Global Real Estate Search - Urbanization
Recently, I travelled with a multi-national public technology firm to evaluate various locations in greater London/Thames Valley. What struck me were many parallels between U.S. real estate and trends in the UK in major core tech markets.
I want to touch upon the importance of finding urban locations in both city centers and in suburban tech corridors.
1. Trend to Urban "Suburban" Centers
High-tech companies who evaluate potential locations in suburban areas do not want isolated business parks, green settings, or the workplace as its own destination. They want locations that are surrounded by area amenities, easy transportation access and nearby residential living. We evaluated locations in the Thames Valley and the choice was obvious for my client, Reading and Maidenhead were the urban locations that offered the best town center locations. As such, their real estate markets are faring better than the traditional "business park" settings like Bracknell/Heathrow proper.
An analogy is in the tech corridor of northern VA, Reston Town Center as urban location versus Loudoun County. Reston is a hot market because companies recognize if they are outside of core CBD locations, they need an urban fabric for recruiting and area amenities. An analogy in Boston would be the attraction of Burlington for software companies if they're evaluating Route 128. Or, in Silicon Valley, locating in downtown Palo Alto or downtown Mountain View versus Santa Clara or northern San Jose.
The implications for this are huge for potential landlords or investment players and companies. The large tech campuses in "greenfield" locations such as Symantec/Oracle/Microsoft outside of Reading, UK will continue based on sheer scale and size of requirements. But I believe many "suburban" locations will struggle to attract many high tech firms below the scale of corporate campuses.
2. Urban "Creative" Centers Outside of CBD/Financial Districts
We searched the Greater Paddington Station area as a non-traditional city location. Paddington is a hot market because more companies have determined they don't need to be in London City or even expensive West End markets. Paddington offers rail, creative rehabilitation projects and excitement outside of typical "core" locations. An example is Boston's Innovation District or SOMA in San Francisco.
Rehab projects are thriving and high tech companies want loft/industrial space with open exposed ceilings.
We see a fundamental change in the types of submarkets and real estate many of our high-tech clients want to locate in. Whether it be domestic or international locations, the same trends apply and drastically affect real estate search and workplace objectives for our clients.
Handbook - Greater Boston Real Estate and Facilities Strategies for Emerging Technology Companies
