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they resulted in needing a much higher minimum space
size (typically at least 25,000 feet) to make sense.
By dropping the programing, hot-desking, and
memberships, Boxer is able to provide unstaffed flexible
spaces. Without the cost of a full time staff member, the
company can repurpose vacant spaces as small as 1,500
square feet into multi-user flex space. Typical Workstyles
are in the 5,000 square foot to 30,000 square foot range,
and do not require dedicated staff. Instead, property staff
(Property Managers or Leasing Agents) is sited within
a shared Workstyle space—even if they cover multiple
properties and are only there intermittently.
Without dedicated staff on site, it became important to
create a regimen of standards and inspections to ensure
that unattended sites are visited regularly and meet
standards. Boxer used various elements of Stemmons
Enterprise to track all Workstyle Spaces, schedule regular
inspections, and capture the results both in the form of
scores and also automatically-generated work orders.
Conclusion
Building for Resiliency & Optionality Patterns for how we work and live constantly evolve.
Once built, modifying space is expensive—unless the The provision of flexible space must be integrated into
changes are anticipated in the design. Changes to flexible the operations of the entire building, and be delivered
space typically involve a growing or larger user wanting by the same team handling overall property operations.
its own delineated space, which is predictable. Boxer This approach eliminates expensive conflicts and
accounts for this by designing various configurations— provides multiple layers of benefit, but also requires a
from maximum diversity (no customer has more than property management company to develop capabilities
one space) to single-user (the entire thing is leased to beyond those of last-generation, traditional providers.
one user)—and minimizing the cost to switch between Using a system—like Stemmons Enterprise—that unifies
them. This approach may result in minor up-front design operations and allows changing business processes to
concessions, like door placement, hallway termination, or be deployed easily is critical to providing these services
the strategic location of a lounge area that may become directly.
a tenant’s reception area. But these approaches provide
resiliency and optionality that lead to major savings when The genie will not go back into the bottle. Smaller,
converting to larger users. In addition, various configu- dynamic companies will continue to exist and will want
rations are tracked and marketed concurrently, leading to short-term, ready-to-occupy spaces. Larger organi-
richer results for online searches for space. zations will continue to want marginal flexibility in the
form of on-demand flexible space as a supplement
Limited-Staff Model to their long-term commitments. In this context, the
Flexible spaces serviced by intermediaries needed— internalizing of flexible space management has turned
almost by definition—to provide a high-touch service from luxury to necessity.
to i) substantiate the higher margins needed to pay
an additional layer of cost-structure and ii) cover the Read the full white paper: Successful Landlord-Direct
additional management resulting from hot-desking, Flexible Space Before & After COVID 19 stemmons.com/
memberships, and the model of having more people than white_paper/successful-landlord-direct-flexible-space-
available space. Although these features sounded alluring, before-after-covid-19/
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