The office market is going through a reckoning — and it extends far beyond the big city skyscrapers and giant real estate firms that dominate most headlines. 

In urban and suburban communities across the country, thousands of older office buildings are losing tenants due to the remote work shift and the flight to higher-quality buildings. Known as Class-B office, this market encompasses more than 2B SF of properties in the U.S., and their vacancy rate has risen from 15% to more than 20% since the start of the pandemic. 

Many of these buildings are owned by small, private investors that tend to stay out of the spotlight — from family offices in D.C. investing their inheritances to startup firms in Phoenix scraping together money for deals. These owners don’t have the financial wherewithal to absorb losses and move onto other investments the way that big firms can, so when they put more money in for renovations, they are often going all in to save their properties. 

Bisnow’s news team spoke to 15 of these Class-B office owners across the U.S. and UK for this special report. They opened up about the rising vacancies and financial challenges their buildings have faced. They detailed the strategies they have embarked on to combat these challenges. And they told us why despite all this turmoil, they are not giving up on the office market. 

“I have zero fears of office becoming a sector that cannot provide for my family or my heirs,” said Justin Smith, founding partner of Dallas-based office owner TXRE Properties.