Multi-Tenant Office Offers Mobile Device Employee Badges

Interesting news out of Chicago’s Fulton Market District. A multi-tenant office building, 167 Green Street, has made electronic badge access available to all working in the building. Developers Shapack Partners and Focus, with real estate investment firm Walton Street Capital, claim that this is the “first multi-tenant office building in the United States to offer all tenants building access through employee badge in Apple Wallet,” according to a press release.

Tenants can “seamlessly and securely tap their iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock office doors, turnstiles, elevators, and key card-protected amenity spaces – eliminating the need to open an app or present a traditional plastic access key,” the firms explained. “Even if a user’s iPhone needs to be charged, they will still be able to access the building for up to five hours after with Power Reserve.”

Two companies are behind the technology. Sharry, a European proptech company, specializes in “touchless access” and “reception management,” according to its website. Sharry claims that it integrates with more than 20 access control systems and is in use across 40 million square feet of facilities on three continents.

The second vendor is HID Global, which specializes in managing trusted identities. It claims that “millions of people in more than 100 countries” use its products and services daily.

The approach is interesting from a number of angles. One is finding new ways to offer value to tenants. According to JLL, bundled packages of space and services are on their way to the industry. Combining utilities, Internet access, and tech services like network, cybersecurity, and telephone, the assumption is that generational changes in tenant businesses’ management will push for increased convenience demands.

Managing building and facilities access would seem a good example of building services with space. Tenants need ways for their employees to gain access to buildings, but in a multi-tenant building, no single company has the ability to set standards. Different solutions would have to work within the same building framework. That might be possible, but it’s also messy and begging for complications in implementation and support.

No approach like this is foolproof or always the right approach. For example, iPhones are extremely popular, particularly in the U.S., but there are many Android phone users. For certainty, software systems would have to work with all popular platforms. There are also other potential services that a building could offer to its tenants and their employees. Each potentially makes the property more attractive to companies and saves them money.