Online car retailer Carvana plans to expand its corporate campus in Tempe with more than 241,000 square feet of new office space in the growing Rio Salado employment corridor. Carvana will build two office buildings and two parking garages on a mostly vacant 15-acre property at the southeast corner of Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive where the company occupies an existing office.
consumer spending is stronger in Tucson than the national average. Retail trade jobs are growing faster, too. That shows that Tucson retail space continue to be sought after, although some of those locations may be used as fulfillment facilities as businesses adjust to more online shopping.
After a year of experience running your business with COVID-19, it’s time to take a hard look at what’s next for using Tucson office space. That’s especially true if it appears your employees prefer to continue working remotely. Even as more people become vaccinated, there are still concerns about the rate of transmission and length of protection that cause people to be cautious. COVID-19 will affect site selection decisions for a while. Real Estate Advisor Michael Coretz suggests to take a methodical approach to figuring out how much space you need and how you would use it.
Tucson-based Paradigm Laboratories, in partnership with Phoenix-based Prorenata Labs, developed a test for quickly detecting COVID-19. ARCpoint Labs, also in Tucson, created a rapid test for antibodies. Area hospitals became part of several clinical trials for the treatment of and vaccination against the virus. The University of Arizona is part of a statewide testing program for antibodies. Even Tucson companies that aren’t in bioscience stepped up. Universal Avionics provided space for the production of face masks and shields. World View pivoted from making stratospheric balloons to sewing medical isolation gowns.
Tucson continues to earn recognition as a city that companies and workers will want to locate to in the post-COVID-19 era. Commercial real estate site selection consultants named Tucson among 11 mid-sized cities that had strong potential for new locations or expansion projects in 2021. It’s hard to tell how well the economy will recover, especially as the pandemic drags on. But when it happens, Tucson’s commercial property offerings will attract companies looking for a new place to solve the business conditions caused by the virus.
As the country reopens and business activity gradually resumes, commercial landlords and tenants are left with much uncertainty about the risk of a “second wave” of COVID-19 or another pandemic. Commercial Real Estate Group of Tucson understands the evolving situation and has produced some recommendations for parties who are dealing with current leases or thinking about entering new ones.
Your commercial space needs may look quite different both in the short term and long term as you and your workforce adjust to the effects of the COVID-19 disruption. Here at Commercial Real Estate Group of Tucson, Michael Coretz shares changes that address two major issues: Where most of your employees will work from now on and health protections they will expect when they do have to come into the office.
One of the lessons that business owners with Tucson lease contracts have learned from the COVID-19 disruption is that the ability to be flexible and responsive are crucial to survive. These apply right now as you assess whether you want to hang on to your current location or find new space to match the new realities of your business operations. Here are some of the opportunities expected to emerge and how you can take advantage.
Once we’re past the COVID-19 crisis, it’s likely that new efficiencies will be discovered and new infrastructure might already have been installed to run operations better. Michael Coretz, real estate advisor for Commercial Real Estate Group of Tucson, shares some of the ways that he believes Tucson commercial space will be used differently.
Now is the time to talk with your landlord and your commercial real estate tenant rep if the financial hit because of COVID-19 jeopardizes your commercial lease. Remember, your landlord doesn’t want to lose you either over the novel coronavirus disruption. There will be great costs to maintain an unproductive commercial space and additional costs to then find a new tenant once the crisis is over.