“The buildings may be obsolete, but if the bones are good you can open the roof, create windows, and it can become a dynamic building.” So said Chuck Carefoot, VP of construction with Ryan Companies US, Inc., during the “Speed of Change: Designing Office and Industrial Building for the Future” session at NAIOP’s Commercial Real Estate Conference 2016, attended by a record 1,400 commercial real estate professionals. The panel, moderated by Joe Bass, SVP of development for Hillwood, looked at the prospective use of office and industrial buildings.
As always, location is preeminent. “We are seeing reuse of existing buildings in great locations. In many cases, these are obsolete buildings previously classified as Class C in Class A locations,” said panelist Jay Todisco, EVP of Ware Malcomb.