Employers can’t afford to be stuck in a loser location. Employees won't go to an office if they can find a more desirable workplace, we learned Thursday at Bisnow's Creative Office Summit at the Westin Galleria. (Suddenly every employee is making the same workplace demands as Cher.)
Cresa Dallas managing principal Susan Arledge told the crowd of 425 that corporate relos like Toyota are not only choosing Dallas because of its lower cost of living and better tax rates, but also because it has a great talent pool of employees.
Hiring is on the rise, but the huge concern over the next 10 years focuses on the competitive labor market (which will become employee driven), Susan says. Heading Cresa's site selection efforts, she's studied what employers need to do to compete for talent. One is to be in a location that people will want to come to. There will be more jobs than professionals to fill the positions, so staffers will be able to select where they want to work and which amenities their offices can offer them, she says.
GL Seaman & Co’s Mary Miano (left, with Tech Wildcatters’ Gabriella Draney) emerged from a modular architecture wall, which was constructed in about five hours. Mary says flexible furnishings like this provide opportunities to change space as quickly as your business model changes. Gabriella, who moved her B2B tech accelerator downtown, signed a three-year lease with lots of options to take advantage of flexibility for her high-growth company. A creative solution was critical to her needs, she says.
Interprise creative director Paul White Osborn says the younger generation of workers today want spaces that serve their technological needs while also providing spaces for working in collaboration. Other desires: health and wellness. Some multi-floor clients are now incorporating stair towers to connect spaces and even branding them so employees know how many calories they’re burning when they take the stairs.
Regus sales VP Sean Deaton says companies are going where the talent is, not the other way around. People are working differently than ever before; they’re not coming into the office to shuffle papers or make copies, but to collaborate. Flexibility and technology are what offices needs, he says. Regus knows this, doing about 5,000 office transactions this month with 13M SF of office space in North America, he says.
Common Desk founder Nick Clark says his 12k SF Deep Ellum office provides co-working space for about 150 creative companies. He says tenants today embrace mobility, whether it’s working at a coffee shop, home, or an office. Leases are also getting shorter as the next generation of decision-makers are demanding flexibility, he says.
BURY, the exclusive AEC firm of the Texas real estate series, is working on redeveloping the old Cowboys Stadium site in Irving as a mixed-use facility, says BURY’s Jim Knight (second, from right between David Pitch, Josh Millsap, Mike Klein, Stephanie Laughlin, and Richard Nixon).
Event sponsor Cadence McShane Construction’s Dave Tague (far right, with Todd Scallorn, Craig Morris, Wade Wimbish, and Heather Coughlin) tells us the firm is currently building the Reata Vista corporate campus in Austin.
Event sponsor WLS Lighting’s Ken Bronstad (right, with Humanscale’s Bethany Sadler) tells us the firm has been manufacturing site lighting products since 1969 and provides free lighting design and budgets direct to owners, designers, consultants, and contractors. WLS recently re-illuminated Dallas' W Hotel garage with LEDs, which included a $39k rebate from Oncor.
Commercial general contractor DPR Construction’s Andrew Coates, Chris Burdine, and Matt Fritsch. The event sponsor is currently building Texas College of Higher Education in Tyler and a data center in Richardson. Come back tomorrow for more exciting event coverage.
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