News
OPEN OFFICE
March 27, 2012
| Corporate schmorporate—today's office employees are said to covet conversation with colleagues more than the corner office (hey, ifThe New York Times writes it, it must be true. Usually.) Turns out that extends from the office buildings to the people who connect businesses with space for lease. Recently we dropped in on OfficeSpace.com's HQ to talk trends—and have a look at their own work pads. |
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| If your company is named OfficeSpace, there's got to be a throwback to the classic 1999 film of corporate frustration somewhere. Indeed, this poster is the first thing you see when you walk into the airy, light-filled loft space in the Northwest Work Lofts on Western Avenue, but inside the vibe is completely different from Mike Judge's fictional Initech Corp. CEO Susie Algard, a WhitePages.com founding team member and former executive, lists her office perogatives as a "hierarchy free" space where conversation could flow freely without restrictive cubicle walls. |
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| Sure, trendy loft space is the new cool way to house your company, but there is still a major selling point for office towers: "For larger users, there's not much space. That's why you see Amazon doing what they're doing," says John Heimbigner, OfficeSpace's regional director, pictured second from left, with OfficeSpace's Ben Curtis, Starr Horne, Algard, and Katy Heller. What's most likely to impact whether a business chooses to rent office tower space? Perhaps it's the commute, John says. Before they moved to the Northwest Work Lofts, OfficeSpace operated for a year from Issaquah because the principals all lived on the Eastside. |
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| Need a little space? Select your parameters and OfficeSpace tells you what's available (the software not only searches, it will also prepare a ready-made report for your next meeting, and if you ask itnicely maybe even rub your feet). Thanks to OfficeSpace's extensive database, we know that 16.3% of the Class-A space downtown—almost 3M SF— is currently available. Seattle's checklist for determining Class-A office space: Was it built after 1989? Is there parking and retail space? Most importantly, does it have a Starbucks? "It has to have a Starbucks in it," John laughs. "The more Tully's and Starbucks, the better off they are." OfficeSpace launched a new beta site for Portland in January (those hipsters get all the cool stuff first), including new strategies for connecting tenants to brokers/landlords. |
