This Developer is Confident Workers Will Return to the Office

Marty Burger, CEO of Silverstein Properties, doesn’t think COVID-19 will dramatically alter the office landscape.

“For the most part, most companies will see the value in having an office,” Burger says. “You can’t mentor people through a Zoom meeting, and it is difficult to raise money over the phone. You can’t collaborate as well when you’re not all in a room together.’

That is part of the reason Burger doesn’t see a major reduction in office space on the horizon.

“I think net-net in the long term, we’ll need about the same amount of space,” Burger says. “I think it [the office transition brought on by COVID] may benefit the newer office buildings, but I still think tenants in Class B buildings will need the same amount of space.”

In fact, in some cases, it may encourage tenants to lease more space.

“I think that spaces will change, but it’s tenant by tenant,” Burger says. “There are many tenants who had a very efficient space and may need to have more offices now because they were too efficient.”

Some workers may not need to come back to the office. But in the vast majority of cases, he thinks they will be back.

“Some tenants will have realized that this work-from-home thing doesn’t work for them, and they will always need office space,” Burger says. 

But the return to the office won’t happen overnight. People will need the confidence to take public transportation, for instance. There are also childcare issues, among other things, to work through. 

But, when many of the employees at Silverstein, which develops, owns and operates office and residential projects in New York, came back, Burger said that they were refreshed and much more creative and efficient.

“The Zoom meeting is a singular purpose meeting, but when you interact with people on different fronts, get other things done and have an actual face-to-face meeting, you see how much more worth it is than just having a singular purpose,” Burger says.

In fact, Burger thinks Zoom fatigue is starting to set in. 

“People are getting sick of Zoom calls,” he says. “If you’ve been on lately, people just turn off their videos, and they don’t want to be seen anymore. It’s happening more and more. It’s just getting old. So the work-from-home thing has been a great short-term solution, but it’s not a long-term fix. I think you’ll see more and more people coming into the office.”

When tenants do come back, Burger thinks landlords will emphasize communication.

“We were already headed in this direction [toward more communication] before COVID,” Burger says. “COVID has made a lot of companies evolve. We were already ahead of the game, but more people are learning that you really had to be in touch with your tenants.”