Having been in the office leasing business for over 50 years I have been asked on hundreds, if not thousands, of occasions to define an A building. My answer has always been the same – an A building is one that is owned by an A owner. Buildings like Rockefeller Center in New York, or
I recently read an article in a Costar release entitled “Flight to quality continues in Chicago.” For the past 50 years I have been actively involved in the Commercial Real Estate industry in Chicago and to say it mildly, I would beg to differ with this assumption. What is really happening is a FLIGHT TO
Recently there has been a great deal of publicity for Hudson yards in New York as well as Lincoln Yards in Chicago. While both have similar names, I have identified 2 contrasts. #1 Chicago has a variety of established office markets. New York has begged for ages for an alternate location able to provide Midtown
By Howard Ecker I was having a talk with a good friend of mine who is quite involved in the tech community and actually understands real estate from the tech point of view. Whether it be one click on Amazon, a Google search for almost anything or the instant gratification of booking something on Airbnb
By Howard Ecker There is a lot of talk these days about how important it is to take care of your employees when deciding on new office space, especially in regard to factors like the proximity to public transportation and lunch options, as well as the general comfort level of the office. While these are
By Howard Ecker A “black swan” in the business world is an unlikely occurrence that can either screw up your company or make things even better. An unforeseen event that has a major effect on your business, basically altering everything, positively or negatively. A black swan can change your business so dramatically that the real
By Howard Ecker According to a recent study I read about, leasing out flexible or co-working office space can be as much as 50 percent more profitable than leasing it out the more traditional way to a single tenant on a longer lease. But the same analysts that arrived at this statistic were quick to
By Howard Ecker Yes, it’s true. Tenants from the tech, creative and media industries leased more than 8.5 million square feet in “trophy buildings” across the country in 2017. That’s an increase of seven percent over the year prior. Examples: Spotify snagged a 378,000 square-foot lease in 4 World Trade Center in New York, and
By Howard Ecker Since our most recent election, fake news is, well, all over the news. It seems that everyone has their own perception about what constitutes “fake news.” Sometimes, I think fake news is anything that we really don’t want to know about or goes against our core beliefs. No matter your definition,
By Howard Ecker I’d like to change the game. Change how tenants and how brokers think about the real estate leasing business. Actually, how the world thinks about the real estate leasing business. My plan? I’d like to propose a bidding process for potential clients, and then let the best person, combined with the
