Smaller commercial office buildings in suburbs push through the pandemic to find prosperity
James Grear is one of Walsh’s tenants in the Brookdale Tower in Brooklyn Center. Grear owns Thrive Youth Services. They provide home and community services for people with intellectual disabilities. Two years ago Grear had 4 employees, now he has 80.
“We’re growing so fast that we started in the basement and now occupy half of the 4th floor,” said Grear. “I felt like we took a risk during the pandemic, but the recommendations keep coming, they are not slowing down and we just decided to just move on.”
Walsh has found a niche with micro offices. Plus, he’s ready to offer small business owners flexible leases, reasonable rents, and more space as they need to grow.
“And sometimes they do two or three different kinds of business,” Walsh said. “But we’re here to give them a chance. I’m an entrepreneur, I started my own small office 35 years ago. And I think everyone needs a shot and I’m ready to help them and do this . “”
The pandemic has hit office building owners in different ways, according to Walsh.
“Well, if you look around, it’s interesting. Because when you look at downtown and the big glass towers, there’s nobody there. But in the suburbs and in the small businesses we’ve had an explosion of businesses out here. New businesses, Companies are expanding. “
James Grear is growing so fast that he is relocating Thrive Youth Services again, this time to a different FTK property in the Golden Valley.
“Oh my god, you couldn’t have paid me to have this happen,” he said. “No, never in a million years. I thought I would have to break down doors to find customers. But I’ll tell you, as soon as the phone rings, it hasn’t stopped!”
Walsh believes that when the economy picks up, small businesses will fuel it.
“Small rental companies that are the bedrock of our land and our business community are thriving and operating,” he said. “And because we have a good capitalist society, you can find the little niches that you can do it in. The small businesses will move and be nimble and they will fill it and they will grow. And that’s exactly what we see.”
What will happen in 2021? Denny Walsh is confident that vacancy rates for office building owners who focus on smaller businesses will remain solid.
On the other hand, commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield predicts that vacancy rates in larger buildings that rely on large corporations will be high by the second half of 2021, when more people are vaccinated and feel safe going back to work.