The technology-backed real estate brokerage firm HelloOffice has rebranded as Raise Commercial Real Estate. The company's re-brand coincides with the launch of the firm's new technology platform, website and workplace services. With $20 million in series-A funds, the firm will work with office users reimagine the workspace.
"The pandemic not only dramatically accelerated the future of the workplace, it spurred the second dramatic shift in office space in a decade," says Petra Durnin, head of market analytics at Raise, tells GlobeSt.com. "We are at the forefront of navigating that landscape. After speaking to hundreds of our clients and workplace leaders, we understood that the need for intuitive technology and scalable workplace services has never been greater."
Raise's technology platform is central to its strategy. It will leverage this platform to streamline the brokerage process. "Our cutting-edge platform enables us to strategize quickly and efficiently to respond to our dynamic clients by digitizing the archaic and siloed processes commonplace in commercial real estate," says Durnin. "Its disruptive technology allows brokers, project managers, and workplace strategists to directly interact with tenants, helping them build multi-market real estate portfolios and operate collaborative, dynamic workplaces for employees."
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This platform is even more essential in a post-pandemic world where office space is rapidly evolving. "The newly emerging hybrid workplace model, a union of the physical and virtual office, can be a unique, flexible, and game-changing option for companies," says Durnin. "It has the ability to empower people to choose to work in the office because they want to and it fulfills an important need rather than because it is an obligation. It can be a place for collaboration while more focused work can take place remotely."
These new office environments will also allow companies to access more talent pools. "It also means companies can reach more talent with smaller offices in multiple markets rather than one large location. Additionally, a distributed workforce could spur or grow emerging markets, which would benefit from an influx of tech talent," says Durnin.
As companies adapt to these new changes, many have shed unused office space by placing it on the sublease market. As a result, the sublease supply has increased dramatically this year. "The large amount of sublease space flooding the market right now actually presents a broader spectrum of opportunity than has been available in the past several years," says Durnin. "Companies that are growing, requiring additional space to safely distance, or considering multiple locations to establish a hybrid workplace model, now have access to high-quality space at a discounted price or with a meaningful amount of economic concessions."
This also gives tenants more options in terms of office quality and location. "There are also more options for companies that have been waiting to move up to higher quality space, with a more open floor plan or outdoor connectivity, as part of a de-densification strategy," says Durnin. "Flexible subleases can also provide a proof of concept solution enabling users to test fit for new office dynamics and layout in a market that hasn't previously afforded this option."
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Kelsi Maree Borland
