"I think the whole definition of what an office is needs to be rethought," says Frank Mruk, associate dean for the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan. "The office may be ready for extinction--it's just a place to meet. We don't need computers anymore; we can work anyplace, at any time. Why do we have to meet in a building?"

Indeed. For graphic designer Jill Bluming, the idea of an office is more remote than the global clients she works with via Skype, Google Docs and Dropbox. Her eight-person creative boutique, The Creative Type, is completely virtual, with on-demand copywriters, designers and illustrators working from wherever they have a connection. "We are driven not by structure but by flexibility," she says.

Bluming utilizes a web-based reservation service when she needs a conference room for client meetings, paying by the hour. "The only reason I'd get an office is to use a conference room," she says. "But [without it] we have such low overhead, we can be much more competitive in our business."

People not ready to throw the office over find alternatives in workspaces that are shared with not only their own colleagues but, depending on the setup, other like-minded entrepreneurs or industry peers. Such is the case for New York architect Martin Kapell, who once worked in a 120-person firm. When he formed his own studio, he turned to WeWork, a scalable shared workspace. His initial consideration was affordability, but now he sees other benefits.

"I'm 63 and working in a space where the average age seems to be under 30, and it's good for me," he says. "We meet new people--it feels like we're all working in the same office. In a way, I don't feel that different from anyone else here."

And that's just what WeWork strives for, according to chief experience officer Noah Brodsky, who says the company took a lesson from social media. "Like Facebook users who share their life with other people--that has spilled over into the workspace," he points out. The company has 16 buildings in six cities, with plans to expand this year.

WeWork taps into a cooperative approach among people and even industries. Says Elizabeth Danze, associate dean for undergraduate studies at The University of Texas at Austin's School of Architecture, "I think there's more collaboration than ever and more recognition of interdisciplinary work … the ability to work in teams around a table or screen is important and won't go away."

To that end, she says, architects spend more time creating spaces where people can interact--and that's not always indoors. Outdoor green space at the office, whether a rooftop respite or an employee community garden, is an amenity that gives employees breathing room and creates a holistic, feel-good experience. "It's trying to address the whole person in the office--addressing their whole lives," Danze says.

A variation of that concept is at work in Chicago, where architect Foster Dale is readapting a former car dealership for a small company. The office will include an exercise room, a shower and bike storage. The plan also calls for a floor-to-ceiling movable glass wall that allows employees to work al fresco as weather permits. "Here, the indoor room shares the outdoor experience, and the transition from outside to inside isn't so formal anymore," Dale says.

Other offices are designed with flexibility in mind, enabling employees to move about, from personal workspace to testing room to collaborative meeting area. But breaking down barriers doesn't suit all. "The Physical Environment of the Office: Contemporary and Emerging Issues," a study co-authored by Matthew C. Davis of the University of Leeds in the U.K., suggests that the open office can impede productivity, with employees' attention and creativity declining and their stress levels rising.

"Some people can move from portal to portal and be productive, but that's a skill--and some people have it and others don't," says Seattle architect Jonathan Rader, noting that his job as a designer involves "cultural problem-solving" as much as solving for space. "I try to pull out from a company some of their cultural things--work habits, what they like and don't like--because that will determine how well they will work in the new space."

While some firms want to keep traditional layouts for privacy and prestige, others--particularly tech and media companies--choose open floor plans (with some phone booths for privacy). Rader looks for ways to create environments for clients with hybrid needs, such as a law firm representing startups, which opted for an open space that resembles the offices of its clients. "There are lots of ways to solve the problem and not to be too dogmatic," he says.

That flexibility is also behind the philosophy of Portland, Ore.-based HeartWork, which makes a colorful line of modern office furniture. "We saw changes in how people use space. Clients want to use furniture in different ways, with different spaces that support the different ways people are working," says founder and designer Karen John. "No one wants to go to an anonymous gray office anymore. They want design to reflect their culture."

Source: Entrepreneur

There’s usually a world of difference between b2c and b2b marketing. The former can be inviting, entertaining, engaging, and fun. The latter? Four-letter words such as dull and yawn come to mind.

But businesses that sell to institutions and companies don’t have to assume that stodgy and predictable are the only approaches. That’s something you can learn from Ashland, MA-based IdeaPaint, a company that produces paints that turn surfaces into whiteboards.

Started by two Babson College students in 2002, the company will exceed $20 million in retail sales this year, according to CEO Bob Munroe, and it has its sights on $100 million by 2015.

The concept is smart: Paint a surface and treat it like a whiteboard. No more standard 4×8-ft. boundaries. An underfunded school can refinish existing white boards and transform table tops into working spaces. Companies like Google can turn an entire wall into a collaborative area. And there’s potential great savings for the users, as Munroe claims the paint runs $4 a square foot, versus the $10 to $30 traditional boards cost.

That’s practical and useful. But … it’s still not fun. Munroe, who spent 10 years running Reebok North America and who previously did stints at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, was a CPG kind of guy. No wonder he gave the green light to consumer-style marketing.

During the last two years, shortly after he joined, the company has been aggressively offering samples of the paint. Sampling is common in some areas of b2b. For example, electronics component companies might offer engineers some sample products in hopes that they will specify them in a design. But for the most part, samples are something you do with consumers. Maybe that limitation is a mistake for many b2b firms.

“There’s still some level of skepticism because we are a new concept,” Munroe says. “At the end of the day, they say does it really work as well as a whiteboard?” A customer tries it, sees that it does, and then starts thinking of all the other places it could use collaboration space. Munroe says that the conversion rate from sampler to paid customer is well over two-thirds. “When we’re in a major business or education facility, if people like the concept but are afraid to pull the trigger, the thing to do is a test wall.”

IdeaPaint doesn’t stop with sampling. It is aggressive in social media. The company has a YouTube channel with users showing what they did with the product. IdeaPaint also ran a contest in which companies and schools could submit videos and essays about why they deserved an IdeaPaint makeover.

Next step? IdeaPaint is coming out with a consumer version of the product that’s easier to apply and plans on television advertising. Other entrepreneurs should learn that limiting your marketing tools means limiting yourself. Find what works and let your business grow.

Source: Inc.

Freeing people

Gone are the days when employees were tied to their desks. We live and work in a virtual world and small business owners should begin to look closely at ways in which technology can be used to free their employees from the old-fashioned office-based working culture.

Remote working

Many small businesses have already embraced the idea of some staff members working from home for at least part of the working week. There are plenty of benefits to be gained; lower office costs, increased productivity and improved staff retention to name a few. Obviously, employees will need to meet to exchange ideas, discuss projects in depth and to attend performance review interviews and the like, but the general consensus of opinion among employers and employees is that a blend of home and office working is a workable arrangement.

Of course, some people are quite content to come into the office to work. Working alone at home can be a very isolating environment which doesn’t suit everyone and others may have young children or other distractions at home which are not conducive to a productive working environment.

In the office

For those companies who do still insist on a more traditional, office-based operation, heavy investment in the work environment is becoming the norm. The modern office is carefully designed to make people feel comfortable, happy and creative. Gone are the rows of desks, whiteboards and bright overhead fluorescent tubes; instead the office environment includes areas designed for staff down-time with television, quiet areas and home comforts as well as technology.

Source: Freshest

Modular carpet tiles are simply another version of carpet broadloom. The 12-foot broadloom is cut and backed with a vinyl product that is about 0.25-inches thick. This has several advantages for the carpet:

It seals the yarns (the fuzzy side you see) into the vinyl. This binds the yarn to the back, making it nearly impossible to unravel and perfect for heavy traffic and commercial uses.

It creates a backing system that is much more durable than jute/Action Bac®, which is on most 12-foot goods.

Once the backing system is attached using heated vinyl backing, it is then cooled. Once cooled, it's processed through precise machines that cut it into exact 18- by 18-inch squares (the standard size). Sizes may vary with the manufacturer. Tiles are then inspected and packed into boxes, and then shipped for installation. There are two big differences between installing 12-foot broadloom carpet and modular carpet tiles: the adhesive and the grid system. Carpet tile's adhesive is releasable; once applied, it dries to the touch and will turn tacky only when weight is applied, making it easy to remove and replace. The grid system is a method of installing the tiles using mathematical layouts to keep them squared and perfectly straight. The tiles are laid out with chalk lines on the floor and then glued into place.

How does carpet tile perform?

Carpet tiles serve several functions in the flooring industry. They are user-friendly - most people can handle them with little difficulty. Modular carpet tiles also perform a unique function for commercial use: The backing system is created to take more abuse than normal. Due to the convenient size of the tile, it can be used efficiently in areas that need renovation. They are useful in covering "in-floor" trenches used to house cables and wiring, and in temporary settings, where they need to go down easily for a time and then be removed and used again. Water resistance in carpet tile is very high. Because of the solid vinyl back, water can (and will) channel around the tile, never penetrating into the backing; rather, water remains on just the surface where it can be easily extracted. Carpet tiles can be totally flooded with water, taken up, rinsed off, dried, and reinstalled with a good degree of satisfaction.

Who can use carpet tile?

Small, medium, and large businesses all can use this product. Carpet tiles offer beautiful borders and insets with no hassle. You can be very creative with color and patterns, borders, and even logos. In any place prone to soiling and staining, you can just remove a tile and replace it when necessary.

Size availability makes the quantity of modular carpet tile needed for an installation easy to calculate. Today's choices allow end-users myriad design opportunities, from a more standard aesthetic to one that is uniquely customized (using non-directional tiles or a variety of different tiles in the same flooring installation).

Source: Buildings.com

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the first way to creatively deal with the need for office space is to examine staff. Minimizing the workforce for my companies through independent contractor agreements, internships, and sweat-equity arrangements reduced the need for lots of office space.

Another great technique is finding co-working space, which are flexible and allow you to rent by the day, month, or year. With the increase of digitally-based companies, co-working environments can be great solution for start-ups that don’t have a big footprint and want to interact with other like-minded people. The key to co-working spaces is that they foster collaboration. FastCompany recently published a great article on the benefits of these types of arrangements.

Shared office space also is yet another great alternative to leasing that encourages collaboration and provides opportunities to share your ideas with others. There are dozens of way to take advantage of sharing office space with other companies. For example, as they’ve cut back during tough economic times many companies have more office space than they need. They are losing money on that excess space and are often willing to sublet the space. That is why companies like PivotDesk got started. PivotDesk was designed to match small businesses with larger companies that have more space than they actually need. You essentially get to rent a desk or a cubicle for a flat fee. The nice thing about the arrangement is that is can be done with the click of just a few buttons.

Actual shared office space companies are another approach. Companies like Regus have a global footprint that allows small companies to lease individual offices. This cuts down on the time needed to find space, set up internet, hook up phone lines, and maintain these services because everything is included in an office package. You have access to a receptionist, conference rooms, kitchens, and everything you need to just set up your computer and get started.

Another topic I covered in a previous post also can be used to find office space: bartering. The art of bartering is making a comeback when it comes to shared office space. Platforms like Craigslist give start-ups the opportunity to reach out to companies who have space and are willing to allow people to use it for a service in exchange. I ran across a great Craigslist posting recently in Philadelphia where someone who had just started a new counseling practice was willing to offer administrative services in exchange for free space. Depending on the type of business you have, you could also ask a client or vendor if they have excess space. Barter for use of a boat, timeshare or other asset / access you may have. Bartering is fun because it is only limited by your imagination.

Even though there are lots of options, sometimes you have to think really outside of the box. When I launched GetLoaded.com, I had a tough time finding space that didn’t require at least a three year lease. Also at the time, the cost per square foot for commercial space was very inflated. So instead of renting office space, I rented a house. It was ideal because I could rent the house on an annual basis at a much lower cost per square foot and the layout of the house was ideal for desks and a conference room table. This setup got even better when one of the programmers had to move from North Carolina. Instead of him renting an apartment I offered him the upstairs in exchange for a smaller salary. He took it and the arrangement worked out perfectly.

There is no one solution for office space needs and I encourage you to be creative when thinking about office space. Saddling a start-up business with a huge liability like a 3-5 year lease can be tough when resources are limited. Especially when there are so many alternative solutions available.

Do you have a unique office space story? Feel free to share it in the comments section.

Source: Forbes

In the late 1940s, psychologists Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, and sociologist Kurt Back began to wonder how friendships form. Why do some strangers build lasting friendships, while others struggle to get past basic platitudes? Some experts, including Sigmund Freud, explained that friendship formation could be traced to infancy, where children acquired the values, beliefs, and attitudes that would bind or separate them later in life. But Festinger, Schachter, and Back pursued a different theory that would go on to shape the thinking of contemporary prophets from Steve Jobs to Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

The researchers believed that physical space was the key to friendship formation; that “friendships are likely to develop on the basis of brief and passive contacts made going to and from home or walking about the neighborhood.”¹ In their view, it wasn’t so much that people with similar attitudes became friends, but rather that people who passed each other during the day tended to become friends and later adopted similar attitudes.

Festinger and his colleagues approached the students some months after they had moved into Westgate West, and asked them to list their three closest friends. The results were fascinating—and they had very little to do with values, beliefs, and attitudes. Forty-two percent of the responses were direct neighbors, so the resident of apartment 7 was quite likely to list the residents of apartments 6 and 8 as friends—and less likely to list the residents of apartments 9 and 10. Even more striking, the lucky residents of apartments 1 and 5 turned out to be the most popular, not because they happened to be kinder or more interesting, but because they happened to live at the bottom of the staircase that their upstairs neighbors were forced to use to reach the building’s second floor. Some of these accidental interactions fizzled, of course, but in contrast to the isolated residents of apartments 2 and 4, those in apartments 1 and 5 had a better chance of meeting one or two kindred spirits.

Westgate West as Inspiration for Pixar

Half a century passed, and the Westgate West message began to infiltrate office culture. Steve Jobs famously redesigned the offices at Pixar, which originally housed computer scientists in one building, animators in a second building, and executives and editors in a third. Jobs recognized that separating these groups, each with its own culture and approach to problem-solving, discouraged them from sharing ideas and solutions.

Perhaps the animators could introduce a fresh perspective when the computer scientists became stuck; and maybe the executives would learn more about the nuts and bolts of the business if they occasionally met an animator in the office kitchen, or a computer scientist at the water cooler. Jobs ultimately succeeded in creating a single cavernous office that housed the entire Pixar team, and John Lasseter, Pixar’s chief creative officer, declared that he’d “never seen a building that promoted collaboration and creativity as well as this one.”

Google’s “150-Feet From Food” Rule

Google’s New York City campus capitalizes on many of the same ideas. The growing campus already has a massive footprint, occupying an entire floor (and part of some other floors) in a building that covers a city block in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The elevators that link these floors are notoriously slow, so instead of forcing workers to wait, the architects built vertical ladder chutes between adjacent floors. Workers are encouraged to “casually collide,” an aim that echoes Jobs’ encouragement of “unplanned collaborations.”

When I visited the campus in March, my guide explained that no part of the office was more than 150 feet from food—either a restaurant, a large cafeteria, or a micro-kitchen—which encourages employees to snack constantly as they bump into coworkers from different teams within the company. Even if Google workers aren’t constantly generating new ideas, plenty of evidence suggests that they enjoy their work, and that this enjoyment feeds into motivation and eventually greater productivity.

Festinger and his colleagues were right to focus on physical space when they explored how friendships form—but what made their investigation doubly impressive was how deeply their insights influenced the corporate world’s smartest thinkers fifty years in the future. People with similar attitudes are more likely to get along, those with diverse backgrounds are more likely to generate novel ideas, but none of those interactions exist without the primary ingredient of casual encounters and unexpected conversations.

The key features that make for a collaborative office space:

• An open plan and other design features (e.g., high-traffic staircases) that encourage accidental interactions.
• More common areas than are strictly necessary—multiple cafeterias, other places to read and work that encourage workers to leave confined offices.
• Emphasis on areas that hold two or more people, rather than single-occupancy offices.
• Purpose-free generic “thinking” areas in open-plan spaces, which encourage workers to do their thinking in the presence of other people, rather than alone.

—

What About Your Workspace?

What office features do you think make for a more collaborative workspace?

Source: 99u

That’s changing. Finished concrete floors are showing up in ever greater quantities in schools ranging from elementary to university.

What’s in it for you? Are concrete floors right for your school? Here are points to consider, from those who know.

Areas for concrete flooring

Concrete flooring is ideal for most areas in schools, with a few exceptions and considerations. That’s according to Manufacturer’s Representative Ron Saunders, Saunders & Associates, Bluffdale, Utah. Saunders estimates he’s worked on or consulted on more than 60 schools during his 20-plus years in construction.

Concrete flooring, with its durability, aesthetic potential and low-maintenance requirement, is ideal for classrooms, restrooms, offices, and common areas like lobbies, auditoriums and hallways.

A consideration — some might say drawback — is that areas with hard flooring can be noisy. Saunders calls noise ricocheting off hard surfaces “sound slap.” He notes that auditoriums usually have sound-deadening panels on the walls.

Carpet can quiet noisy classrooms — it just goes on the walls, not the floors, Saunders says. Carpet takes much less of a beating and lasts longer on walls than on floors. Concrete, even colored and polished to a high gloss, is meant to take a beating, so the classroom floor is a good place for it.

Washable rugs, mats and cushions can replace the seating comfort carpet provides children in classrooms, while keeping the considerable advantages of concrete flooring. Rubber anti-fatigue mats can make standing on concrete floors comfortable as resilient flooring for cafeteria workers.

Vocational “shop” classrooms are good choices for concrete floors, Architect Mark Muller, Treanor Architects, Lawrence, Kan., says. And concrete floors are always appropriate for janitorial, electrical and other utility spaces – anywhere there could be wheeled traffic or other heavy use.

All these floors, classroom to closet, at a minimum require dustproofing with a hardener/densifier or film-forming sealer.

Areas not recommended for concrete floors

Muller suggests caution, however, in using concrete floors in school labs where students might handle acids or reagents. Concrete floors in art rooms where dyes and paints could be spilled also take extra consideration.

While concrete is ok for outdoor basketball courts, Saunders says wood is the best choice for indoor courts – but only because it’s traditional.

Kitchens are too spill-prone to make concrete a good floor choice, he says. Concrete is porous and soaks up all the liquid that gets spilled on it. Juices, vinegars and even milk can etch the concrete.

Water- and oil-repellents can afford some protection, but an impermeable surface like glazed clay tile is a better choice, he says. Even then, the grout needs a protective treatment.

Health considerations

The Asthma Regional Council of New England names concrete flooring as a top choice over carpet and vinyl for schools. In the group’s 2005 white paper “Health Considerations When Choosing School Flooring,” author and Certified Industrial Hygienist Frances Gilmore, MS writes “A number of pollutants that are associated with respiratory illnesses, including dusts, mold and mildew, are captured and can grow in carpets and then get released into the air. Vinyl is also subject to mold and mildew when water pools below it. Vinyl is also the most toxic flooring material to manufacture and to dispose of.”1

Gilmore gives concrete floors high marks for being better for health, lower maintenance, higher durability, and having less environmental impact than carpet and vinyl.

Maintenance

Officials in cash-strapped schools must weigh the cost of grinding and other concrete surface prep against simply putting down resilient flooring, Muller says. But eliminating waxing, buffing and stripping can save schools quite a bit of money over the course of a year, a decade or a bond-issue.

That’s a major reason concrete floors are increasingly attractive to decision-makers, Muller said, even though they may be more familiar and comfortable with traditional carpet and vinyl flooring choices.

“Be sure to educate your maintenance staff on that point, too” he added. “Some maintenance technicians are of the opinion that if it’s horizontal and doesn’t have carpet, it should be waxed and buffed no matter what.”

“We wanted polished concrete for the ease of care and reduced cost of janitorial work,” said Lorne Lemay, assistant maintenance manager at St. Matthew’s Middle School in the little Canadian town of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

St. Matthew’s has gradually replaced VCT throughout the school with polished concrete, since 2006. Areas include hallways, classrooms, band room and staff lunch room.

“There’s no waxing or stripping. We get ahead of the game with polished concrete,” he said.

One of the great things about polished concrete floors is that you don’t have to train custodians how to wax,” says Principal Gaylon Havener, Central Park Elementary School, Bentonville, Ark.

Havener’s school features colorful, polished concrete in hallways and lobby.

“A terrazzo or tile floor has to be waxed and has to be done by an expert,” he says. “You can’t just get anybody off the street to come in and wax a floor. We basically can get anyone off the street to come in and sweep and run a floor machine and our halls look great. The ease of care is a huge difference.

“We have over 900 kids here, a staff of 100, and probably 100 parents in and out every day. There is a lot of wear and tear on the floors. These floors hold up beautifully. We sweep them twice with a dry duster during the day and we run the floor machine and wash them at night.

“That’s all we do,” he said. “We don’t do anything else.”

Know what to expect

Make sure you understand what you’re getting in a concrete floor before the work begins, says David Stephenson, American Concrete, Springdale, Ark. The best way to do that is to have the contractor create a test panel.

“I had a school district superintendant who was paying under $5 a square foot, but who wanted a perfect $22-$23-per-square foot terrazzo finish,” Stephenson said.

“Instead of telling him right away I could do it, I had the general contractor pour a 20 square-foot sample to the same specs as the 80,000 square-foot slab that was planned.”

Stephenson and his crew then ground and polished the sample for the superintendant. They explained the process as they worked. Though it wasn’t a terrazzo finish, it looked good, Stephenson said.

“We went after it aggressively and exposed a lot of black, white and gray aggregate. The superintendant was extremely satisfied once he understood the process and knew what to expect.”

But no matter how good the job looked, Stephenson said, the superintendant probably would have been surprised, and possibly disappointed if he hadn’t understood the process and seen the sample first.

Environmental concerns

New concrete is usually produced locally, so you avoid the energy consumption -- and the price -- for lengthy transport of heavy rolls of carpet and boxes of tile, Muller points out.

Old concrete subfloors, stripped of worn carpet or failing vinyl, are already there. They don’t even take the limited cost of a concrete transport truck.

Since concrete floors don’t need to be replaced, they don’t take up space in landfills like other flooring types that have to be removed at the end of their service lives, or because of accidents – floods or spills for example. While many flooring manufacturers offer recycling options for their products, concrete stays serviceable for the life of the building.

Are concrete floors right for your school?

“I think our (polished concrete) floor – you know the term now is ‘pop’ – I think it gives us a lot of pop when people walk in,” says Havener. “It’s shiny. It’s bright. We have our logo stained right in the middle of the entry.

“People come in and they get a great first impression of the building. I think it changes attitudes even before they meet the people here. They get a good impression of the school.

“This is my 34th year as a principal,” Havener says. “I started out in a building built in 1915 that had oak floors. I’ve had carpeted floors, tile, terrazzo -- about every kind of floor you can imagine.

“In every building I’ve ever been in, if I could go back, I’d stick with this floor,” he said.

All these factors, from budget to appearance to environmental concerns must be weighed, Muller says. In the end, finished concrete floors are a reasonable choice, if not the only choice, for many school spaces – and definitely worthy of consideration.

Source: FacilityManagement.com

“I think I had the smallest office in the building, and I shared it with a marketing firm for the first year,” says Roth, who has since added four staff and doubled his Brandon Communications space.

“I looked at office space in North York and downtown, but the bones of the place made a statement about the business we wanted to be.”

Back then, Liberty Village was a relative unknown. There were almost no condos, coffee shops or restaurants. In fact, Roth only really knew about the area because of his father-in-law, developer Bobby Eisenberg, who believed the former industrial area had the potential to become one of Toronto’s premier work-live-playgrounds.

And it has, according to a new report by commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Ltd.

All those historic, brick-and-beam factories and warehouses that first drew tech and creative industries to the “fringe” westerly part of the downtown — Liberty Village and the area around King St. W. and Spadina Ave. — have seen rents, and demand, creeping up to within range of the Class A financial district towers.

“The challenge is no longer attracting tenants to the Downtown West, but finding space for the existing tenants who want to grow and those who are looking to enter the market,” says Masha Dudelzak, CBRE’s head of research for the GTA.

“Downtown West and Liberty Village are no longer simply low-cost alternatives to the financial core — they are sought-after office markets in their own right,” says Dudelzak, author of a new report titled Downtown Fringe Neighbourhoods Redefine Downtown Office Markets.

A lot of attention has focused on the downtown building boom — the seven million square feet of office space now under construction in the core, it notes. But that has overshadowed the shift to adjacent neighbourhoods, a phenomenon that has also taken place in markets like New York’s Midtown and Boston’s Seaport.

Back in the fourth quarter of 2002, the average asking rent in west-end brick-and-beam buildings was $16.12 per square foot, according to CBRE. As of the second quarter of this year, average asking rents had climbed almost 38 per cent, to $22.23 per square foot.

Towers in the financial core, by comparison, have increased 14 per cent in the same period, from $28.40 per square foot to $32.38, says the report.
“Back then, rents were cheaper because nobody wanted to be there,” says Dudelzak. “It was seen as far away from the core, there weren’t any amenities and it was pretty derelict.”

But what started out, in large part, as incubator facilities for small or fledgling companies have expanded to the point where, two years ago, the westerly fringe hit a turning point — vacancy rates in Downtown West and Liberty Village fell below those in the financial core.

They remain that way, with a vacancy rate in Downtown West/Liberty Village of 4.1 per cent as of the second quarter of 2014, compared to 5.9 per cent in the Class A financial towers, says Dudelzak.

As a result, developers have been amassing land for new office projects outside the core in what have traditionally been historic areas. But they are “unique buildings” with the right mix of hip and cool offerings to meet the expectations of these fringe-market companies and their largely young employees, says Dudelzak.

“Personally, I think the east is next,” says Dudelzak, noting that the Pan Am Games could be the catalyst for similar redevelopment of the few old warehouses and factories that have yet to be converted east of the downtown.
CBRE’s findings point to a pressing problem in the Toronto market as once-affordable office space in these fringe neighbourhoods becomes far less so, says Iain Dobson, who has authored a number of reports looking at issues in the city’s office market.

“We’re just not creating enough entry-level office space for start-up and innovative small companies. It’s a pressing public policy issue.
“There are fabulous new businesses starting up all over the city and they need affordable places to grow.”

Source: The Star