WASHINGTON, DC-The Building Owners and Managers Association Foundation presented its second annual Thought Leaders Symposium, 2025: A Vision for Commercial Real Estate, Thursday evening at Georgetown University.

The topics under debate ranged from the topical (the ugly and uncertain economy), to the evergreen (USGBC’s Leed standards) to emerging trends, such as the diminishing space needs by companies.

This latter trend may be emerging but it has been building for some time as firms and building engineers have learned to be more efficient in their design and use of space, says Boyd Zoccola, chair of BOMA International and senior vice president of Hokanson Cos.

However, it has gained considerable momentum during the recession--and is moving even faster as the Internet continues to reshape the way people work.

“The demand for commercial real estate on a per square foot, per worker basis is definitely trending down,” Zoccola says. He points to two recent renewals in New York City, totaling some 900,000 square feet. “We saw the average of 300 square feet per employer drop to 200 per square feet per employee when the companies renewed.”

The Internet is the cause of some of this space disintermediation, he says. “A lot of law firms are doing away with their law libraries because research is increasingly being conducted online,” he said. With accounting firms, partners are using conference rooms to hold client meetings instead of hosting them in their own (now smaller) offices.

The GSA is another factor, if only because it leads by example, Zoccola says. “It is consolidating space, doubling the number of people in its headquarters.”

The trend is still new enough that many landlords have not properly taken it into account, Katya Naman, senior vice president at Lowe Enterprises and one of the panel moderators, tells GlobeSt.com. “However, it is clearly happening,” she says. “Telecommuting and job sharing are having an impact as well on space needs.”

A rule of thumb, she says, appears to be one-third of space once devoted to employees has been rationalized through telecommuting, job-sharing or new Internet trends.

“I think this will come more on landlords’ radar in the upcoming months as more firms renew or sign new leases at smaller square footages,” she says, adding that much of this will unfold on a location by location basis. “It really depends where you are and how healthy the local economy is.”