I was in Shanghai recently to meet with a client who had just rented a large commercial space in a very expensive part of that city. An unexpected problem had come up with the property, they told me. With all the new construction going on in the surrounding area, their office building had taken on [...]
Choosing the right space for your company is about more than just finding a place to hang your hat and do business. Recruiting firms that are doing it right — whether large or small, national or local — not only lock in efficient space at economic terms that work for their business, but also create [...]
It's an especially timely topic at the beginning of the calendar year, as companies of all sizes are making plans to upsize or downsize their office space. Forty-year commercial real estate legend Howard Ecker, who has worked on San Francisco's Transamerica Building and Chicago's Time-Life Building, knows this scenario well, as large and small companies [...]
On November 12, commercial brokers everywhere were stunned by the news that New York’s One World Trade Center had supplanted Chicago’s Willis Tower as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Stunned? Okay, maybe not. After all, it’s not as if the announcement from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat makes Willis Tower [...]
Midmarket executives should be aware of new trends in work environments. Current commercial real estate trends show that traditional space users – law firms, accounting firms, ad agencies and even major public real estate companies – are now looking to edgy tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google for inspiration in both redesigning their offices [...]
Assuming is not always the best approach for companies where the demographic skews older, says Howard Ecker, who owns Howard Ecker & Co., a commercial tenant representation firm.
Lease and rent expenditures often represent an enormous financial commitment for small businesses. Unfortunately, unless commercial real estate is your core business, you may end up overpaying or not getting what you really need. "If a business owner walks into the building directly, he's talking to the broker who represents the landlord. The broker's trying [...]
Commercial real estate is experiencing a fundamental, disruptive and well-overdue shift. People entering the workforce today have a completely different concept of work and the space in which they work than when I began my career, more than 40 years ago. They’re younger than they have ever been, more tech savvy and globally aware with [...]
