eolesen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 06, 2023 12:05 am
My downtown Chicago headquartered company just bought a second suburban office building that will be almost exclusively hoteling space. At 205,000 feet of office space, its equal to four floors at Willis, except it also has 1500 parking spaces. Its perfect for those teams who have people living in the suburbs and need face time one or two days a week...
It's nowhere near a bus route to a Metra station, either...
I expect this will become the primary model. Some of it will be caused by government partnering with certain developers to revamp Penn Station and create a new central business district. Isn't this going to force disadvantaged property owners to react? It seems easier for such property owners to purchase / partner with suburban office space to offer their lessee a combined city & suburban office space. Hospital and department stores have taken this approach to be closer to their customers; wouldn't property owners / businesses also benefit by making it easier for their employees to get to a common workspace.
Universities and Hospitals have their own transportation system, which these property owners / businesses could replicate. Many business already offer transport-related benefits with free car service for those that leave late, pay for business / 1st class air fares to keep their employees away from the riff-raff, etc. Therefore, shuttling employees between offices where they can continue to work seems like a win-win. There are posts on private bus services replacing commuter bus and an Amtrak competitor with anti-motion seating so it seems feasible that business grade of bus can provide a better solution that the mix of public transit and individuals driving into a congested city.
Before mobility office equipment, businesses were opening satellite offices where their suburban employees had access to hard-wired computer networks and PBX phone system. As this technology evolved, WFH started and Covid proved that vast majority of office workers can be as productive out of the office. With a global economy, the office hours extend well beyond the 9-5 workday. Employers being quite flexible helps as many employees need personal time as 9-5 hours exists for their children and their errands, such as dry cleaning, dentist, doctor, sudden changes in school schedules, etc. With suburban offices, activities that would have resulted in full day off or emergency need to leave in a downtown office become much less disruptive.
For public transit providers, the question is if they can still provide a viable solution for office workers. The commuting work week now only has 2-3 busy days. Without the former monthly commuters prepaying for the service levels, how can public transit fund it with a much diminished fare-box recovery from those earning more than non-commuters? Moreover, the office worker can be productive from their modern vehicle with a great speakerphone and driver-assist safety warnings. How many are scheduling afternoon conference calls to leave the downtown office early and have added to increase of road traffic?