The first week of the New Year started off with three separate space planning sessions – all for different suites of office space. A critical component in the leasing process is to conceptualize and then to finalize the office space requirements – such as how many offices, conference rooms, open cubicle areas, storage space, kitchenette considerations, server room size and needs for special HVAC, reception area, specialty rooms, adjacencies for operations, and other critical unique needs.
This process is helped tremendously by having a space planner and / or architect assist in this effort. A “first pass” interview and “bubble plan” is usually part of the process. After this plan is reviewed and refined a second version is circulated to the interested tenant senior management for further refinement and edits.
Once a final plan is agreed upon it can be submitted by the Landlord to a general contractor for pricing. Upon receipt of contractor pricing the Landlord can calculate a lease rate that can make the numbers work for a lease – including any concessions that may be needed to “make the deal.”
You can see how important the space planning process step is in the leasing process – and starting off the year with three planning sessions with both Landlord and Tenant bodes well for increased leasing activity at the start of 2012.