Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The for rent signs are up at more office units in downtown Buffalo. One commercial realtor says there are two big factors why office space is not filing up.
"The biggest thing is people still aren't being required to return to the office. That's number one," says Bill Heussler of Hanna Commercial Real Estat. "I think the second thing is, you look at the mix of the office space, a Seneca One Tower has a lot of tech type people. IT people, and those people can work just about anywhere that's in Buffalo or the country." According to CBRE, downtown office vacancies dropped by 330,000 square feet last year.
Those flexible policies make it a challenge for realtors like Heussler to sell companies on coming downtown. "I think there is a shift coming back from the suburbs to move downtown, but maybe it's stopped a little bit," note Heussler. He also says incentives may be an answer. "I think it's on the employers, and maybe the mix of type of employers we have to bring people downtown," says Heussler.
If office space can't get filled up, Heussler says the question is what to do with the buildings. "If we can't get that office climate back downtown, do we do conversions to housing or something like that? The whole goal is to make a vibrant downtown, and until we can figure that out, I think a lot of the peripheral businesses, like restaurants and some of our service businesses downtown are going to continue to be challenged," says Heussler.
He says space for less than prime offices downtown are $10-$12 per square foot, which is considerably low compared to other cities.