ULI Dallas-Fort Worth wishes to welcome and thank our guest writers from our Groundbreaker Sponsors:

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed every aspect of our lives, impacting social spaces, including the office, retail, and education markets, most drastically.  ULI Dallas-Fort Worth tackled this topic in their recent virtual forum on  “No More Out of Office: Adjusting to COVID-19 and Planning for the Next Black Swan”.  The program featured industry leaders including our Moderator: Don Powell, Principal of Boka Powell, and panelists: Lucy Billingsley, Partner of Billingsley Company, Kim Butler, Director of Leasing with Hall Group, Stephen Upchurch, Managing Director with Gensler Architects, and Steve Galbreath, Chief Development Officer of Garfield Public/Private LLC, all discussing how to prepare CRE for the future.

A balanced approach to the re-opening of CRE spaces includes listening to and understanding customer and employee fears and concerns, along with adapting successfully to change through the application of analytics.

Data captured from Gensler’s U.S. Work from Home Survey 2020 shows the to return to the office, but with the expectation that the office space will look and function differently. Rigorous cleaning protocols enacted, lack of communal desk sharing, and support for virtual work and accessibility to green space will be necessary to garner employees’ trust.

The future of CRE will mirror these changes and require pre-functional areas where patrons can be pre-screened for illness or symptoms. Additionally, future retail and commercial spaces will see an increase in touch-less/key-less technology and improvements to indoor air quality.

Author Credit: Kayla Choate / Jorden M. Dial of Joeris General Contractors