One of the challenges facing property managers and owners of commercial spaces is attracting tenants with stable businesses and have the potential to sign long-term leases. Unlike other business enterprises that can diversify their products or services to make up for revenue deficiencies, the income for commercial space leasing is entirely dependent on occupancy.
How can buildings for commercial leasing increase their occupancy rates? One method is targeting a specific industry or type of business and then providing amenities and features that attract those enterprises. Below are some examples:
Corporate Tenants
If you want to attract companies looking for office spaces, it would be a good idea to have a spacious room with smaller, adjacent rooms plus women’s and men’s bathrooms on the same floor. Such a layout can attract a startup that plans to create an open-floor plan with conference rooms, executive offices, and maybe even a pantry.
Small, thoughtful details can also increase the appeal of your commercial space. For instance, frosted glass walls for conference rooms are trendy and thus can be a factor that potential tenants will consider when choosing an office space to rent. Provisions for an automatic door opener and motorized window treatment like remote-controlled blinds, meanwhile, are value-added perks that can attract corporate clients with more generous budgets for overhead costs.
Other features that can attract corporate tenants are high-quality tiles (especially in the reception area), modern toilets, and provisions for central air conditioning and heating.
Product-Based Businesses
Businesses that sell tangible products have slightly different needs from corporate tenants. The needs also vary per industry. For instance, businesses that make and sell food products need spacious kitchens while clothing retailers and outlet stores don’t. The latter, however, need lots of backroom storage space for their inventory.
High ceilings are also attractive features for these businesses because the large, overhead space leaves more room for creativity when it comes to interior design. Tenants can, for example, build a loft floor using modular steel structures to create more space for additional display shelves or seating areas. They can then sell more products or increase their seating capacity without having to pay more for a bigger commercial space.
What If I Want to Lease to All Types of Businesses?
Targeting tenants from a certain industry is a good strategy if the market is the type to secure long-term contracts. If, however, you’re also getting inquiries from tenants from other industries, you may have to consider accepting their application if they are the only ones interested in your commercial space.
The key is to create commercial spaces that are flexible. If you want to have a broad range of clients and not focus on a specific industry, you must build spaces that tenants can customize according to their business needs. This means keeping permanent features like pillars and concrete walls to a minimum. You should also choose simple tiles and paint the walls with basic colors like pearl or with black or gray accents. You’ll want to show the potential of the space, but not waste money on finishes that tenants will most likely replace anyway.
Speaking of which, most commercial tenants will want to make superficial and structural changes in the space they’re renting. It’s a necessity for some businesses, like franchises with very distinctive branding. If you offer a contract that allows them to do so without having to pay expensive penalties, many will likely compete for the chance to rent your commercial spaces.
Other Building Features that Attract Commercial and Corporate Tenants
Whether or not you’re targeting tenants from a specific industry, you can be sure that all of them would be happy to rent commercial and office spaces that have these features:
- Well-planned emergency exit routes for fires, earthquakes, and other calamities.
- Well-constructed emergency stairwells for commercial buildings.
- Working elevators.
- Functional and well-maintained fire prevention systems (e.g., top-of-the-line smoke detectors and sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, accessible fire hydrants).
- Earthquake-proof construction.
- Security features like CCTV cameras and emergency alarms.
- Exclusive parking or special privileges in a nearby garage, lot, or parking building.
- Good acoustics and sound-proofing.
- Sub-metered utilities.
- Spacious basement storage that is exclusive to tenants.
- A well-kept, professional-looking facade.
- A sidewalk.
Tenants are well within their rights to look for commercial spaces that are fully functional, safe, and attractive to their customers. If any of these elements are missing or if they need to shoulder the costs, they might think twice about renting in your building.
