Best investments to attract and retain commercial office space tenants

Recruiting high quality commercial office tenants to your building requires having a top quality product. Additionally, retaining the top quality tenants you have is equally important as tenant turnover can add to your property management costs while empty units eat into your profit margins. Recruiting and retaining premium tenants is in your best interest, and one way to do so is by investing in technological upgrades to future-proof your property. Here are a few investments that can keep you on the leading edge of property rentals and satisfy modern tenants.

Invest in Connectivity - Fiber Optics, Wifi and Cellular boosters

The faster your internet connection, the more attractive your property will be to potential tenants. A fiber optic installation provides competitive speeds and bandwidth. A recent report by Fiber to the Home Council Americas showed that installing a fiber optic internet connection increases property values by approximately 3.1 percent. Workers today are connecting to the internet through many more devices ranging from smartphones to tablets and computers. The Internet of Things (IOT) is also making buildings smarter and more and more components of your building and office technology stack will be internet enabled. It’s up to building owners to ensure internet access is available for all devices across Wifi and Cellular which means investing in wifi networks, cellular boosters and lobbying ISPs to drop fiber directly to your building.

Modern Access Control Security

Providing security for the tenants and their assets is one of the easiest and most effective investments you can make. An increase in the incidences of terrorism and crime has resulted in tenants favoring buildings that offer added protection without sacrificing convenience. Modern access control systems from companies like Openpath leverage smartphones to let you unlock doors, elevators and parking garages while connecting all these systems easily to your tenant’s human resource and employee directory services for synchronized user management. Thanks to high levels of encryption this technology is much more secure than traditional keys or key cards and helps building owners justify a higher rent with features and amenities not commonly found in older, less modern office buildings.

If you have an existing system that runs on locally installed software on a dedicated server in your building then consider upgrading to cloud based software and reduce your IT costs and Cyber security exposure significantly. Moving to a cloud based system also gives you real time reporting of access events that you can check from any internet enabled device and reduces the costs of server maintenance, software upgrades and anti-virus patches. Consider implementing a system that utilizes cloud based software. This kind of access control installation saves you money & time while greatly improving your security posture.

With smart commercial access control systems, tenants can download an app to their smart devices and use that to unlock doors instead of the more traditional cards, badges and key fobs. This is great for tenants who will never need to worry about being locked out again, and the cutting edge technology even allows them to enjoy touchless access. But not to worry because systems like Openpath allow you to choose from a couple of access methods so you can offer both mobile credentials and key cards to meet all the needs of any user or tenant.

With Openpath, landlords can administer the access control system remotely, allowing brokers, repair professionals and tenants to gain access to the building even when you can’t physically be there to let them in. You can also see who is coming and going in real time and control which parts of the building tenants have access to - all from a single pane of glass on your tablet or computer from the comfort of your own home or office.

Reduce Your Energy Costs

This is a win for everyone involved, even Mother Nature. By reducing energy costs you reduce your building’s operating costs, your tenants pay less and you reduce the carbon footprint of your building. Studies show modern tenants are environmentally minded and having a building with a good EPA Energy Star rating will appeal to their bottom line as well as their eco-friendly values.

You can reduce energy costs by making your building envelope more secure so it takes less power to heat and cool. Switching to energy-efficient lights and appliances will add to your savings. Smart thermostats and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems will see impressive reductions in energy bills.

Consider investing in renewable energy systems that provide power for the building and can produce energy that is sold to local municipalities. Wind, solar and geothermal systems can all help reduce the amount of energy you need to purchase and may even create a new stream of revenue for you.

Check with your local government to see if renewable energy is the right investment for you. You can also apply for rebates that most local governments provide to ease initial investments into energy-efficient measures.

Communication Is Key - Tenant Experience Software

Open lines of communication between landlords and tenants ensure issues are dealt with in a timely fashion. You can install a software communication system and amenity management system that allows tenants to connect to their landlord at any time. Landlords can communicate with tenants and have messages translated into other languages. Analytics help you determine which tenants accessed messages and log all communications for future reference.

Tenant engagement software can incorporate all these communication features while providing forums for tenants to share information such as ride shares or events. Apps can provide building information like floor plans and emergency alerts.

In an increasingly competitive real estate market, the Commercial Property Managers at Buttonwood say that building owners must look to technological advances to give them an edge. Investing in the latest technologies such as access control security will help to secure high caliber tenants.