Commercial Real Estate: Office Destinations Move to the Burbs

Suddenly, the suburbs are all the rage.

With COVID-19 now mostly in the rearview mirror, the real estate world is still undergoing massive changes from the pandemic with people leaving their city apartments for houses in the suburbs.

But they aren’t just living in the suburbs, they’re working there now, too.

This interest in the suburban office market may have been accelerated by the pandemic but positive social experiences are exactly what helped spark the suburban renaissance in the first place. 

And with the right amount of TLC and focus on community, Birmingham’s suburban office buildings can thrive post-pandemic due to their unique advantages over downtown buildings.

Suburban Offices Take Center Stage

After decades of getting a bad rap, modern suburban buildings and campuses are becoming the new darlings of corporate site selectors for a few reasons. 

Ample parking and room to stretch one’s legs outside have always been inherent benefits of a suburban location, and are only more valuable in light of COVID-19. 

But owners winning the most tenants are those who do more than offer attractive office space, they up the ante by creating socially activated communities that today’s brightest and best knowledge workers crave.

A wide-reaching suburban office building provides a dynamic and engaging setting for a large swath of workers. It wins prospective tenants over with vibrant, community-minded design from the moment they step into the lobby, as they continue on through the halls, elevators and outdoor spaces and into a workplace that truly inspires. 

By creating a setting that brings people together with shared, positive experiences, building owners can achieve a destination workplace in the suburbs.

The Suburbs Win Corporate Tenants

It may take some extra work to cultivate community in any office building, but those in the suburbs have some other advantages at this particular time.

A wealth of outdoor space can add to employee well-being. As companies bring employees back to work with social distancing requirements, suburban buildings have an immediate advantage over urban locations because they can more easily offer safe access to the outdoors. 

In addition to simply enabling people to more easily spread out and socialize in fresh air, quality outdoor space can help tenants support employee wellbeing at a time when both physical and mental health are being taxed.

The Best of Both Worlds

The in-demand suburb of the 2020s may not look like what has been the norm in decades past. You may be able to take the Millennial out of the city center, but you won’t be able to take the city center out of the Millennial. 

Demand for walkable, more dynamic areas outside of the urban core are going to be attractive to both young, first-time home buyers and empty nesters looking to downsize. 

The expectation will be the best of both worlds where the upsides of urban, walkable living is provided with the proximity and affordability more available in the suburbs.

It’s impossible to know exactly what the future holds for the suburban workplace, but no matter what, many more employees will be returning to the office eventually. 

As they do, they’ll be most empowered by suburban workplace destinations that show their companies value them not just as employees, but as humans. 

Real Estate Matrix is one of the Southeast’s premier commercial valuation firms and has participated in the valuation of billions of dollars in real property assets.

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