The Art of Tenant Attraction and Retention

Skender Project Executive Lauren Torres recently participated in a panel discussion at Bisnow‘s ‘Art of Tenant Attraction and Retention’ event, which took place at the new amenities-packed Fulton Market residential property, Arthur on Aberdeen. The panel, moderated by Joseph X Cushing, featured Torres alongside Stream Realty Partners‘ Jordan Decker, Matt Pistorio of Madison Rose, Tony Coglianese of CBRE and Jonathan Metzl of Cushman & Wakefield. The discussion centered around the ways in which both office and multifamily tenants are continuing to define the leasing cycle, and what can be done to understand their evolving needs in a market driven by low demand and high turnover.

The panelists noted that while Fulton Market has, in recent years, been a hotspot for new office development, there’s an emerging opportunity for companies to find quality space in Class B buildings in the Chicago Loop. Torres cited an example of a recent office buildout client who moved from a Class C property to a Class B space downtown.

“In this situation, moving into a Class B building was an upgrade for them,” Torres said. “We are seeing a lot of older buildings investing funds in refining and updating their common and amenity spaces to be more appealing to tenants long term.”

As more companies solidify their return-to-office policies, the Loop is becoming more enticing to office tenants due to its proximity to public transit and access to suburban commuter trains. With Google’s remodel of the Thompson Center underway, panelists agreed that the Loop is likely going to become a hot commodity for office space in the near future. Pistorio noted that when running commute optimizers for his clients, the central Loop is hard to beat in terms of speed and efficiency.

Torres also explained that the recent push from companies across all sectors for a return to at least a few days in person is going to be good for the office market in Chicago.

“Companies today have a much better sense of what working from home means,” she said. “They have been able to work out the bugs in the structure and solidify their hybrid policies, and with that, office stability is coming into view.”

Read Bisnow’s full event recap: https://lnkd.in/gHiH87N3