One year ago today the country shut down and I left my office for what I thought might be a few weeks. A few has turned into 52, and a new pandemic has changed the commercial office market in ways we never imagined a year ago. For owners and occupiers of some office buildings, the challenge in the years ahead will be like a Spartan Race. For those not familiar, Spartan Race is the world's premier obstacle course race, a running race with the additional challenge of obstacles along the course. These obstacles require athletes to have a highly conditioned fitness level, combining cardiovascular fitness, strength, and mobility, and a strong desire to finish the race.
The pandemic has caused employers to throw out their old real estate playbook and re-prioritize their real estate strategies for the future. Estimates range from 5 to 7 percent for those who worked remotely pre-pandemic, and new estimates predict that at least two-thirds of the workforce want to work remotely at least one or two days per week in the future. The result of this reduction in time spent at the office, along with other industry changes, has started a long path of challenges and obstacles for office owners, particularly those with high-rise buildings in a city center.
The full paper is available as a download below.
