Reported in TechCrunch this past week: 63% of the startups surveyed by Founders Forum with Tech Crunch said they would re-open in 1-3 or 3-6 months, regardless of when the government told them it was safe to do so. A small number have re-opened their offices, 10% have closed their offices permanently and many said…Read More→

The Society of Office and Industrial Realtors (SIOR), of which I have been a proud member for over thirty years, interviews top brokers on a variety of issues and publishes these interviews. Neil Dailey, SIOR, office broker with McGraw Commercial Properties in Tulsa, Oklahoma, stated this about the new view of office buildings: “I also…Read More→

There have been a number of reports, both regionally as well as nationally, that predict corporations will begin leasing suburban office space to accomplish several goals. First, they need to increase employee separation during the pandemic, and it is much cheaper to lease space in the suburbs to accomplish this. Secondly, companies that are above…Read More→

In National Real Estate Investor June 2020 Elaine Misonzhnik writes on page 3, “The virus might be with us indefinitely. (The World Health Organization has predicted it might take up to five years to get it under control.) And to declare the end of cities, decide that everyone should work and learn from home permanently…Read More→

To quote Michael Tannenbaum, CFO of BREX, “Think of the office as a perk what you offer…when you start to think of it has a perk, you can start to say, are we getting the value out of this office relative to other things we can be offering?”.  I have to totally disagree with this…Read More→

According to a recent Savills Research report, over the past several months since the shelter-in-place shutdown of office buildings there has been a 300% increase in office sublease availability, with over 3.7 million square feet of space currently available. “It is likely that sublease space will increase further – placing downward pressure on overall asking…Read More→

On April 24, 2020 CoStar News had projections by Abby Corbett, their senior economist. In a moderate downside forecast, 50 million square feet of retail space will shut down and it will take seven quarters to return. A less-optimistic forecast sees 128 million square feet of retail in the U.S going dark, taking four years…Read More→

Interesting survey results that 75% of office workers have occasionally worked from home but now with shelter in place almost everyone working full-time from home. 54% report no change in productivity, while 24% reported an increase in productivity. The home environments least effective are those with children and those with roommates. The kitchen is one…Read More→

the remainder plan to bring them back all at once. Staggered work hours, alternating shifts and other strategies to ensure social distancing. High risk employees may still be asked to work from home. Regarding estimated timing, 35% believe offices will open in May, 30% June or later, and 33% were not sure of the timing….Read More→

The other day I attended an excellent Zoom meeting and here are the highlights. A number of California counties are using e-recording while their offices are closed to the public. The original documents must be in the escrow officer hands while the documents for recording are transmitted electronically. Submissions are routinely kicked back if the…Read More→

According to a new McKinesey & Co report, the pandemic will force commercial real estate to make significant structural changes. Open office layout and densification trends may reverse, and there may be changes in building codes and regulations relating to how many square feet each employee is allotted. CRE companies may intensify a move toward…Read More→

Yesterday I was on a webinar with Larry Heard, CEO, and Chip Clarke, President and here are the highlights…the office industry will come out of this COVID-19 fine, but there will be a period of transition and adjustment. It won’t be business as usual. Working from home seemed to turn out fine for many of us, but…Read More→

Bisnow April 8, 2020 reports that 22.7 million of the 45.8 million total rental units are owned by mom-and-pop individual investors and many of these use their tenants rent to pay their property taxes and mortgages. If they don’t’ have Freddie or Fannie loans, without Federal assistance in mandating the lenders give owners some type…Read More→

First, it is important to keep in mind a win-win collaborative negotiation and at almost all costs to avoid litigation and the court system. Tenant asks for three months’ rent relief; Landlord compromises and accepts 50% rent for three months with no repayment. Tenant asks for three months’ rent relief; Landlord accepts 50% rent for…Read More→

CNBC today announced that WeWork lost $1.25 Billion in the third quarter on revenue of $934 million. Its occupancy decreased to 79% as the company added 115,000 desks. If there is just the slightest downturn in the US economy, companies that have flexible rental agreements in WeWork facilities may exacerbate their predicament.

Will the last one to leave please turn the lights off? Oh, I forgot, that is what PG&E has been doing…The San Francisco Business Times 11/8/2019 edition reported that we had 691,000 folks leave California last year and only 501,000 new people migrating into California. Folks coming in are from Washington, Texas, New York, Arizona…Read More→

“WeWork may have been pulled back from the edge of insolvency by its biggest investor, but many of its landlords are still preparing for a worst-case scenario…Multiple potential WeWork lease deals in New York City are said to be canceled or halted, and scores of possible deals in London are now in jeopardy as WeWork…Read More→