Need more office buildings? Not likely, U.S. told

Chris Acheson
Monday, Feb. 6th, 2012

Summary: The Building Owners and Managers Association concluded at a meeting last month that the U.S., apart from special markets like New York, Chicago, etc., does not need new office space. This does not mean the office space market is doomed, but will see a demand to retrofit existing spaces.

Key Quotes:

“We don’t need another office building,” says Martha O’Mara, a symposium panelist, lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and managing director of Cambridge, Mass.-based commercial property consulting firm Corporate Portfolio Analytics Inc.

“Our traditional idea of an office space and the idea that as the number of office jobs increase, it will lead to an increase in demand for office space, just doesn’t hold any more.” The reason, according to Dr. O’Mara, is that most companies already occupy about 50 per cent more office space than they actually need, while technology has drastically changed the post-war work model.

Read the full article at: Need more office buildings? Not likely, U.S. told

A. Joseph Marshall
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Advisor
Savannah, Ga