In Tough Leasing Market, Tech Stands Out for Landlords
With the struggling office market, landlords are looking for more aggressive teams who think outside the box of traditional brokerage and utilize a multi-faceted approach with a focus on technology.
HOUSTON—Office landlords are increasingly focused on technology and leasing assignments allow brokerage teams to highlight those digital capabilities. Specifically, Lee & Associates–Houston was awarded five new office leasing and management assignments last year with that focus in mind.
“Our recent success has been due to the depth of our team and the focus we have on technology and platforms for today’s digital marketplace,” said Robert LaCoure, principal at Lee & Associates–Houston. “We’re able to show owners how they can cast a wider net and bring in more revenue. With today’s tough market, landlords are looking for younger groups, and we bring that energy.”
Spanning across the Greater Houston area and ranging from class A to class B, Lee & Associates’ landlord agency team picked up the following assignments: 550 Westcott with 83,366 square feet, 4101 Interwood with 80,000 square feet, 1505 S. Hwy. 6 with 63,487 square feet, 16430 Park Ten Place with 110,408 square feet and 10101 Southwest Fwy. with 102,292 square feet.
And, that tough market has made Lee & Associates get creative with its approach, says LaCoure.
“With the struggling office market, landlords are looking for more aggressive teams who think outside the box of traditional brokerage,” LaCoure tells GlobeSt.com. “We utilize a multi-faceted approach with a focus on technology for today’s consumer.”
Lee & Associates teams have principals, directors and associates on each project, along with deep marketing and research support. The firm also launched a new property management group in 2019, which helped the landlord agency team secure unique opportunities by working hand-in-hand to deliver the best results.
“The bandwidth and support we offer allows our team to lease up buildings faster. From marketing a property to making cold calls and providing direct drop-offs and flyers, the team is all hands on deck,” said LaCoure. “In 2020, we will look to continue this success and positive growth.”
Conservative growth across the Greater Houston area continued to gradually fill space that was shed during the most recent oil downturn, according to a fourth quarter office report from Lee & Associates. However, despite the positive 1.4 million square feet of positive absorption during the last quarter, there is still a lot of ground to cover due to the negative net absorption of 3 million square feet during the last 10 quarters.
Statistics from a variety of reports claim a substantial increase in leasing activity, however, Occidental Petroleum’s sale and then subsequent 800,000-square-foot leaseback of Anadarko’s former Woodlands headquarters skewed leasing and absorption statistics. Like Oxy, many of the larger lease transactions were triggered by further consolidation within the energy industry.
Apart from the struggling energy business, the local office market appears to be exhibiting signs of growth, says the Lee & Associates report.