Op-Ed, Commercial Real Estate, Bay Area
greg fogg
TenantSee Weekly: Knowing Your When

We see a lot of confusion in the market around when to begin negotiations.  It’s not an insignificant consideration.  In fact, when you begin can make a huge difference in the outcome.  It’s understandable that tenants would not know when to start.  Brokers are not always keen to start at the right time, since compensation is derived by transacting and the closer the tenant is to lease expiration, the faster it will need to transact (and the fewer options it will have).  Good for the broker, bad for the tenant.  This creates a misalignment of interests that discourages thoughtful consultation on the front end – the more time a broker spends on a project, the lower the compensation. 

TenantSee Weekly: Knowing Your When
Op-Ed, Commercial Real Estate, Bay Area
greg fogg
TenantSee Weeky: A Big Decline in Rents, Four ...

Throughout 2020, the prevailing sentiment among investors in the San Francisco office market was one of relative optimism.  After all, despite the fact tenants were prohibited from occupying their buildings, they continued to collect full rent.  The buildings were full, with vacancy hovering around 4%.  Sure, companies weren’t happy about paying for space they couldn’t use, but business was good.  In many cases the tech sector (which makes up most of San Francisco’s office occupancy) was booming due to an even greater reliance on and usage of tech caused by pandemic driven changes in how people were living.  Throughout the course of 2020 there was no reason for San Francisco investors to panic, as few (if any) office occupiers were showing signs of developing long-term hybrid or remote-first strategies.  Most were simply focused on solving for ongoing operations as a temporary reaction to the pandemic.  Yet early indicators did point to a future in which companies would be shedding office space, as some expiring leases were not replaced.  This, coupled with the addition of new supply, caused a big increase in vacancy to nearly 12% by year end.  Despite this large uptick, the brunt of the sluggish demand dynamic was being felt in the sublease markets, where rental economics more accurately reflected the true state of the market.  Despite a total closing of the office market in 2020, average asking rents ended the year off just 6% from the pre-pandemic high.

TenantSee Weeky: A Big Decline in Rents, Four Years in the Making
Bay Area, Commercial Real Estate, Op-Ed
greg fogg
TenantSee Weekly: Modern Workplace Planning: ...

In the years leading up to the pandemic, most medium and small companies defined their office space need based on headcount (current and projected), space programming, and industry/sector norms.  The exercise was mostly formulaic.  The primary differences in the offices of a small, regional law firm compared to those of an AM Law 100 firm would be scale, the cost of finishes, and the quality of the building and views.  It was planning for the same outcome, just at different levels on the cost spectrum.  Companies having a larger portfolio of offices would typically create a “workplace strategy” that included guidelines around programming (e.g., space layout, office size, critical adjacencies, growth factor, finishes, FF&E, etc.).  These guidelines could then be used to inform the real estate process across geography.

TenantSee Weekly: Modern Workplace Planning: Solving for Experience Part I: The Purpose
Bay Area, Commercial Real Estate, Op-Ed
greg fogg
TenantSee Weekly: This, or That?

Negotiations are always about (or should always be about) this or that.  There’s always something else, maybe that something else is nothing (as in sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all).  Decisions made without proper consideration of all relevant alternative scenarios are decisions made poorly.  As important, in the context of office lease negotiations, the best negotiated outcomes are directly correlated to the extent to which we understand the alternatives of the landlord counterparty.  This is a bit counter intuitive, allow us to explain. 

TenantSee Weekly: This, or That?
Bay Area, Commercial Real Estate, Op-Ed
greg fogg
TenantSee Weekly: I Digress...

A little AI distraction to cheer your day (and relieve us of yet another discussion about workplace). Ever wandered through the streets and felt like you've stepped into the future? With their undeniable presence here in San Francisco, the driverless car is quickly becoming the most prominent representation of AI in our daily lives. If you spend any time in San Francisco neighborhoods, you can’t miss them. The other day, as I chatted with a neighbor, I counted 6 autonomous vehicles casually cruise by our front door within a span of 10 minutes. Intriguing, right? And today, in a twist of irony, I was held up by one. Blocked by a double-parked UPS truck, the driverless car hesitated, unsure about navigating into the lane of oncoming traffic. Of course, all the drivers in the opposing lane weren’t too keen to make space for the driverless car, as one normally would (or at least the more decent among us would) for a human-driven vehicle. Hence, we waited.

TenantSee Weekly: I Digress...

#futureofworkplace

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TenantSee Weekly: Modern Workplace Planning: Solving for Experience Part II: Budget and Schedule

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TenantSee Weekly: Modern Workplace Planning: Solving for Experience Part II: Budget and Schedule

Last week we established the importance of defining “the purpose” behind your workplace, especially those elements of the workplace which are expressed through physical spaces.  This is the first (and vitally important) step companies must take before they begin a real estate process (e.g., the process of acquiring space).  Once established, the next step is to think carefully about budget and schedule.  These considerations, much like the discussion of purpose, are greatly aided by working closely with your real estate advisor.  Here, again, companies must shift how they think about the engagement of real estate advisory services.  Having the right real estate partner on board from the very beginning facilitates access to critical data and insights.  The process of properly defining the budget and schedule are both areas in which the advisor can play a key role. 

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TenantSee Weekly: Modern Workplace Planning: Solving for Experience Part I: The Purpose

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TenantSee Weekly: Modern Workplace Planning: Solving for Experience Part I: The Purpose

In the years leading up to the pandemic, most medium and small companies defined their office space need based on headcount (current and projected), space programming, and industry/sector norms.  The exercise was mostly formulaic.  The primary differences in the offices of a small, regional law firm compared to those of an AM Law 100 firm would be scale, the cost of finishes, and the quality of the building and views.  It was planning for the same outcome, just at different levels on the cost spectrum.  Companies having a larger portfolio of offices would typically create a “workplace strategy” that included guidelines around programming (e.g., space layout, office size, critical adjacencies, growth factor, finishes, FF&E, etc.).  These guidelines could then be used to inform the real estate process across geography.

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TenantSee Weekly: The Great Reset and Rent

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TenantSee Weekly: The Great Reset and Rent

The so called “capital stack”, the money investors and lenders have put into an office building investment, has recently been the subject of much discussion in markets like San Francisco.  In many cases, the stack is broken, meaning the investor has lost all its equity and the value of the lender’s position is compromised, as well.  We’ve reached a point at which these financial partners have concluded there is no path forward for the investment, leaving only one option:  sell.  This is how the Great Reset begins.  It’s exemplified in the sale of buildings like 350 California Street, an asset that would have traded in the $800/sf+ range prior to the pandemic, but which traded in the $250/sf range this year. 

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TenantSee Weekly: Wayne Gretzky and the Young Generation

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TenantSee Weekly: Wayne Gretzky and the Young Generation

Wayne Gretzky attributed his success, in part, to his ability to “…skate to where the puck is going, not where it’s been”. This was among the skills that made him a great hockey player.  This same skill can help companies and individuals be more successful in business.  Yet it’s not what comes natural to us.  Have you seen young children play hockey, soccer, or similar sports?  A child’s first instinct is to go where the puck or the ball is, resulting in a highly ineffective throng of players.  In business, it can also be hard to go where others are not.  It requires instinct, thorough analysis and understanding of a market; and, most importantly, confidence to stay the course. 

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TenantSee Weekly: Reconnecting Work to Place

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TenantSee Weekly: Reconnecting Work to Place

Lately I’ve been contemplating Enrico Morreti’s 2012 book “The New Geography of Jobs”.  In it, Morreti makes the case that urban winners and losers are determined, in large part, based on the extent of geographic concentrations of high-tech employment.  San Francisco was perhaps the most prominent example of the thriving economic ecosystems that can emerge when tech employment is aggregated in one region.  I believe Morreti’s core thesis remains correct.  But his ecosystems are more fragile than we may have anticipated.  In fact, it seems they can unravel in much less time than they took to build. 

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TenantSee Weekly: Social Facilitation

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TenantSee Weekly: Social Facilitation

Here’s how ChatGPT defines social facilitation: “Social facilitation is a psychological phenomenon that refers to the influence of the presence of others on an individual's performance of a task. It describes how the mere presence of other people, whether they are spectators, colleagues, or competitors, can affect an individual's behavior and performance.”  In 1898, Indiana University’s Norman Triplett studied cyclists to determine differences in performance when racing other humans vs. the clock.  He found, “…bodily presence of another contestant participating simultaneously in the race serves to liberate latent energy not ordinarily available…”  I’ve experienced my own version of this in training for and running marathons.  Without fail, I was always able to run faster and farther when in the presence of others.  It turns out we have the capacity to do better, to do more, but reaching that next level is not easily accomplished alone.

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TenantSee Weekly: Can We Talk About Work?

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TenantSee Weekly: Can We Talk About Work?

Can We Talk About Work?

Have you noticed that people are very passionate about work?  Not necessarily about what they do as much as how and where they do it.  These days, talking about work has become a bit like talking about politics or religion.  This is especially true in the world of social media, even in the tamer waters of LinkedIn, where if you post about the benefits of working in an office, or you appear curious about the longer-range impacts of remote work, you will most certainly be attacked.  The attack comes from people vehemently opposed to return to office mandates, really to any concept of work that does not permit the employee a wide range of freedom in deciding where and when to work.  Some of them have financial interests in shifting work patterns, for example as purveyors of coworking solutions.  Others are anti-establishment, with echoes of the Occupy movement.  The more reasonable voices in favor of remote work are academics like Nick Bloom.  They conduct research and study work patterns, adding valuable balance to the discussion.

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TenantSee Weekly: It's About Trust

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TenantSee Weekly: It's About Trust

Getting More for Less.

Companies aren’t families.  The employer/employee relationship is governed more by economics (math) than trust.  This is at the heart of the ongoing struggle between employers and employees over return to office and asynchronous work.  Let us explain.
 

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TenantSee Weekly: The Lingering Fog of a Bull Market

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TenantSee Weekly: The Lingering Fog of a Bull Market

The Lingering Fog of a Bull Market.
 
Advisors on the right side of a bull market end up looking good, no matter what they do.  This was certainly the case for landlord advisors in the San Francisco office market for the ~10 years leading up to the pandemic, a time when you could win for losing, as the deal you failed to make was often (quickly) replaced by a new deal at better rental economics due to rapidly appreciating rents.  Today, both landlord advisors and the investors they advise are, in some cases, suffering from the lingering effects of the bull market.

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TenantSee Weeky: It's Not Really About the Office

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TenantSee Weeky: It's Not Really About the Office

It’s Not Really About the Office
 
We’re experiencing a behavioral shift which is changing one of the most pervasive social institutions of our time; namely, how, and where white-collar workers work.  Few societal constructs impact individuals, or society, as much as where and how we work.  The collective dialogue about this change, especially between employer and employee, has at times been challenging.  However, we’re now entering a more hopeful phase of the conversation, one which promises to finally move us to a new place, letting go of the idea that we must revert to pre-pandemic norms.

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TenantSee Weekly: The Artificial Floor

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TenantSee Weekly: The Artificial Floor

Currently, there’s a lot of downward pressure on rental rates in the San Francisco office market.  This is caused by a massive uptick in available space  (4% to over 30+%), the proliferation of subleases in which the sublandlord is motivated to mitigate cost, not achieve target NOI, and the presence of owners having a materially lower cost basis, either through a long-term hold strategy, or a recent acquisition at steeply discounted pricing, both of whom can compete at much lower rental economics.  Indeed, the economics being offered by these parties stands in stark contrast to those offered by landlords who bought or refinanced in the years running up to the pandemic.  This latter category, by the way, encompasses a large swath of the market.  These investors are struggling against a confluence of factors, including rising interest rates, maturing debt, rising insurance costs, decreased demand, lack of capital, and valuation outcomes that put equity and debt underwater. 

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TenantSee Weekly: Meet WALT

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TenantSee Weekly: Meet WALT

WALT, or weighted average lease term, is an essential metric in the valuation of office buildings as it forecasts the stability of future cash flow.  WALT was less important back when office markets like San Francisco were seeing aggressive year over year rent growth.  Back then vacancy was worth more than leased space, the theory being a buyer could take advantage of vacant space to capture higher rent (necessary to justify inflated pricing which baked in aggressive rent growth assumptions).  However, in the broader historical context of valuation, the idea that vacancy is worth more than occupancy is antithetical to defining value.  Indeed, the more prevalent (and logical) approach to value hinges on the quality and duration of the net operating income.  Of course, this approach is less sexy as it disables a seller’s capacity to “sell the dream”.  The buyer is buying stability and yield, both of which are measurable going in.   

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TenantSee Weekly: How to Protect From Landlord Default?

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TenantSee Weekly: How to Protect From Landlord Default?

Office building owners are facing the most challenging environment of the past 50 years due to substantial reductions in demand for space.  The shift in demand is not cyclical; it’s a systemic shift caused by changes in how work is done in the information economy.  In other words, investors can’t count on a swift reversion to the norm.  This dynamic is playing out globally.  There are geographic differences, but the fundamental trend is the same.  The impact on office investors has been swift and brutal, leaving many in a precarious financial position.

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TenantSee Weekly: Sublease, Terminate, or Restructure

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TenantSee Weekly: Sublease, Terminate, or Restructure

Subleasing is the most common approach occupiers take in mitigating the cost of underutilized space.  Yet in San Francisco, it has become increasingly difficult to sublease office space.  With recoveries ranging from 0 to 25%, companies must consider the full spectrum of options.  Remember, too, sublease recoveries can be expensive to execute (fees and concessions); and, in subleasing, the occupier takes on a variety of risks that can prove costly (e.g., subtenant default). 

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TenantSee Weekly: Knowledge, Leverage, and Opaque Markets

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TenantSee Weekly: Knowledge, Leverage, and Opaque Markets

An office lease is a unique financial transaction.  While supply data is widely available, the values associated with completed leases are not so readily available, nor is the financial position of the landlord and its partners.  In effect, despite the preponderance of available data in residential markets (e.g., Zillow, etc.), office markets remain opaque.  The educated occupier can certainly access more information today than in decades past. But it’s not enough to merely know available spaces. Achieving a complete understanding of the markets can only be accomplished by partnering with a firm which is engaged in the market in a variety of very specific contexts.  You need an intimate understanding of landlord motivations, capital structures, and even the intricate dynamics of tenants within a building. Yet many real estate service firms don’t have this information because they lack the practice groups. 

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TenantSee Weekly: I Digress...

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TenantSee Weekly: I Digress...

A little AI distraction to cheer your day (and relieve us of yet another discussion about workplace). Ever wandered through the streets and felt like you've stepped into the future? With their undeniable presence here in San Francisco, the driverless car is quickly becoming the most prominent representation of AI in our daily lives. If you spend any time in San Francisco neighborhoods, you can’t miss them. The other day, as I chatted with a neighbor, I counted 6 autonomous vehicles casually cruise by our front door within a span of 10 minutes. Intriguing, right? And today, in a twist of irony, I was held up by one. Blocked by a double-parked UPS truck, the driverless car hesitated, unsure about navigating into the lane of oncoming traffic. Of course, all the drivers in the opposing lane weren’t too keen to make space for the driverless car, as one normally would (or at least the more decent among us would) for a human-driven vehicle. Hence, we waited.

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TenantSee Weekly: Q2 2023 The Tenant's Perspective

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TenantSee Weekly: Q2 2023 The Tenant's Perspective

Occupiers continue to add sublease space to an already saturated market, and to downsize their occupancy requirement at lease expiration.  Market participants, including investors, are now accepting as fact the new ways of using office space will result in less demand for their product.  During the first couple of years of the pandemic, investors, enjoying record high levels of occupancy and strong cash flow, naturally chose to believe in a future narrative that included a rebound to 2019 demand levels.  Their optimistic (if not realistic) outlook had them waking up in 2023 with 7m to 10m square feet of demand and 4% vacancy.  But it’s now clear this is not how things are playing out. 

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TenantSee Weekly: A Game of Confidence

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TenantSee Weekly: A Game of Confidence

Commercial real estate, in all its many facets, has always been a confidence game.  Developers make big financial bets their building will lease as they and their investors spend millions of dollars to build it.  Then, they confidently sell the product, pitching its values to prospective occupiers against the backdrop of fluid markets.  Ideally, they’ve underwritten the market correctly and it moves in their direction, meaning supply of comparable space diminishes, making the product more valuable.  But sometimes the market is moving away from them, forcing them to maintain their confidence despite dwindling prospects for success.

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TenantSee Weekly: Pandora's Office: Part IV - Wearable Work

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TenantSee Weekly: Pandora's Office: Part IV - Wearable Work

Today, we examine the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation in the workplace.  AI will have broad impacts on work in the information economy, both in how and where work is done.  While it's true AI and automation could lead to significant job displacement, it’s also true that AI will create new jobs.  Studies suggest that AI will affect job transformation more than destroying jobs, altogether. It automates parts of jobs, not whole jobs. The nature of some roles may change, requiring a focus on skills that AI can't replicate – creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and complex problem-solving.  For those at the top of the food chain, this shift will make jobs more strategic and rewarding, enhancing employee engagement and productivity.  Yet jobs at the lower end of the white-collar spectrum will be susceptible to displacement.

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TenantSee Weekly: Pandora's Office: Part III - Decoding Productivity

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TenantSee Weekly: Pandora's Office: Part III - Decoding Productivity

Productivity. The backbone of a company’s success. For decades, productivity has served as a key determinant of growth and profitability. Measuring productivity, however, is a different beast. Amid the shift towards remote working, understanding productivity dynamics in both office-based and work-from-home environments has become increasingly pertinent.  Unfortunately, the idea of productivity has become one of the battle grounds on which the fight over RTO is being waged.  Too often, companies and employees point to misleading and/or ill-defined measures of productivity as evidence their view is right.  It’s important to be fact-based and sober in assessing productivity.