Remote work is here to stay, but the office is not going anywhere either.
According to a Georgia Commute Options’ Remote Work Survey of nearly 3,000 remote workers in the Atlanta region, nearly 75% of all survey respondents want to work in the office at least one day per week. This demand for a hybrid work model at the regional level tracks with trends nationally. Executives—who have conducted business for nearly two years with a remote workforce—are embracing an impending workplace return in 2022.
The Atlanta region’s commercial real estate scene has shown little signs of a slowdown and is ready to make room for office workers. Microsoft, Visa, Aprio, Global Payments and countless other companies are charging ahead with major office space leases in the Atlanta market. Cities around the region also continue to greenlight new construction and redevelopments that will expand availability for top-end office space.
So, how are property owners and their management teams preparing for the return to the workplace? What can workers look forward to when they travel into the office? For some insight, our partners at Alpharetta’s Sanctuary Park gave us a closer look at what they’ve been doing.
How Alpharetta’s Sanctuary Park Has Prepared for Returning Employees
Caroline Yeany and Tiffany Greene help manage Sanctuary Park, a 150-acre, 9-building office campus and home to major companies in Alpharetta. While campus activity slowed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the management team has focused on improving the campus.
“We’ve had some room to knock out improvements to bring the workspaces up to speed for health and safety, like touchless features for doorways, restrooms and other common areas,” explained Yeany, Sanctuary’s Assistant General Manager.
“We also have sought out ways to make the campus much more walkable and give people more opportunities for exercise,” said Greene, the property’s Community Manager. To do this, the management team has prioritized smaller, short-term projects that encourage active wellness on the expansive campus. These projects include enhancements to the park’s 3-mile trail and nature preserve system, as well as plans to set up a campus bike share.
As Yeany and Greene see it, these new enhancements are a bonus to the suite of campus amenities already available to their tenants. Among those offerings is a popular shuttle service that links commuters traveling into Alpharetta to nearby transit via the North Springs MARTA station.
“People can truly spend time here, with dining for lunch, fitness classes, walking trails, shuttles to get to and from campus and much more—all in one place,” Greene said. “We see our office park as a bridge between work and play. With this pandemic, we are thinking of ways our property can facilitate a new way of working while also helping people add balance to their lives.”
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Leading companies and organizations are rethinking where, when and how we work for a better, more resilient future. Learn how Georgia Commute Options can prepare you for what comes next. Get started: info@gacommuteoptions.com