ORANGE COUNTY, CA-Just like in apartment communities seeking to attract Millennials, common-area amenities are key to attracting and retaining tenants in today's modern office buildings, Joaquin de Monet, founder and managing principal at Palisades Capital Realty Advisors LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. de Monet will be speaking on a town-hall power panel during RealShare Orange County here next week and will be discussing office space from a corporate occupier perspective, among other topics.

de Monet says when he was with Arden Realty before founding PCRA, he used a three-pronged, holistic but complementary strategy to office-building ownership: an asset strategy, a broker strategy and a tenant strategy. From an asset perspective, the firm invested in upgrades, efficiency projects, and path-of-travel projects to modernize its buildings. From a tenant perspective, “We started doing surveys back in 2009 right after the financial crisis started and used tenant intelligence as a roadmap for retaining tenants. White papers show that for every 10,000-square-foot tenant you lose, you also lose $500,000 in cash flow. It's expensive to lose tenants, so you need to have a targeted effort to attempt to understand what they need.”

The surveys revealed that tenants want common-area amenities like Wi-Fi in the lobbies, a coffee bistro, access to common conference rooms, a yoga studio, good-quality food service, abundant parking and HVAC to run systems for higher-density environments. “All the things that would help create a better-quality common environment were what tenants wanted,” says de Monet.

Comfortable outdoor seating areas is another popular office amenity in Orange County. “A few properties have outdoor BBQs and seating areas and volleyball courts,” says de Monet “Lots of open, green space is also desirable. But it really just depends on the environment that the employees are looking for.

On the broker end, Arden used incentive programs such as an annual ski trip and pay bonuses to attract brokers to its buildings. “But key to really driving leasing activity with brokers is making sure there's a path of least resistance,” says de Monet. “Being perceived as a go-to landlord that people want to go to in order to get fair deals is key.” Shortening commission-payment turnaround time to 72 hours also resonated well with the brokerage community, he adds.

There is a difference between creative space and modern office space that fits more general uses, but amenities have their place in both types of layouts, de Monet points out. A. “When we think about delivery of an office building, offering modern, presentable, well-amenitized buildings is important to create a sense of community.”