Work from home was supposed to be a death sentence for the sprawling, amenity-soaked office complexes. Instead, New York City office investors are doubling down and offering even more ways to play in hopes of putting butts back into Aeron chairs.
Some are now allowing employees to utilize individual building amenities across their company’s entire global office portfolio.
“One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen is from space-level marketing to campus-level marketing,” said Nick Romito, Founder and CEO of VTS, a commercial listing service that provides data and office management technology. “If you are their tenant, you are now offered access to the rest of the portfolio — and it will be the norm.”
The concept was started by Tishman Speyer at Rockefeller Center, which has a suite of amenities that are accessible to all tenants located throughout the complex, according to Bill Montana, senior managing director of Savills.
Tishman Speyer is also among those that have layered on apps — theirs is called “ZO” — that allow workers to access amenities from yoga classes to meeting spaces.
These apps have become the electronic passports to many of the city’s towers, from opening front doors to booking conference space, partaking in a beekeeping class or food delivery — with most adding discounts for both their tenant retailers and other local businesses.
Taking it a step further, office workers at any of Tishman Speyer’s 41 buildings around the world will now have reciprocal access to its clubhouses, amenities, co-working space Studio and experiences in New York, Seattle, Chicago, DC, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as eight international locations including Brazil, France and England.
“It is a brutally competitive environment with over 90 million square feet for rent,” said Michael Cohen, president of Williams Equities of Manhattan’s available space. “Every investor and landlord has to be looking at their properties and saying, ‘What can I do to tip the scales in my favor?’ ”
That’s why extending the now essential hospitality vibe throughout their portfolios is a natural and necessary leap for many owners.
“The No. 1 requested amenity through all industries is social gathering,” said Matt Astrachan, vice chairman of JLL.
For example, Vornado Realty Trust turned 160,000 square feet of public space at Penn 1 into hospitality central. The 2.1 million-square-foot project also has giant “social” staircases that face equally large flat screens for stadium-like sports watching, along with a multitude of restaurants, wellness, fitness, co-working, conference spaces and a library with a fireplace — and nearly all open to the public.
“Imagine being at a sales conference in a hotel and you get up, go out of your room and go to the amenity areas of the hotel and workout and see colleagues and then at 10 a.m., you’d go to your meeting,” said Astrachan. “They are milling about in the common areas and then go up to their office and work for the day.”
To get access, food delivery or reserve conference spaces in the Penn or Midtown buildings in Vornado’s portfolio, tenants use the company’s “WorkLife Live.Work.Do” app, which also provides parking perks.
A similar plan is on tap at the upcoming Penn 2, where it has added a “bustle” that holds an additional 100,000 square feet with double-height ceilings for a 280-person town hall along with lounges and amenities throughout — plus a 17,000-square-foot roof deck with an indoor pavilion for all tenants. Madison Square Garden will move to 400,000 square feet of offices on the top floors.
Vornado’s Penn 15, a 2.8 million-square-foot skyscraper, is still on the drawing boards, but is intended to raise the roof with a dramatic lobby and terraces.
Nearby, the Empire State Realty Trust, which owns the Empire State Building, is investing in its other area properties to create a campus-like environment. At 1400 Broadway, an upcoming meeting space will accommodate 125 people and can be used by tenants in its other buildings including 1333, 1350 and 1359 Broadway.
A new rooftop amenity at 1333 Broadway with its own entrance on West 36th Street will also be open to all the tenants in all the buildings as well — and will have a spectacular view of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, said Anthony Malkin, chief executive of ESRT.
They are not alone. When an uptown girl needs to adjust a presentation fast when downtown, Silverstein Properties now has flexible workspace at 120 Broadway or 7 World Trade Center bookable with its “Inspire” app — or vice versa at 529 Fifth Ave. and 1177 Ave. of the Americas.
“We created amenity spaces in the buildings and cater on a hospitality basis to the employees of our tenants,” said Marty Burger, CEO of Silverstein Properties, noting that they hired talent from Ritz Carlton to work on their offerings.
Looking for even more fun? At 120 Broadway, street artists were tapped to recreating a Lower East Side dive bar in the amenity space while a 1980s arcade room will feature vintage games and another spot will resemble a 1940s detective office.
“It’s a challenge [to get people back to work] and we are trying to make it as good an environment as possible,” said Burger.
Meanwhile, another large owner, Brookfield Properties, has just launched “Activated Passport,” which allows its tenants to access lounges in New York as well as DC, Houston, Denver and Los Angeles.
Locally, Brookfield’s Activated Passport Lounge is set on a high, upper floor of its new One Manhattan West — which has stunning skyline views, a pantry, private offices, conference rooms and workstations. In 2022, Brookfield hosted almost 400 events across the country.
“Failure is not an option. The war for amenities is on, but the experience has to be genuine and meaningful to the end user in the building and portfolio.”
Whitney Arcaro, RXR’s head of marketing
During the pandemic, the Durst Organization hosted virtual events for tenants featuring yoga classes, beekeeping and even cooking with chef Charlie Palmer.
While some of those are both online and in person, Durst is considering allowing the in-person events to be open to all in their buildings.
Meeting and conference space at 151 W. 42nd St. is already available to all Durst tenants. On the same floor, the former Condé Nast cafeteria has been converted into a stunning food hall for building tenants and a pilot program is underway with three tenants at nearby 1155 Ave. of the Americas to also access the food area.
“We will see how it works with the intention to expand it to everybody else,” said Eric Engelhardt, senior vice president of Durst.
The launch of the Durst app is also days away. It will include smartphone building entry, tenant communications, invites to curated events, package notifications as well as other features and perks.
Marx Realty’s hotel-like amenity spaces at 10 Grand Central and 545 Madison are also available to its DC and Atlanta tenants and vice versa through its Marx Pass.
Aside from the lounges in their own buildings, one perk that does get lots of use is its Marx Mobile, a free chauffeured car service that operates within Midtown.
“For some tenants it’s their number one reason they are signing [a lease],” said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO of Marx Realty.
An early bird to the concept, RXR made its conference facilities, executive club, outdoor terraces at 230 Park Ave. and reservations at 75 Rock’s restaurants available to all tenants in 2018.
“Imagine being at a sales conference in a hotel and you get up, go out of your room and go to the amenity areas of the hotel and workout and see colleagues and then at 10 a.m., you’d go to your meeting.”
Matt Astrachan, vice chairman of JLL.
Similarly, RXR’s tenants can pop into 32 Old Slip and charge a phone, while they recharge themselves.
But RXR is cautious about rolling out access to all its amenities to everyone and uses pilot programs and sensors in its decision making.
“We want to provide our tenants with a variety of options and give them a great experience,” said William Elder, managing director of RXR’s city portfolio.
RXR has plenty of events and cross perks accessible through its app or in consultation with its personable RXOs (“Experience Officers”) who act as concierges and also on-board new companies.
Tenants can drop off their bike when they travel to another neighborhood, or if caught in the rain, grab an umbrella from any of the RXR lobbies.
“Failure is not an option,” said Whitney Arcaro, RXR’s head of marketing. “The war for amenities is on, but the experience has to be genuine and meaningful to the end user in the building and portfolio.”
