#0064 - Ways to Accommodate Rapid Growth in Your Office

Confessions of a Recovering Landlord

One of the most desired characteristics in today's leasing world is flexibility. In today's podcast we discuss why flexibility is so important and why landlords charge extra for it.

Some companies are growing rapidly while others are shrinking-this is what makes flexibility in their leases so appealing. Companies have plans and may be waiting on that one big contract to be signed when, poof, it all vanishes overnight. In other cases, the new contract takes them by surprise and they have a hard time managing the growth. Flexibility, in some cases, is the difference between staying in business and failure. Much of the flexibility needed right now though doesn't have anything to do with whether the underlying business is going well or not. It's a function of working from home or other places, allowing people to live anywhere they like, hybrid working arrangements and employee reluctance to return to the office.

So, some of the ways tenants can achieve the ever-illusive flexibility:

1. Lease more space than is needed initially and sublet it out until the company needs the space.
2. Lease what is needed now and have a right to expand to a future date.
3. Buy a membership in a coworking space (extreme flexibility, but most expensive option).
4. Buy your own building and sublease out what's not needed. Non-renew tenants when you need the additional space.
5. Secure a very short-term lease (again, usually a more expensive option).
6. Hub and spoke model where the hub is an office but spokes are employees WFH or coworking.