“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Likely the last quote you will see on Entrepreneur.com, but one that rings true for property owners. Long term, creditworthy clients are catnip for commercial landlords, freeing up time and allowing them to amortize their costs over a longer period.

In the current landscape, buildings are filling up with people who can work from anywhere. More than 40% of the U.S. workforce is mobile, and the mobile workforce demands flexibility. Cost analyses on a per person, per square foot basis are demolishing the financials, particularly when companies (even large, creditworthy ones) are trying to justify upfront capital investments. The standard for workplace design has also graduated. The office is no longer just your desk and cup of morning coffee. Rather, the office is an idea playground for employees to come together.

Where has this shift in work taken us? It’s taken us into what we call the “flexible real estate industry”. I started working in the flexible real estate industry three years ago as a serviced office provider. I was managing a 24,000 square foot space in downtown San Francisco. Happy clients were abundant. And so they were raving about our technology, design, community events, and hospitality-focused team.

My exposure to the serviced office industry highlighted exactly what it is – hotels for office space. You have a Four Seasons, you have a Marriott, and you have the boutique hotel down the street. As wonderful as the Four Seasons can be, there will be a day that the hotel guest will choose to stay in a different hotel, even if the hotel knows your name when you walk through the door.

Why do we always need to stay in a hotel? You don’t! You can rent a private house through many mediums, aided by the rise of dynamic platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. Thereby, homeowners are now getting a cut of the hotel business. And this is happening whether hotels like it or not.

On the commercial side, serviced-office providers offer flexibility to companies in need of office space. These service providers seek investments from building owners to supply the best space, especially when there are high TI costs. Serviced-office providers are in the real estate game, and will negotiate hard to get the best rates to protect their margins. Where can building owners find value in the growing flexible real estate industry?

altSpace by LiquidSpace

altSpace by LiquidSpace is a new flexible office program. We created altSpace because we wanted to provide something equally useful for tenants and building owners. LiquidSpace has partnered with BVN Architecture and Allsteel furniture. We did this as a way to create a premium, turn-key office solutions. altSpace empowers building owners and brokers to connect clients in need of flexible space to vacancies in their portfolios. This all comes with the support of LiquidSpace.com’s powerful marketplace and technology.

The altSpace program helps landlord partners turn small vacancies into profitable, flexible tenancies. It also introduces enterprise tenants into landlord portfolios. The altSpace product highlights the latest in workspace design, introducing thoughtful curation into fast and furnished office suites.

Orignal post: https://blog.liquidspace.com/altspace-ready/