​Millennial​ ​Values​ ​In​ ​A​ ​Modern​ ​Office​ ​Space

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The millennial generation, traditionally defined as individuals born between the years 1982 and 2004. Why are they important? Well, they entering the job market and will continue to with for years to come. Let’s perspective, a child born in 1982 would have graduated college around 2005; born in 2004? Expect to be graduating and entering the workforce around 2027. 

At Tenant Advisors, we posed the question : what does this generation value in a workplace?

We spoke with millennials that recently entered the workforce to discover what inspires and fuels their passion in competitive work environments.

Data Analyst: office size 75-100 people

 “ I work at a company that has outgrown its office space, currently we’re forced to have to maximize office space by sacrificing efficiency.

A lack of common space is detrimental, the only place you have is your desk area. If you need to take a phone call, we don’t really have anywhere in the office you could step aside to.

On the flip side – the office is in a great location. It’s very convenient to hop on the El and get to work in 30 minutes.

Our office has a great view of the city, we also have great facilities available in the building. Often times I’ll take advantage of the gym”

Inside Sales: office size 750-1,000 people

“ I think my favorite thing about my office is the layout and location. I am incredibly close to public transportation and am able to utilize the CTA to get to the office quickly, my commute is usually like 45 minutes.

My office has great amenities, they have a great common areas and a nice kitchen.

What I love about my office is the open collaborative, layout.

You can talk and interact among your coworkers, being able to get advice or ask for help from someone close by is really nice.

Something I think could be improved on is the aesthetic, I think the office could be better decorated. Don’t get me wrong, it looks really nice as is, but some fresh paint or new artwork would make a big impact in my opinion. Some more colors in the office would really brighten up the place and I would argue inspire creativity “

Financial Planner: office size 200-300 people

“ A lot of the work we do is collaborative and involves usually a whole team of people working together. Our meeting rooms are great, they are linked up with great technology so we can video chat among other offices really without having many problems.

Our clients depend on us to have a quick turn around so not having to worry about this or that going wrong, knowing we have reliable equipment allows us to better tackle the problem at hand.

Something I would improve on in my office would be to reconsider cubicles. Often times I find it acting as a barrier for productivity, often sending emails to people across the room.

I understand it’s how a lot of offices have been traditionally laid out, but this doesn’t necessarily mean this is the way it needs to be, ya know?”

There you have it, a first hand account from rising young professionals. For all your Chicagoland Office Space needs, Tenant Advisors will guide you every step of the way. Give us a call today at 847 778 0296, we look forward to hearing from you.

7 Office Space Tips

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Location, Location, Location

The perfect office space can lose its charm almost immediately if it’s in the wrong location. A myriad of factors must be considered before putting ink on a lease. Are you and your employees close to the space? Will clients be visiting your office and will it be accessible to them? These simple questions often make a large impact when finding the right office space to fit your business needs. A dream office loses a lot of its charm if the commute is over taxing.

 

Know What You’re Getting

Before signing a lease, make sure you know exactly what you’re getting! With so many factors to consider before choosing your space something can be easily overlooked. Commodities to solidify during negotiations include the parking spots received, the condition of the space upon move in, and what will you be able do to customize your space? Taking the word of your landlord is much less reliable than seeing it clearly laid out in the lease.  All parties need to be in understanding and agreement.

 

Office Size

The square footage is crucial when leasing your office. Take an honest look at the needs of your company as it is, and then try to predict the foreseeable future. Will you be holding meetings? A conference room will be needed. Looking to expand down the road? Account for this growth by increasing initial square footage so desks and cubicles can be added with ease. Consider your work environment: will you require larger collaborative workspaces or does something more reserved where employees can work privately better fit your needs?

Before signing your lease imagine breaking it. An infinite number of factors could lead a tenant to break a lease.  You may find yourself in this position. What fees or penalties will be assessed on breaking your lease? All things to consider before even signing.

 

Keeping Up With Appearances

If you anticipate clients in your office, try to imagine your office from their point of view. Their image of your company begins the moment they enter the building, how would you like them to perceive your company?

If image isn’t important and only employees will work in the space, certain amenities may not be as necessary. If clients will visit frequently, your image and the way your client perceives your company become more important. An elegant lobby area makes a strong impression. In your office, optional commodities such as signage and a reception area may cost more initially but the image portrayed to your customer can pay out in the long run.

 

Conveniences

Assuming you’ll be spending a fair amount of time at or around the office, consider the surrounding area where you’ll be spending all of this time. Simple things like a package pickup service or restaurant in the building can make time at the office more enjoyable, while hopefully allowing day to day operations to run smoother. When visiting a space initially, visit the convenience store, cafe, restaurant. Can you picture yourself getting lunch here regularly? Amenities like this, a workout facility or even a laundry service can really add to making an enjoyable workplace for you and your company.

Also consider the surrounding area, will you be in a more commercial district with lots of restaurants and amenities? Being close to public transportation, restaurants, and entertainment are all added benefits of the surrounding area, these can prove most important when choosing between two locations.

 

The Lease of Tomorrow, Today

The length of the lease may be the single most important factor when considering choosing your office space. Realistic expectations for your company are crucial when choosing the length of a lease. If you’re unsure of where the size of your company is headed, a more moderate short term lease may be more appropriate. If stable, steady growth is in the horizon then a long term, larger lease would prove more beneficial, as many concessions are proportional to term length. How many employees do you need to account for today versus how many will you need to account for tomorrow? Extraneous square footage could be a costly wasted space, but the opportunity to add more desks and employees may outweigh these costs. Not hiring an employee due to lack of room is an issue no business owner should face if they had considered their future before committing to a lease.

 

Reputations

The right broker can be the ultimate tool when working with a landlord over the course of your lease. A trusted broker is the best resource for helping you, the tenant, in finding the office space right for you. A reputable broker will be your go to advisor.  They are the best resource when it comes to landlords and any issues that could arise. With as much time and work as you’ll likely be putting in at your office, you want a broker that has your best interests in mind. With trusted brokers connected to landlords across the Chicagoland area, Tenant Advisors has become the most trusted resource by tenants in helping them find their perfect office space fit.

Office Space And Your Parking Space Needs

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Are you planning on setting up a commercial office space in the Chicagoland suburb? If yes, you need to consider a lot of things before you venture into it. One of the main things you need to put into great consideration is the amount of parking space. It is a known fact that Chicago and the surrounding suburbs lack abundant public transportation routes, therefore making it imperative for many employees to drive to the office. If that is the case, you need to provide enough parking spaces for your employees and customers.

YOU NEED TO HAVE AN ESTIMATE

In order to save yourself from the havoc of insufficient parking spaces for your Chicagoland office space for your business and your personal, you need to have a good estimate of the number of clients that visit you per day, and the total number of your employees. This will determine the amount of the parking spaces you need. With this information, your tenant representation broker can help you to get a suitable commercial office space for you.

HOW GREAT IS THE PARKING FACILITY?

After your broker has found you the commercial office building that fits into your requirement then it becomes pertinent for you to check it out. You might need to take a tour around the building for you to confirm the parking capacity, whether it has extra parking advantages among others. It should be noted that some buildings have overflowing parking spaces and short term parking spaces, however, these are enforced separately. Information might not be given to you if you fail to ask, thus, you need to ask questions based on the strict adherence to your parking requirement.

RESERVED OR OPEN PARKING SPOTS?

Some landlords in the Chicagoland area provide reserved parking spots system i.e. leaving some parking spaces specifically for a set of people. To save yourself from the presumption that all the parking spots are open to everyone, you need to ask questions! Ask questions as to whether the parking spaces are reserved or not. If the former is the case, and a price is attached to it, then you should be ready to negotiate your price and terms.

SPELL OUT ALL THE TERMS RELATED TO THE OFFICE SPACE CLEARLY

Most of the time, office space tenants often fail to explicitly state the terms of the lease of both the building and the parking spaces in their lease document. You should ensure that all the necessary terms of the office lease are explicitly stated in the lease document for future and legal use.

TENANT ADVISORS WILL SAVE YOU THE STRESS AND MONEY

Instead of wasting your money and productive time to tour, negotiate, and to ensure the due process for your smooth office space lease, you can just hire Tenant Advisors, Inc.. Tenant Advisors, Inc. is a commercial real estate firm in the Chicagoland area that provides aggressive and unbiased representation to office space tenants throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs FREE for the tenants. You will pay us no money to represent you; our bill will be paid by your landlord. Also, it should be of a greater interest for you to know that we neither own any real estate nor represent any real estate owners, just tenants only! That means you can count on us for unbiased interest.

Our highly skilled and ever reliable staff will walk you through the process, help you to understand the lease or purchase agreements. They will also ensure that all the necessary terms including the terms and the consideration of the parking spaces are included.

Contact us today by filling out our form and we will get back to you within 24 hours. With our FREE service, you can be on your way to obtaining the office space of your choice.

Chicago Office Space Lease Negotiations

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Understanding Blend & Extend Leases 

Business owners who are searching for office space for rent have quite a few options available to them. Long-term leases, annual leases and month-to-month options are the most common types of leases. With that said, most leases are longer-term in the 3-7 year range, and they reflect the market conditions that were in effect at the start of the lease term. So, what happens when a company’s need for office space changes midway into its lease term? or what happens when market conditions change dramatically, but the company still has considerable time left in its lease term? Is he stuck? The short answer is: not necessarily. A relatively new type of lease has emerged which business owners have found to be advantageous to their leasing situation, and that is the blend and extend lease. These leases relate to tenants and landlords who are in a current lease relationship, and want to extend the lease for an additional term while in the midst of their current lease. When a blend and extend lease is initiated, the parties also get to alter the terms of the lease which is an additional benefit to such a lease. The following will highlight more information regarding the blend and extend office lease and cite the various pros and cons of such an office space rental agreement.

What You Should Know About a Blend and Extend Lease

The first thing which commercial property owners and renters need to know about is that there must currently be a lease in place between the landlord and business owner tenant. As the purpose of a blend and extend lease is to get an early renewal with lease term changes it goes without saying that there must be an active lease agreement at the time in which a blend and extend lease is discussed.

You should also be aware of why a blend and extend commercial property lease is desirable. Commercial office leases are often lengthy in duration and this makes altering terms more difficult as when compared to an annual lease. With that said, landlords do not like to take chances of having their office space be empty once their current tenant’s lease expires. With a blend and extend lease, tenants benefit by negotiating for a more favorable monthly rent and lease terms and landlords benefit by ensuring that their current tenant remains in the premises for years to come.

The Pros of a Blend and Extend Office Lease

There are many benefits on both sides of the lease relationship associated with an office space blend and extend lease. The landlord favors a blend and extend lease as it guarantees them that their office space will not be vacant for long periods of time. In today’s economy, office rental demand is on shaky ground as are many other business-related aspects and the landlord can have peace of mind knowing that its tenant will be in the office space for years to come. This will increase the chances that the landlord can cover the mortgage payment every month and not have to worry about paying a real estate agent to find replacement tenants for them.

For the tenant, a blend and extend lease works in their favor by providing them with the opportunity to renegotiate the lease terms and oftentimes renew the lease with a less expensive monthly rent. The rent is not the only thing which the tenant can renegotiate in a this kind of lease. Rental abatement, options to renew, expand or contract and office space improvements are also negotiable points in the new and revised lease.

The Cons of a Blend and Extend Commercial Office Space Lease

As with any negotiations, there may be some less than favorable aspects of a blend and extend lease. With regard to the landlord, although the blend and extend lease provides the landlord with a longer lease term in which the tenant is required to stay in the building, the landlord may have to accept a lower monthly rent payment as well as agree to office improvements and other concessions. As for the tenant, it may receive a more favorable monthly rent under the blend and extend lease, but it will be locked in to the office space for a longer period of time and not be able to move from the office should it desire to do so a few years down the road.

In The End A Blend and Extend Lease Is a Good Option

When all is said and done, a blend and extend lease can often be a good option for both landlord and tenant to consider. If the landlord/tenant relationship is a good one and the office building location works well for the tenant, then there really is no reason to ignore the blend and extend lease option. Even with the few potential negatives listed above, the pros often times outweigh the cons of this type of lease. A blend and extend office lease ensures that the office property remains rented and the tenant gets a better deal than it had previously. It is easy to see why blend and extend leases are becoming much more common in the commercial real estate market-place.

Rosemont Office Space

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The Rosemont office space market includes the communities of Rosemont, Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Mount Prospect, Schiller Park and the northwest tip of the City of Chicago.  The Rosemont office market is the smallest of the four Chicago Illinois suburban markets (the others being North, Northwest, and East-West Corridor) at 18 million square feet.

Commercial office space users are drawn to the area for a number of reasons:

  • Proximity to O’Hare Airport.
  • Location at the confluence of the Chicago expressway system.
  • Availability of public transportation (CTA train stops at Cumberland Avenue and River Road, as well as O’Hare Airport).
  • Proximity to most densely populated areas of Chicago provides access to an excellent labor pool.

As a result of these and other benefits, the Rosemont market is the home of several corporate headquarters, sales operations, and associations.

ACCESS/AMENITIES

Access to the highway system has been further enhanced by the addition of a southbound entrance ramp at Balmoral Road and the Tri-State Tollway (I-294).  Additionally, Balmoral has been extended to Mannheim Road and will eventually extend directly into O’Hare Airport. Also, a two-way interchange (northbound ingress and southbound egress) will be added on the Tri-State Tollway at Devon Avenue, subject to Illinois Tollway Authority Funding.  This will greatly enhance accessibility to and from the northern suburbs.

Access is further enhanced by excellent public transportation in the area.  The elevated passenger train has two stops in the Rosemont market (Cumberland Avenue and River Road) before continuing on to the airport.

Bus routes fan out through the Rosemont market from both train stations.  This greatly enhances access to labor.

All of the major hotel chains are represented in the Rosemont market, as well as a number of first-class restaurants. Also, the Rosemont market boasts the ninth largest convention center in the country a casino hotel complex will open in Des Plaines in 2012.

DEVELOPMENT

With the turbulence in the economy, Rosemont office building development plans have been put on hold.  Developers who are interested in starting projects are finding it difficult to secure financing.

TAXES & OPERATING EXPENSES

The Rosemont office space market is located in Cook County.  A portion of the market is within the city limits of Chicago.  Real Estate Taxes in the Rosemont market are approximately $5.00 to $7.00 per square foot.  Operating expenses are similar to other buildings located in the Metropolitan Chicago area of $5.50 to $7.50 per square foot.

RENTAL RATES

Rosemont office building asking rental rates for Class “A” range from $27.00 to $31.00 per square foot gross, including current taxes and operating expenses.  Electricity for lights and outlets will be separately metered in most cases.  Building standard construction allowances of $5.00 to $40.00 per square foot are also included in these rental rates.  Fully negotiated rates range from $24.00 gross to $30.00 gross.  Typically landlords will provide additional concessions beyond these rental reductions.  The range in rental rates is determined primarily by the cost of tenant construction, lease term, and the landlord’s motivation.

Rosemont Class “B” buildings ask between $18.00 and $24.00 per square foot, including taxes, operating expenses and construction allowances.  Negotiated rates range between $17.00 and $21.00 gross, again with additional concessions in most cases.

Class “C” properties advertise rates in the $13.00 to $20.00 per square foot range.  Negotiated rates range from $12.00 to $17.00 per square foot.  Several Class “C” properties offer below grade space.  This category represents the low end of the range outlined above.

VACANCY & MARKET CONCESSIONS

As of the 4th Quarter 2009 the vacancy rate is 23.9% with a base of approximately 18 million square feet; this amounts to approximately 4,409,968 square feet of direct office space available.  This rate does not include sublease space, which adds another 332,275 square feet to the suburban Rosemont/O’Hare market.

ABSORPTION

There has been very little absorption over the past several years.  We expect this trend to continue as the economy continues to struggle.

OFFICE SPACE AVAILABILITY

With many available office space options to consider, and little demand, the Rosemont market shall remain a “tenant’s” market for the foreseeable future.  So called “shadow vacancy” i.e. space still under lease to a tenant but not being utilized is increasing dramatically.  When these leases expire, this space will go back to the landlord as vacant space.

ROSEMONT OFFICE SPACE FOR SUBLEASE

As the economy continues to struggle, we anticipate more companies to attempt to sublease space and will need to offer discounts of 40-50% in most cases.  Currently there are over 332,275 square feet on the market for sublease in the Rosemont office market.