. "People want light, outdoor space, etc. and they're willing to pay huge dollars for that."
He continued, "If they have to walk seven blocks in windy, rainy weather, they'll do it because when they get to their workplace, they're inspired by the open space and ideas it generates by allowing them to run into people. Location, location, design is what you have to focus on."
The rise of WeWork—and the general co-working space trend—also is changing market dynamics, the panelists said. "Anyone who doesn't acknowledge and learn from this trend is doing it at their peril," cautioned Gilmartin. "I know WeWork's multiples are crazy but the company has the secret sauce in bringing people together and building community."
Added Levinson, "Fifteen years ago I read that the office building was dead because people wanted to work at home but this shows that people
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
