The age of the tenant’s market is upon us, and it does not appear the pendulum will swing back to the landlord’s side any time soon. This seems especially true with Generation Y poised to make its mark on the world of work and an economy that’s yet to fully recover.

Even if the tide does shift to support fewer concessions and greater rent increases over the next few years, 21st-century office design is rapidly evolving. Workplace blueprints indeed must evolve to keep up with current and predicted trends like green building, mobile technology and impending demographic shifts in the workforce.

Consider the changing officing landscape: Alternative workplace strategies are gaining the attention of Fortune 500 companies and bootstrapping entrepreneurs alike. The long-prophesied and once-criticized green building has finally gone mainstream. And an emerging mobile workforce—and the technologies that are empowering it—are transforming how, when and where work is accomplished.

As these and other factors converge on landlords, office design, whether new construction or retrofit, is becoming an all-important means of attracting tenants who need something beyond standard answers. And savvy landlords recognize the signs of the times and are willing to invest in what tenants want now even as they prepare to invest in the officing demands of the future…

…For the rest of the story, visit the July/August issue of Real Estate Forum.