REoptimizer^® Blog

The modern office isn't like the office warrens of the Mad Men days, the cubicle farms of the 1980s or the wide-open spaces of a trading floor or a high-tech open office. Instead, it draws a balance between collaboration and privacy and leverages technology to improve efficiency and worker satisfaction. Here are the three must-haves for any new office space project that your company is considering.

Managing commercial real estate utilization is a clear benefit for the CFO since it saves money. However, your company's portfolio is such a large part of who you are as an organization that a smoothly running optimized one benefits just about everyone in the C-suite. Here are some examples:

One of the keys to running a corporate real estate portfolio is to have good lease abstracts that are readily available. This saves time and reduces the risk of errors. However, getting those abstracts can be challenging. Here are some tips to make the commercial lease abstraction process yield better results.

While nothing can replace a physical visit, technology makes site selection a faster, easier and less expensive process. Doing research at your desk before you go, and having data with you when you go lets you make more informed decisions more quickly.

For more and more tenants, a LEED certified building is no longer an option. It's a necessity. Given all that a green building can do for your business, it makes sense to spend extra time considering LEED options, even to the exclusion of other sites.

The trend towards more efficient office space continues to grow. Once, companies planned 250 rentable square feet per employee, with efficient spaces holding a worker in 200 or 225 feet. Some companies now operate with a density goal of 175 rentable square feet per worker. However, a combination of technological innovations, shifting client needs and more flexible working styles are making it possible to achieve much higher levels of efficiency. Here are the top three types of businesses that can usually shrink their spaces without sacrificing productivity or morale.

Your monthly payments to your company's landlords aren't as simple as they may seem. Typically, commercial leases require you to pay a mixture of rent and expenses. Calculating both parts of the payment can be a complicated process, making them open to errors. Given that, somehow, landlords are more likely to make mistakes in their favor than in yours, it is wise to periodically do a commercial lease audit and make sure that you're paying what you should.

A commercial lease audit is a detailed comparison of what you are paying to what you should be paying. Typically, the auditor will look at what is billed to you in CAM and triple-net charges and compare them to the building's actual expenses through the lens of what your lease says you should be paying. If the landlord is overcharging you, you should be eligible for a refund. Here are some tips to help you through the process.

Over the years, many companies grow a large portfolio of commercial real estate properties. Some are owned, some leased and some are big while others are small. Your portfolio could include office, retail and industrial sites in large and small markets. While a certain degree of diversity in CRE is to be expected even in a mid-sized company, there's a good chance that you have too many sites and that one or two (or more) can be easily consolidated. Here are some factors to look for as you review your company's portfolio for consolidation.