Flexible Workplace Strategies for Corporate Real Estate

What if we stopped thinking about office buildings as real estate and started thinking about them as hotels? Jamie Hodari's $800M vision: I asked Jamie Hodari: What would you do with a sad, empty Class B office building? His answer? Scrap everything you know about office buildings. It's time to run them like hotels. Not just with concierge desks and fancy lobbies. With an entirely different operating model. Here's what Jamie proposes: Option 1: "Hotel-style productized workplace" Turn the entire building into a flex space where: • It's 80% built out already • You take what you need (5K or 50K sq ft) • The building runs everything for you • There's a GM, not a property manager • Every experience feels seamless Option 2: "Building nerve center" Convert lower floors into a powerhouse that: • Functions as the building's engine • Houses all shared conference rooms • Provides flex space for everyone • Runs programming for all tenants • Supports traditional leases upstairs This isn't about better design. It's about a fundamentally different approach. Most office owners are still playing the wrong game: Traditional owners focus on: • Marble lobby upgrades • Flashy building amenities • Leasing broker relationships • Asset management metrics • Rent per square foot The winners care about: • Operational excellence • Experience programming • Tenant service levels • Daily user satisfaction • Value beyond four walls The results speak volumes: Tenants will pay more for: • Less space they control • More services they receive • Better experiences for employees • Simplified real estate decisions • A building that works for them Here's why this matters: For Class B buildings with: • Location challenges • Dated infrastructure • Competition disadvantages • Lower leasing velocity • Pricing pressure This isn't an incremental improvement. It's completely rewriting the rules. As Jamie told me, it's the Malcolm Gladwell basketball strategy: "When you're David fighting Goliath, don't try to meet them on their terms." What has an office building done that you loved?

What happens when a company truly litsens to its employees? In 2020, Allstate (The Insurance Company) asked a simple yet transformative question: Where do you want to work—office or remote? The response was overwhelming—95% wanted flexibility. Allstate didn’t just listen; they took bold action. Fast forward to 2024: Allstate sold its Chicago HQ at a 62% loss, slashed real estate costs from $382M to $138M, and embraced a fully flexible workplace model. The result? Despite facing one of the worst years for the insurance industry due to extreme weather, Allstate’s stock hit an all-time high, up 77% since… going flexible. Key to this success is Lauren DeYoung Allstate’s “Workplace Futurist.” Under her leadership, the company has evolved once more: employees are now empowered to work from coworking spaces when needed. As Lauren puts it: “We need shared spaces for collaboration and training. But asking people to commute just to sit on video calls? That doesn’t make sense.” This insight shows how the workplace is being re-purposed. The office isn’t obsolete—it’s a strategic tool. For onboarding, collaboration, and team-building, in-person spaces are invaluable, cutting turnover in new-hire teams from 35% to 5%. But for focused work, flexibility remains supreme. The results? 📉 Real estate spending down by two-thirds (Read that again). 📈 Stock price soaring 77% to record highs. Remember: 10% of Fortune 500 companies are now fully flexible—while only 4% remain full-time in-office. The future of work isn’t about picking one model; it’s about blending both. Last time I checked Allstate is a Fortune 100. Allstate’s journey proves that by listening to your people and adapting boldly, any company can thrive in a rapidly changing world. #FutureOfWork #Flexibility #Leadership #WorkplaceTransformation

When people see a new alt.f coworking centre, the first thing they notice is the design. And good design in coworking isn’t about looking pretty. It’s about predicting how people will work 5–10 years from now. Because unlike an app, you can’t “push an update” to a real estate product. Once we build a space → it has to stay relevant for a decade. So when we design, we think about things most people don’t notice: ➝ Storage requirements shrinking every year because everything is digital now ➝ Chairs and partitions people will prefer 3–5 years from today ➝ How many lunchboxes really come in at peak time ➝ Whether creators will need podcast rooms or content pods ➝ How pantry and washroom movement needs to be planned for future density ➝ How much flexibility the floor needs for teams that grow month-to-month This is why our new Design 3.0 philosophy is a mix of: what people need today + what work culture is clearly moving towards. And it’s not just us. Coworking globally has been reinventing real estate in fascinating ways: ➝ Some companies converted old theatres into coworking spaces in the day ➝ Auditoriums, clubs, banquet halls — all redesigned intelligently to become workspaces ➝ We even experimented with a coworking cart, just to make a point: work can literally happen anywhere if the design supports it The world doesn’t need more “offices.” It needs spaces that understand how people work, not just now, but years ahead. #coworking #flexibleworkspaces #workculture

A major German industrial company asked me to benchmark their 35,000 sqm workplace transformation. Here’s how I did it 👇👇 A few weeks ago, I joined a steering group workshop for a Fortune 500 company reimagining one of its HQs. Think redesigned floors, open house concepts, coworking vibes — the works. They brought me in for a fresh perspective. What are others doing? What should we aim for? But as we dug deeper, one big question emerged: 👉 What does success actually look like? The team had done a lot. But their benchmark was still traditional: cost per sqm and headcount capacity. While everyone could envision a bold future — an agile “office cloud” where the whole company operates like a coworking network — nobody knew how to measure if they were on the right path. So I sat down and started building a framework. A way to benchmark their project — and others — based on ambition, implementation, and strategic depth. Let’s call it the Flex Impact Index™. 🔍 The Flex Impact Index™ — How It Works 1️⃣ Start with the goals Every transformation project should begin with clarity: what is it trying to achieve? Most workplace initiatives aim for a mix of financial efficiency, talent strategy, and innovation enablement but how much of each of those? 💸 Cost savings — Optimize space, reduce overheads 🎯 Talent attraction & retention — Create environments people want to work in 💡 Innovation & collaboration — Enable cross-team work and serendipitous exchange 2️⃣ Assess implementation quality It's not just about what you build, but the process how you build it. Success depends on execution — are the right systems, people, and mindsets in place? ✅ Tech infrastructure — Are digital tools an buildings enabling flexibility? ✅ Cultural adoption — Are people actually guided through the cultural change process that is needed? ✅ Stakeholder buy-in — Is Leadership, HR, IT, and Real Estate aligned and engaged in the transformation? ✅ Iteration & learning — Is this a one-off or part of an ongoing evolution? 3️⃣ Map the strategic model What is inside the strategymy? Is the company still thinking in square meters — or in access and networks? Do they leverage all the benefits of flex 🏢 Internal-only redesign — A more flexible HQ for employees 🌐 Open-access zones — Invite partners, startups, or the public in 🛰 Third-space integration — Use external coworking networks for agility 🧠 The key insight: Future-ready organizations don’t just redesign offices — they design systems. They combine internal hubs, open-access zones, and global third spaces to create a flexible, resilient, and distributed work infrastructure. It’s not about furniture. It’s about enabling new ways of working. 🚀 If you’re navigating a similar transformation, I’d love to exchange ideas. Drop me a DM or share your experience in the comments. Let’s build this out together. #coworking #flexiblework #ecoystems

Workspace strategy has entered a new phase. It is no longer about how much space a company has. It is about how intelligently that space is used. And leaders preparing for 2026 are prioritizing one principle above everything else: Grow with real demand, not assumptions. Because productivity is strengthened when space expands in alignment with how people truly work, not based on forecasts that may never materialize. Why right-sizing matters now: 1/. Start small and expand with data Space should grow only when utilization shows the need, not based on predictions. 2/. Protect cost discipline Lower fixed costs create room for strategic investment in talent, technology, and capability development. 3/. Support hybrid work with flexibility Teams return in different rhythms. Workspace must adapt to those rhythms instead of forcing new habits. 4/. Turn scalability into an operational advantage When space can grow or contract without disruption, leaders gain the freedom to adjust quickly. Adaptability itself becomes a competitive edge. A recent industry report shows that 59% of businesses plan to expand office space through coworking in the next two years. This confirms that flexible, demand-driven space strategies are rapidly becoming standard. A growing number of companies are choosing to begin with smaller suites or open-desk configurations, expanding only as more employees choose to be in-person. This approach protects budgets while ensuring every square foot serves a clear purpose. That is where WorkSocial | Shared Office Space | Enterprise Coworking (TM) supports forward-thinking companies planning for 2026. Start with day passes, open desks or a small suite. Scale to larger spaces and private setups when data proves the need. Expand based on real usage, not guesswork. Workspace becomes a strategy, not a fixed cost. Is your 2026 plan based on real utilization intelligence or on forecasted assumptions? How are you preparing your workspace model to stay flexible, scalable, and financially responsible?

A 400,000 SF office sat vacant for 11 years. What it became next is a blueprint for the future of office space. Not “back to the office” as we knew it, but a new value proposition that makes people want to be there. Last week I toured Vāry Space in DFW, a former IBM HQ that had been left for dead. They didn’t try to “save office” with fresh paint and a nicer lobby. They rebuilt the product around two things: 1) Flexibility Tenants don’t need a 10-year lease and a frozen floorplan anymore. They need space that can change with them. moveable walls that reconfigure fast layouts that flex from open to private plug-and-play furniture the ability to scale up or down without relocating The office adapts to the business, not the other way around. 2) Campus-style amenities About 32% of this building is common area, over 100,000 SF dedicated to experience. real gym café and full cafeteria touchdown areas privacy booths and quiet zones spaces that feel more like a college campus than a corporate box One moment made it click. We walked past the cafeteria mid-morning and it was empty. Twenty minutes later, it was packed. Nobody had to be there. They chose to be there. That’s the shift. The office that wins in the next decade will be the one that feels worth the trip. Flexibility plus amenities is the new moat. Tenants want optionality. Owners need magnetism. Distressed vacancy to experience-driven flex space is a real path forward. Video tour is attached if you want the walkthrough. Where else have you seen this model working?

CBRE has released a compelling 5-part series on the Future of Work, offering valuable insights for aligning workplace environments with business objectives and corporate culture. In Part 4, titled "Effective Spaces," the focus is on the necessity of redesigning workplaces to accommodate the shift to hybrid work. This involves moving from static layouts to dynamic, flexible, and human-centric spaces to enhance employee experience and productivity. The key highlights from this installment include: - **Evolution of Space Allocation:** A transition from traditional assigned desks to hybrid desk-sharing models, reflecting a preference for flexibility and diverse work areas. - **Enhancing Employee Experience:** Organizations are prioritizing the creation of engaging workspaces by incorporating physical amenities and fostering collaboration. - **Technological Advancements:** Smart buildings, utilizing IoT and AI, are reshaping workplaces by personalizing spaces and promoting collaboration through virtual tools. - **Strategic Co-Working Spaces:** Flexible office setups are crucial for supporting growth, especially for medium-sized portfolios, emphasizing the importance of workplace adaptability. - **Influence of Hybrid Work Models:** The shift to hybrid work necessitates a reevaluation of work practices, communication methods, and office utilization, emphasizing the need for activity-based environments and human-centric spaces. This series delves into the transformative trends impacting office occupiers, offering a roadmap for organizations to create innovative and adaptive work environments that cater to the evolving needs of the modern workforce. For more information, please see below and of course, you can always reach out. #FutureOfWork #WorkplaceTrends #ReturntoOffice #Hybrid #Remote #CBRE

Encouraging tenants to take less space could be the smartest move a landlord makes. In a hybrid-working world, the commercial property industry is still clinging to outdated tactics: encourage tenants to take as much space as possible, on the longest possible lease term, for the highest rent and lowest incentive/TI. Sell them what they dont need. But the reality for the customer has changed, and whilst the landlord may believe that these outmoded tactics are in the best interest of the investors, they may actually be completely counter productive. ➡️ Density drives energy. Whether it’s a buzzing café, a packed stadium, or a vibrant coworking space — the majority of people thrive in environments with life and activity. Offices are no different. A floor with 40 people scattered across 2,000sqm feels empty. Put them in 400sqm and suddenly there’s atmosphere, energy, connection. Less is more. ❓ Yet the system pushes the opposite. Financiers rely on valuation techniques that have not changed for decades, based on sqm leased x rent, with a smattering of covenant strength and leasing risk. Landlords are forced to comply with this 'system' - pump up the sqm and the rent. Agents are rewarded for leasing scale, not customer utilisation or satisfaction. Tenants over-lease out of fear - what is there's not enough space for everyone....? The typical result? Vast, under utilised spaces that drain energy and create occupier discontent, and which ultimately leads to downsizing or disposal of their leased space. This cycle undermines the very value that the 'system' was supposedly set up to create. ✅ Creative landlords are seeing this reality. By creating & curating shared amenities, designing for hospitality & providing hospitality-led workspace services, and offering flexible workspace options with real-time scalability, forward-thinking landlords are giving tenants the confidence to right-size — and creating significantly better-performing buildings as a result. - Higher utilisation - More vibrant workspace communities - An enhanced customer experience - Future-proofed assets that reflect how people actually work The future of commercial real estate isn’t about bigger occupier footprints. It’s about better-designed, more human, more flexible space that works harder for everyone. What got us here will not get us there. This is a brief snapshot of an article I wrote on this topic. You can read the full version here if you have 5-10 mins to invest: https://lnkd.in/gPhTpaNq #futureofwork