September 2014
Event: Bisnow Chicago Property Management Panel 2014
On Thursday, August 28th, Bisnow Chicago hosted its Property Management & Office of the Future event at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. The all-star panels discussed the challenges, opportunities, efficiencies, and sustainability efforts within the property management industry. Below are highlights discussed by the Property Management Panel, including:
Bob Assoian – Managing Director, Management Services, NAI Hiffman
Betsy Traczek – Principal & Head of Management, John Buck Company
Randy Waites – Senior Managing Director, Midwest Region, Cushman & Wakefield
Kirsten (Helma) Bowersox – COO, SVN Crossroads Property Management
Don Shapiro – President & CEO, Foresite Realty Partners
Shapiro: Let’s start by talking about the new open and collaborative workspace and what challenges it creates for the asset manager of the property?
Traczek: As we’re putting more people into the same amount of space, it creates a lot of wear and tear on the building. There are concerns with shared drop-down work spaces and the increases in sickness in the workplace and there is the down and dirty of making sure the space is usable, clean, and functioning. In existing buildings, there is restraint of the physical nature of the building. When you put more people in, you will have issues with elevators and stairwells—buildings are designed for a certain capacity.
Assoian: One of the biggest challenges we see in suburban office with the collaborative space trend is parking. At many suburban office buildings there is 3.3, 3.5, maybe 4 per 1,000 square feet on the higher end, and most proposals we are seeing want 5 per 1,000. We are seeing some tenants that are trying to attract the downtown crowd and there are programs through Metra and van-pools where you get a ride to and from the train station. It’s not an easy commute but it is one solution to some of the parking challenges.
