SERVICES OUR EXPERTISE

WE MAKE REAL ESTATE CHANGE HAPPEN

We help companies articulate their specific real estate need, and we execute on a plan of action. We provide the management tools needed before a leasing decision – site evaluation, financial analysis, risk evaluation, market context. We provide follow-through after the leasing decision – i.e., strategic planning, portfolio management, headcount modeling and financial forecasting and reporting – to change how you use and manage your real estate.

BROKERAGE

SITE SEARCHES
We manage site searches, structure real estate transactions, and develop real estate strategies for a specific site and for entire portfolios.

DUE DILIGENCE
We provide analysis – financial and otherwise – throughout the process. We assemble multidisciplinary project teams to evaluate the physical attributes of the space including connectivity and site infrastructure, and we factor in qualitative considerations such as culture, brand, recruitment, aspirations of the leadership team, transportation costs, and the ecosystem context.

LEADERSHIP
Most important, we bring business leadership and accountability to the process of change.

HOW WE SCALE
Combining technology and the best-in-class model allows us to scale our capabilities and assemble and disband teams to meet a project’s needs and a client’s budget.

BEST IN CLASS

We have long-standing relationships with best-in-class partners in cities across the country and overseas. [See our interactive global map here]. Besides brokerage, our partners bring expertise in the project management, space programming [i.e. Workplace Design], furniture, legal, LEED, tax incentive and audit fields. By procuring “best in class” we are free to partner across broker networks. This freedom provides greater flexibility and better outcomes for our client.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology has changed the role of the tenant broker. ln the past, large multi-service real estate firms controlled proprietary data. Today, information on space availabilities, absorption trends, pricing, and corporate expansions and downsizings, is freely accessible on the internet. We can collaborate across geographic areas using cloud-based data sharing and communications platforms that connect our client’s internal working groups with the external team members. We help our clients organize this data, make sense of it, and use new technologies to manage information, make decisions and take action. [See Reporting Tools for Site Selection].

SPACE PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

At the preliminary planning stage, we use industry norms and location-specific metrics to quantify initial size requirements for your space. Once we move into the site evaluation phase and need to dig deeper, we work with space planners – a service often provided by the building owner or by your furniture vendor or your selected architect – to ensure that a program plan is part of the lease negotiation process.

STRATEGIC PLANNING AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

We use the lease administration database platforms to see across the entire portfolio. We customize and overlay information on headcount and capacity numbers provided by your HR and facilities departments to create capacity utilization reports, occupancy costs per employee, cash flow projections, and other key metrics. This customization can include amortization of capital costs, or the cost of adding parking, employee buses, or a metric specific to your use.
We use this data in our Strategic Planning discussions with you to review the portfolio, identify areas requiring action, plan, and make adjustments.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Because total occupancy cost information comes from a variety of sources within and outside the company, real estate managers face a significant challenge extracting data to understand the whole picture of project and portfolio spending.

We provide “connective tissue” between the project managers working on capital costs for leasehold improvements, furniture, equipment and audiovisual/IT infrastructure, the facilities managers working on the annual operating expenses, HR/Finance teams working on headcount projections, and others to aggregate the data into useable tools. We determine what data is on hand, where the gaps may be, and how to fill such gaps – so you can make informed, timely real estate decisions.

We use online file sharing software so that team members – both inside and outside the company – can collaborate on the project and access relevant project folders seamlessly.

LEASE ADMINISTRATION

INTEGRATED ACROSS SERVICE LINES

We provide oversight to Exactus, our lease administration partner, to validate and debug data for customized online reports via a web-based portal. We work with your internal finance and accounting staff to integrate the information into your reporting systems, A/P process, and annual budgeting.

OTHER SERVICES

AUDITS, ADVICE, REPORTING TOOLS

AUDIT

We work with independent experts who focus on operating expense audits. Since the task of conducting an audit to find overcharges and to reduce pass-thru rents is a zero sum game between landlord and tenant, the auditor needs to be independent from a multi-service real estate organization that also serves landlords.

TAX INCENTIVE ADVICE

We bring in tax incentive specialists to conduct a feasibility study for large expansions or relocations, structure the engagement agreement with the provider, and bring in your internal tax and accounting teams to oversee strategy and vet the recommendations.

COLUMBIA GROUP REALTY

AROUND THE WORLD

COLUMBIA GROUP REALTY

AROUND THE WORLD

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