The pandemic has changed the way that people use space, and no asset class has been more impacted than office. As we exit the pandemic, tenants are discovering that they have new needs, according to Karen Whitt, president real estate management services for the US at Colliers. Whitt is moderating a discussion on the topic at the GlobeSt. Elite Women of Influence conference in July, where she will dive deep into the trends influencing tenant preferences. At the moment, the biggest influence: the pandemic.

"Over the last year, a lot of tenants discovered they didn't need their spaces the same ways they thought they did," says Whitt. "There haven't been that many watershed moments in the history of office use. What we were used to before the COVID-19 pandemic was more the result of slow evolution rather than dramatic, instant changes. In five years, I think we're going to look back at this return-to-work situation as one of the few times when office use changed overnight."

Many owners are hopeful that the vaccine distribution will return things to normal—including office usage, but Whitt says that is far from a sure thing. "We're talking a lot about vaccines and the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, but it's easy to forget that we're still facing a lot of vague unknowns when it comes to returning to the office," she says. "I recently heard that only a little more than a quarter of companies have brought back all their employees to the office, so what my teams are seeing probably isn't the same as what others are. I'm hoping that we can share observations and ideas, and get ahead of the curve so that tenants across the board are comfortable when they get to work."