Power Reads: 5 Interesting Articles That Will Help You This Week

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in leadership and the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners": corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. Each day we can become a better version of ourselves.

1. The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

Where are we in the office wars? I think there’s an armistice between the return-to-the-office side and the work-from-home forces. Perhaps hostilities will resume in the fall. Bosses are hoping the old reality will snap back as the drama of 2020-22 recedes, that people will start to feel they need to come back, or can be made to. The work-from-home people are dug in, believing they’re on the winning side, that the transformation of work in America, which had been going remote for years, was simply sped up and finalized by the pandemic. In this tight job market they have the upper hand. Employers are fighting for talent: Fire me—I’ll get a better job tomorrow, and you’ll get 50 hours with HR onboarding my replacement. The balance of power will change if the slowing economy leads to layoffs and hiring freezes.

“The benefits of working from home are obvious: freedom, no commute; it’s easier to be there for family, the dog, the dentist appointment. Less time wasted in goofy officewide meetings. I’ve wondered if there is another aspect, that office life was demystified by what began in the years before the pandemic, the rise of HR complaints and accusations of bullying, bad language and sexual misconduct. Add arguments over masks and vaccines, and maybe office life came to be seen less as a healthy culture you could be part of and more like a battlefield you wanted to avoid.”

Arguments against working from home are largely intangible, and I focus on these. They are less personal, more national and societal.

2. Google, TikTok Among Tech Firms Looking For Big Offices In NYC

Technology companies have stepped back leasing in the Manhattan office market, but there are still companies on the hunt for space — at least for now.

“Google is in the market for a 500K SF office as of the second quarter of this year, according to a Savills tech tenant report this week. MongoDB is actively seeking 300K SF, and Oracle is looking for 200K SF, according to the brokerage.”

While these large requirements could be massive windfalls for some New York City office owners, tech firms are shifting their approach to their workplaces rapidly, and those requirements could change at any time, Savills Northeast Regional Research Director Marisha Clinton told Bisnow.

3. Amazon Buys Up Thousands of Acres as It Eyes Future Real Estate Needs

Amazon, the world's biggest retailer, roiled the real estate world earlier this year when it said it would slow its pace of warehouse leasing and begin to sublet some of the tens of millions of square feet it had committed to as part of its pandemic-era expansion. But the fallout may not be as dire as some initially feared.

“The pullback could say more about a strategic shift than a retreat from real estate. The company has spent billions of dollars over the past couple of years to buy undeveloped land as well as properties for conversion to logistics centers, signaling it may have designs on leasing less and owning more in coming years.”

The company, which had more than $34 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of the first quarter, spent at least $2.3 billion to acquire dozens of properties totaling more than 5,000 acres since early 2020, CoStar data shows. Included in that tally are nearly 400 acres it has bought over the past three months, a period in which Amazon has scrapped or postponed large office and industrial projects across the nation and revealed plans to shrink its U.S. footprint of delivery and fulfillment centers by millions of square feet.

4. Big Tech Is Proving Resilient as the Economy Cools

No boom can last forever, even for the technology industry’s most affluent companies. Investors punished the biggest tech companies earlier this year, erasing $2 trillion in market value over fears the industry would falter in the face of rising inflation and a slowing economy.

“But this week, as the United States reported that economic output fell for the second straight quarter, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple posted sales and profits that showed their businesses have the dominance and diversity to defy the economic woes hurting smaller companies.”

Microsoft and Amazon proved that their lucrative cloud businesses were continuing to expand even as the economy cools. Alphabet’s subsidiary, Google, demonstrated that search advertisements remained in demand among travel companies and retailers. And Apple papered over a downturn in its device business by increasing its sales of apps and subscription services.

5. Google Confirms Plans To Buy Thompson Center in Downtown Chicago

Google plans to buy the spaceship-like James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, a deal that will further the tech giant’s growth in the city and provide a much-needed boost to the Loop business district.

“The Mountain View, California-based search engine provider, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago developer Prime Group announced the plan Wednesday, saying Google would buy the building after it’s renovated.”

Google has not said how many employees it plans to add in the Thompson Center, but the modernized building will have enough space to accommodate thousands of workers.

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great and hugely impactful week!