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• JUNE 25, 2021 • Midlands Business Journal
Office Trends A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
June 25, 2021
Demand for office space, amenities heavily nuanced among workplaces by Michelle Leach
As the owner or employee of a small- to mid-sized local business, chances are you’re plugging away at the office again on at least a part-time basis or within a “hybrid” arrangement. “Over the past year and few months, many office workers became accustomed to working from the comfort of their own home while others dreaded their time working from home and prefer an office setting where there is more collaboration, less video calls and a work-life balance,” said NAI NP Dodge Associate Spencer Morrissey. “It will be a challenging task for employers to accommodate all employees’ desires as new working habits were formed during the pandemic.” Office users are adapting, he said, by searching for spaces with more private offices for those concerned about social distancing. “Some companies are looking into offering a hybrid model for employees where workers can work from home a day or two a week to ease their way back into the office,” he said. “[A] few companies have not renewed their lease and now employees work from home permanently. Others are back to business as usual with, perhaps, a reduced footprint from what they previously had pre-COVID. “The office environment is ever-changing, but there will always be a need for office space for most companies.” There are also geographic nuances; for instance, he said San Francisco and New York City generally have fewer than 21% of their workforce in the office now. “In Texas, nearly 50% of office workers are back in the office according to Kastle Systems (a private security integration service
Spencer Morrissey, associate at NAI NP Dodge. (Photo by Monica Sempek) for office buildings),” he said. “The Omaha investments at Sterling Ridge. “The market had experienced strong market relates more to Texas’s numbers reactivity with limited Class A office vacancy garding employees returning to the office.” As the vaccination rate grows, and the heading into the pandemic,” he said. “For fall school year starts up again, he anticipates most of 2020 and the first part of 2021 there more employers requesting that staff return. was a pause in the decision-making process “As a market, we have had a pretty as it relates to office space (and a subsequent good run over the last 10 years,” said Adam uptick in vacancy rates).” Marek said the anticipated return of large Marek, vice president of brokerage services in Nebraska for Colliers. “Large employers employers will be what drives the office (and local developers) have made significant market going forward. “It will also have a significant impact investments in real estate.” He noted HDR’s headquarters at Aksar- on restaurants that historically had a strong ben Village; Carson Wealth and Valmont lunchtime business and on service businessheadquarters at Heartwood Preserve; and es,” he said. “Employees in the office has a LinkedIn and Centris Federal Credit Union strong spillover effect on our local economy
as a whole.” When asked about the biggest change in more recent months (since its first quarter office report was issued in April), Marek said there has been a “significant uptick in activity” due to the return to the office (with small and medium-sized businesses returning employees in far greater numbers). “[Companies] are trying to decide what works best for their company/employees going forward — all in the office, hybrid or work from home,” he said. To specific projects, Marek noted that Marek — at the height of the pandemic — local developer City Ventures was so confident about the future of Omaha’s office market, that it purchased the almost 500,000-square-foot Central Park Plaza. These are the two buildings at the west of Gene Leahy Mall. “They bought it with the understanding that the buildings will require a significant renovation in order to lease the more than 200,000 square feet that is currently vacant,” he said. The Lund Co. Vice President and Office Specialist Martin J. “Marty” Patzner, too, likened the pandemic’s effect to a “pause button,” as expansion plans on the part of organizations were generally put on hold. “A lot of people just paused to see how things would shake out,” Patzner said. “I Continued on page 8.
