By Dennis Kaiser

There’s a significant shift underway in how companies use their workplaces. Today, productivity and efficiency must be balanced against talent recruitment and retention. Connect Media asked TechSpace’s Vic Memenas to share what he sees are some of the major trends shaping the office space market nationally in our latest CRE Q&A.

Q: What do occupiers seek today and how is TechSpace responding to meet that demand? Where does TechSpace fit in between traditional landlords and co-working providers? What types of companies are most drawn to your space and why?

A: Office space continues to move towards a more tenant-centric model, where customer experience for the end user continues to be more and more paramount.  Current trends of less square footage per user and more open and collaborative designs are being blended with a focus on hospitality and flexible workspace configurations. These changes, combined with shorter terms, increased flexibility and the simplification of burdensome leases (user agreements), will better align with the market (tenant’s requirements) while providing “landlords” the opportunity to increase rent revenues and NOI throughout their assets.

TechSpace sits at the forefront of this shift, delivering unique office environments for small, mid-sized companies and enterprise customers. We provide elegant, private office space environments that allow businesses to create their own cultures and identities while leveraging communal experiences that enhance their employees’ well-being. Our spaces are fun and enjoyable places to be!  We are positioned squarely between rent-a-desk co-working and long-term traditional leases.  Our strategy has always been to provide this type of solution to companies with multiple employees from any industry. Our spaces are populated companies from tech, media, finance, healthcare, fashion and run the gamut from start-ups to local and regional firms and national, enterprise corporate users. They come to TechSpace for ease of use, flexibility and a great customer experience. CX is inherent to our TechSpace DNA.

Q: We understand each TechSpace can reflect the local needs and preferences of tenants? How has this evolved over time? What’s standard and what’s distinct? How does your facility in Washington, D.C. reflect that market?

A: Our goal is to never design and deliver “cookie-cutter” spaces. We feel differentiation is important in order to capture the local goodness of each location and geographic region. We started by providing great space aimed at solving the real estate leasing problem for small business, but have evolved by adding specific design nuances, whether they be uniquely-sized offices and suites and/or an increased focus on certain types of amenities, amenities that augment the experience for each user. This depends largely on the location and how we integrate with our building owner’s assets. Each TechSpace location is unique unto itself with distinct design, but every location provides companies their own branded and dedicated space, a technology platform that delivers secure user connectivity for maximum productivity all delivered by TechSpace team members focused on providing the best service to our customers. Our D.C. location is a great example of this, as our spaces there are designed for companies seeking privacy and security – which are critical components for companies who do business in this market.

Q: Let’s shift across the country to other spaces, and explore how TechSpace’s in those markets have adopted local-market strategies. What is different or distinct about your space in Texas, for instance?

A: Our newest location in Houston, TX is a great example of a space designed to completely integrate and augment the amenity base of a beautiful campus environment owned by Parkway Properties. Our collective thoughts were to design a space that provides a premier office experience to small companies who, in that market given the traditional alternatives, could not feasibly create it or find it on their own, while also providing large enterprise tenants in the area spaces that supplement their existing leased offices space, whether it be for on-demand use for special projects, disaster recovery or an alternative environment for employees who are more mobile and don’t require traditional, corporate office space. The space we created was strategically integrated into Parkway’s existing campus of incredible amenities that include dining, retail services and health & wellness choices. Our space provides additional amenities such as event space and conferencing capabilities that are open for all tenants in the campus. This strategy rounds out the offering for all users, creating a truly dynamic environment not found elsewhere in the market. We could not be happier with the result, as our space is being used by dynamic entrepreneurs, exciting growth businesses and many large enterprise users, one’s that currently lease space in the campus on a traditional basis, and others in the Houston market that desire an additional presence that offers their employees a truly different experience.

Get CRE News in 150 words

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser