Office Options In A Down Economy

By Author: Mel Joelle
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"An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men say" is reported to be first recorded in John Heywood's A dialogue containing the number in effect of all the proverbs in the English tongue, 1546, according to The Phrase Finder. Today we can interpret the expression to mean that no matter how bad things may be for many, opportunities can be found by those seeking them.

And so it can extend to the current commercial real estate market where many speculative buildings remain untenanted - and those that were filled find tenants downsizing. Business owners can seize this opportunity to either renegotiate leases or seek quarters in other facilities where rents are lower and where they can lease floor space more in line with their needs.
Office Options in a Down Economy

"Companies that streamline for any reason and companies that are growing despite current market conditions should think about looking for more favorable lease opportunities," says Mark Bassil, co-founder and vice president of MAiSPACE, a Mt. Olive, NJ, based manufacturer of modular office furniture systems. "An open-minded attitude with respect to ...
... location and the building's style or architecture can be very helpful in the search. A spate of remodeling over the last decade has transformed old but solid buildings, many with attractive architectural details that would be too costly to duplicate in new construction, into very attractive facilities with rents generally below new construction."

Once a new deal is struck, the facilities must be transformed into workspaces that attract and hold qualified staff. "One option, of course, is to move existing office furnishings to the new location," Bassil says. "Another is to use the move as an opportunity to upgrade office furniture systems into more attractive, efficient workspaces that will help attract qualified personnel. If the decision is made to upgrade, working with an experience vendor of integrated office interiors such as MAiSPACE will not only provide a turnkey furnishings solution but also dispose of old office furnishings."

Properly planned and sourced, integrated interior solutions can be installed at less than half the price of a contractor build-out while at the same time providing factory-assured quality, increased flexibility and a guarantee of on-time completion.

"Looking to the future and better economic times, modular furniture designs based on stackable panel systems such as MAiSPACE provide the design freedom needed in today's business world," Bassil says. "These systems are flexible - even to the extent of providing floor-to-ceiling enclosed workspaces. They expand, contract or reconfigure to accommodate changing needs - in many instances without disrupting the entire workplace." The industry term is moves, adds and changes (MACs) and a system's ability or inability to accommodate MACs is an important long-term cost consideration.

The Lease Option and Cash Flows
Leasing rather than outright purchase of new systems furniture can help offset the cost of a move. "Today more than 80 percent of U.S. companies lease some if not all of their office furniture, equipment and technology acquisitions," Bassil says. "Compared with other financing methods leasing is easier than securing bank loans and is just as competitive. Payments are fixed instead of being based on floating interest rates, and leases can be structured to support the needs and goals of a business, not the bank."

MAiSPACE has recently introduced a new leasing option and has made it possible to calculate monthly payments in seconds through accessing its website Lease Calculator at www.maispace.com and clicking on the instant quote icon. Starting at a minimum of 2,000 square feet, prospects enter the size of their facility and the length of the lease for a 2, 3 or 4-year term. "As an example," Bassil says, "fitting out 20,000 square feet for a 4-year term comes to $7,521 per month installed or $0.38 per square foot. Buying the equipment outright would cost $300,000 based on our installed cost of $15 per square foot." Either way, the furniture is provided with a lifetime guarantee and warranty against obsolescence. Installations are completed within 4 to 6 weeks of receipt of order.

All This and Cabling Too
MAiSPACE offers a robust high-capacity local area network as part of its modular office furniture solutions. It is configured as a horizontal voice and data cabling system employing plug-and-play factory terminated and tested modular cable connectors and assembles in copper or optical fiber. "In the patented, standards compliant MAiSPACE design cabling is laid in behind lift-off panel segments for easy access to simplify installation, adding capacity or rerouting networks," Bassil says. "With such a cabling system reconfiguring an office floor plan can be accomplished in hours instead of days without disrupting the entire office local area network."
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