MIAMI—Landlord representation is in the beginning stages of a monumental change within the office sector of commercial real estate. Landlords are no longer satisfied with basic “space and place” advisory and instead are looking for value engineering, design thought, and ecosystem creation, to increase the value of their assets and attract and maintain quality tenants.
Thirty-year commercial real estate veteran Bo Jackson, senior managing director and partner of Transwestern's Southeast operations, has been an expert during many cycles of change and says this one is transformational. GlobeSt.com sat down with Jackson to discuss multi-tenant office buildings offering strategic workplace solutions in part one of this exclusive interview.
“Shifts in workforce demographics now directly influence workplace needs,” Jackson tells GlobeSt.com. “Office landlords must recognize and embrace those unique needs to become or remain marketplace leaders.”
With Millennials—who represent the largest labor market share of any single generation—holding center stage, and Generation Z (post-Millennials, born after 1995) now entering from the wings, some think that the US workforce of the future will be increasingly tilted toward younger worker. However, a report from Deloitte Insights reveals, on the whole, projections suggest that America's future workforce will be older than the current workforce, just as it is expected to be increasingly female and more racially and ethnically diverse.
For the first time ever, Jackson says, five generational groups are often working under the same roof. In an industry not historically regarded for creativity, now, like never before Jackson says, owners that elevate their creativity through this new normal will be the winners.
According to Deloitte, as older cohorts' populations increase, so would their presence in the labor force—a 55.4% increase in the 65–74-year-old contingent, and an 85.5% increase among those 75 and older. An absolute decline in the youngest group's population could translate to a 13.1% contraction in that cohort of the labor force.
“Increasingly, work has become an activity rather than a task within a place,” he continues. “This evolving dynamic has caused intense demand for office landlords to innovatively deliver an experience and environment beyond 'space and place' to attract and retain office tenants. As a result, monumental pressure is placed on landlord representation.”
Beyond marketing space that meets square footage requirements, Jackson says landlord rep leasing brokers must be less asset-focused and more tenant-centric by considering the business culture, industry, and generational mix of talent in the workspaces. What drives the business of the tenants, how to optimize the engagement level of their human capital and their workforce productivity then becomes what drives the value of the asset.
In part two of this exclusive interview, Jackson will discuss how to evoke a sense of place offices.
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