Many companies are choosing to move their offices downtown and away from the suburbs. Lets discuss why this is happening and what are the advantages of the downtown location for customers, colleagues and employees.
In the past several years, a handful of North America’s largest corporations like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and even McDonalds have joined the exodus from their suburban headquarters and campuses to new office space that is located downtown, and millennial’s seem to be the driving force.
Yes, many companies chose to accept the usually higher cost of downtown space opposed to what they are paying in the suburbs, because they help attract younger workers. These workers want the chance to walk to nearby amenities and areas with a sense of place, rather than a generic business park campus or driving to a nearby shopping mall. This is also because these same workers want to be close to the condos that they are buying downtown, to be near where the action is.
Along with eliminating the huge parking lots (workers can be encouraged to use public transit and bicycles) and reduce their carbon footprint, businesses want to do away with security gates and the sense of isolation that characterizes many corporate campuses. Happy and healthy employees are good for business and customers recognize genuine happiness.
Companies also move downtown offices because it puts them closer to customers and colleagues at other businesses. One of Telsec’s typical serviced office space clients bragged about how their accountant is just down the hall (in the same office business centre), their corporate attorneys are an elevator ride away and almost anybody they need to see is within walking distance. So being downtown, you get a lot of great conveniences and you eliminate a lot of windshield time. There’s a lot more efficiency downtown.
As the corporate world abandons the suburbs and migrates back downtown, chances are if you are in a B2B (Business to Business) industry, you customers are also located downtown. This means there is no need to commute to meeting by car and find parking, you can walk, take a taxi or uber to meet up a client’s office.
Even people who run their business from home or on the road can see the benefits of having a virtual office downtown. Not only do they get the appearance of a professional address and a live receptionist (who can also sign for courier packages) at a downtown location, they also can utilize meeting rooms and day offices at a reduced rate when they need to host a meeting with a downtown customer.