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Office Design Trends as WFH Becomes the Norm Dramatic shifts in the everyday lives of homebuyers have caused families to rethink a onceoverlooked, private working corridor: the home office. In fact, the home office does not only benefit the “worker.” Recent months have shown that many different family members can end up at home for unknown periods of time, using different devices to keep up-to-date with schooling, friends and families.

Fulton Homes, Arizona’s largest family-owned and -operated homebuilder, and the Fulton Homes Design Center, are seeing an increase in homebuyers’ “must haves” as it relates to home offices. “As a homebuilder, we usually see trends as they are evolving in the early stages,” says Dennis Webb, vice president of operations for Fulton Homes. “Employers are adapting to having remote employees, and the workforce is basically able to live wherever they want at this point. The challenges of daily commutes and in-person meetings don’t play as much of a factor.”

The following are the three top trends.

A “Zoom Room” is top on the trend list, as many are spending a lot more time working from home. When the telecommunication revolution ramped up in March, companies were forced to hold all meetings via virtual videoconferencing platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.) and many employees’ home offices were not up to par. Home offices with a “Zoom-centric” focus — including an area with good lighting and videoconference-friendly backdrops — help facilitate a good first impression when people are working with others they have not met in person but only in a small, square window. Trendy, professional backgrounds growing in popularity are bookshelves, subway tiles and plant-filled oases.

Lighting and technology are also important. Having proper lighting in home offices is a high priority, as poor lighting can cause reduced energy, dampened morale and increased eyestrain. Indirect and adjustable lighting fixtures are trendy additions to home offices — LED lightbulbs are good; a high CRI ring light is better; but natural light is best, according to the team’s experts. Speedy internet connectivity throughout the home is key, and begins with finding the perfect location for a router within a home office.

In a home office, soundproofing is a must-have, considering today’s teleconference-centric environment. Background noise can cause unfavorable meeting experiences, so buyers are investing in soundproofing technologies via individual office walls and carpeted flooring, noted for sound absorption.

The next pivot in home office design trends may be having dual offices. With two (or more) family members working from home, schooling from home and spending more than half their waking hours there, the need for customized, separate office spaces is near.

Fulton Homes fultonhomes.com Fulton Homes Design Center fultonhomes.com/design-center GET REAL

Axway’s Agile Work Environment With more than 300 employees locally and 2,000 globally, and celebrating its 20th anniversary, Axway, Inc. — an information technology company providing enterprise software, business analytics, mobile app development and API management — has relocated to a new North Scottsdale office location at 16220 N. Scottsdale Rd., Suite 500.

The new office space has been designed around the “agile work environment” concept, eliminating enclosed offices and high-walled cubicles and, instead, offering employees the flexibility to work how and where they choose and providing the technology to do so. This includes the Griffin App — which Axway has open-sourced for the benefit of others (see the Technology page, page 22, of this edition) — a major feature of which is an office scheduling assistant.

In physical design, the office’s neighborhood hubs and way-finding tools are incorporated throughout the 54,000 square foot space that is defined by creative graphics and meeting rooms named to reflect a “technological evolution through the ages” concept. Amenities include a work café sit/stand workstations, collaboration and social areas for impromptu team meetings, and modern meeting rooms that includes a high-tech conferencing center. The new workspace also offers focus and privacy areas — including a Library for quiet and focused work — as well as a showcase innovation lab for customers to fully experience what the company has to offer. axway.com

Tempe Building One of Largest 2020 Office Sales in Southwest U.S.

Lincoln Property Company’s Class AA Grand2 office building in Tempe, Ariz., has sold, becoming the largest office sale to close in the state in 2020 and one of the top five office sales to close in 2020 in the Southwestern United States.

The building buyer is Apex Capital Investments Corporation, a U.S.-based real estate investment management firm with a track record of core-plus, valueadd and opportunistic investment strategies across asset classes. Grand2 represents the company’s first-ever Arizona office purchase.

Grand2 was completed in late 2019 by LPC Desert West, the Southwest regional office of Lincoln Property Company (LPC), in partnership with Goldman Sachs MBD Real Estate. Upon completion, Grand2 ranked as one of Arizona’s largestever purely speculative office buildings and was almost immediately leased by San Francisco-based, on-demand food platform DoorDash with a full-building, long-term commitment. lpcdesertwest.com

International Developer Breaks Ground on First Arizona Multifamily Project

The Related Group, an international developer known for its sophisticated metropolitan “for-sale” condominiums, rental and mixeduse projects, recently broke ground on its first multifamily project in Arizona, The Manor Scottsdale. “The Phoenix metro area is one of the fastest-growing and most desirable locations for developers,” says Michael D’Andrea, Southwest regional vice president. “There is a known shortage of existing multi-family housing, as well as an increased demand for newly built living spaces in both urban cores and their sister suburban locations. Due to the limited amount of available land, there is a higher demand for new construction in these areas that offer a more upscale luxury living option — especially as people are spending more time at home.”

Located at 13220 N. Scottsdale Rd. in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 286-unit upscale multifamily residential apartment homes will be conveniently situated between Scottsdale Quarter and Kierland areas in what is known as the Shea Corridor. The property provides walkability to the area’s many shops and restaurants and close proximity to the Scottsdale Airpark.

This milestone was the first of more than 20 groundbreakings Related Development expects to celebrate over the next 12 months, bringing more than 6,700 units — valued at more than $2.1 billion — to the Southwestern and Southeastern markets, three of which are local: Phoenix, Chandler and North Scottsdale.

“In our current real estate climate, there is a significant draw towards new multi-family housing and the pristine amenities they provide,” says D’Andrea. “As people are still choosing to live in urban areas, they are inclined to select a luxury unit offering high-quality amenities over a single-family home. Some of the amenities that will be available in our communities include sanitized gyms, open-air spaces and touchless concierge services. The Related Group is known for providing beautifully appointed property amenities, thus creating a niche opportunity in the Greater Phoenix luxury living market.”

Related Group relatedgroup.com

Local Luxury Condo Tower among the Top Two Fastest-Selling on the West Coast

Sales at 7180 Optima Kierland, the newest tower within the $500 million Optima Kierland development from leading multifamily developer Optima, reached 85% last month as it averages 4.5 sales per month since January 2020, making it among the top two fastest-selling luxury condominium developments on the West Coast. That average is approximately five times greater than the rest of the market, where a typical new condominium development averages only 0.89 sales per month.

“Of the eight West Coast condo markets we track, Phoenix has proven to be the most resilient in the wake of COVID-19 and 7180 Optima Kierland stands out as the fastest-selling condominium community in the state of Arizona,” says Paul Zeger, partner of Polaris Pacific, a leading sales and marketing brokerage that tracks condominium market trends. “Compared to other urban cores such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Phoenixmetro market stayed more active during the months of the pandemic. Therefore, the area’s growth can be seen more like a continuation of pre-COVID trends rather than merely a rebound from depressed spring and summer sales volumes that many other West Coast cities had to overcome.”

With only 32 residences remaining for sale priced from the $500,000s to more than $2 million, 7180 Optima Kierland is comprised of 202 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, plus a collection of premium penthouses perched atop the highest floor that will be unveiled in March 2021.

The biggest draw for buyers has been the array of lavish amenities, both on the rooftop and the ground level. Set atop the 12th floor is the spectacular Sky Deck, which was designed with a negative-edge view, with the railings lowered just beyond the sightline, so the eye goes straight to the vistas beyond and gives the sensation of floating above the city. Among the development’s other amenities for fitness, relaxation and entertainment, its Sky Deck offers residents Arizona’s first residential rooftop running track.

Among the building’s most unmistakable features is it’s next-generation vertical landscape system, with self-containing irrigation and drainage that enables a palette of vibrantly colored plants at the edge of each floor to grow both up and over the building. 7180 Optima Kierland displays the next evolution of Optima’s award-winning, green-building design created by David Hovey Jr., AIA, president and principal architect of Optima.

7180 Optima Kierland optima-kierland.com