Danny Rice already is thinking ahead on what Central Florida's commercial real estate world looks like after COVID-19.

And the managing director of Colliers International Central Florida forecasts changes in the office, restaurant and industrial asset classes. In general, property owners likely will think about reconfiguring spaces to make people feel more comfortable, he said.

"Every business is being impacted. We all will make changes on how we operate."

For example, Colliers employees have been working from home as COVID-19 alters the working environments for virtually all companies in the region and beyond. And that's been an adjustment for the real estate firm's brokers and employees — normally accustomed to numerous social outings, from coffee meetings to dining out for business.

Here, Rice talks with Orlando Business Journal about his company and what he sees as three big changes on deck for the commercial real estate world:

What's it like for Colliers to work from home? Brokers usually are out and about, so it's been an adjustment on that side. But they're all very driven and motivated, and they like to solve problems with clients. We're learning technology very quickly like how Zoom conferencing works. You have to do it in fun ways, too, like virtual happy hours and coffees. People are getting more comfortable with these technologies. We're learning that socialization of colleagues is important through things like virtual happy hours. Four weeks ago, that didn't even exist.

What's the future of office real estate? First, we're all working from home. For many businesses, they will find success in their working-from-home strategy and they can reduce their office footprint. Others, it's a real challenge and it's not efficient. Everything is industry driven. If you're a tech company, you're used to a flex environment. But it's a big change for an attorney who's not paperless. Here's an asterisk: We're only a few weeks into it. Where we land isn't perfectly clear. There also could be changes to office layouts. Is sitting in close proximity to a co-worker desired? Are we going to build offices where people don't face each other? There likely will be more of a shift to contactless entering of buildings. Our clients are asking about it. Office space will be one of the more fascinating asset classes to pay attention to.

What about restaurants? Every restaurant has been forced to not allow in-person dining. Everything is take-out and to-go. You're going to see a lot of change in structure and how eateries interact with clients. They have to get creative. Some restaurants have paired to-go orders with Netflix watch parties. They want to engage with clients at home since they can't do it in their dining areas. There's been a pause in restaurant real estate deals, but people will want to get out there and eat, because everyone's been cooped up.

Finally, how does industrial real estate change? It will stay very active, especially for companies needing storage. And it will continue to grow as we change how we interact with retail through e-commerce. Perhaps, our supply chain will change entirely as the the global economy shifts in how we get our goods.

Source:  OBJ