New Office Construction May Get A 64% Rent Premium

GlobeSt.com 1/22/22 reported that new office building construction was getting a 65% rent premium over average Class A rents, according to a study just out by Cushman & Wakefield. Peter Curry, real estate partner with Farrell Fritz, told GlobeSt that “front and center will be state-of-the-art air filtration systems, energy savings infrastructure, and a retreat from open-space planning. But they will also need to help tenants adapt to an employee base that will almost certainly work remotely for part of each work week.” I have been seeing more articles on four-day workweeks, but the overall consensus appears to be Tues/Wed/Thur in the office. There have also been a flurry of articles strongly predicting a return to the office starting this April, mandated by employers. At the same time Bill Gates is predicting there will be more serious Covid variants that we will have to react and deal with.  Perhaps when you take your masks off, don’t burn them but keep them in storage…