July 14, 2004—Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), provider of commercial real estate services, and Dallas-based HQ Global Workplaces, provider of full-service office business centers, announced on July 7 the formation of a unique strategic alliance that will provide clients with what the companies say will be the most comprehensive real estate services ever offered.
As the first partnership of its kind in the commercial real estate industry, the new alliance between the two major companies pairs comprehensive real estate portfolio services from CBRE with flexible office and service options from HQ Global.
Through the alliance, HQ Global and CBRE will develop a joint strategic marketing program to attract office users to HQ Global’s work spaces. CBRE also will provide traditional real estate services, including comprehensive portfolio management, for HQ Global’s office business centers, which total more than 4.5 million square feet of premier office space in major markets nationwide.
Clients using the alliance will be able to assemble the most cost-effective combination of traditional, long-term leased real estate and flexible office space available. HQ’s involvement will provide CBRE clients with alternative office space featuring increased flexibility in rental terms, amount of office space used, and support services.
The HQ-CBRE program also provides all clients with a single point of contact to access an expanded portfolio of space and service options. This full spectrum of support is designed to meet clients’ real estate requirements at any stage in their business life cycle, whether they are expanding or consolidating operations.
As detailed in a recent industry study involving more than 300 top real estate executives by the Gallup Organization and CoreNet Global, the international association of corporate real estate professionals, a large majority of those surveyed said the ability to design, implement, and manage a robust but flexible infrastructure may be a key source of competitive advantage. Respondents also predict that there will be substantial increases in the number of employees working virtually by the year 2010 and that assigned office space will be reduced significantly in favor of more flexible space.
Currently, 16% of survey respondents said their knowledge workers spend at least 25% of their time in unassigned or off-site office space. By 2010, almost 40% of respondents predict their employees will spend more than a quarter of their time in unassigned space, almost a 150% increase over current levels. More information about the study is available from CoreNet.
