INTELLIGENT BUSINESS CAMPUSES: KEYS TO FUTURE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

INTELLIGENT BUSINESS CAMPUSES:  KEYS TO FUTURE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Author - JAMES CARLINI, President & CEO - CARLINI & ASSOCIATES, INC.

The concept of Intelligent Business Campuses (IBCs) has come of age as all industries seek out high performance real estate platforms to launch and maintain state-of-the-art facilities that support their core businesses.  In this case, high performance means high profitability through high occupancy, a defined theme and utilization of redundant power grids and broadband connectivity as well as high security for the total development.  It supports the observation “Economic Development equals Broadband Connectivity”.  It also updates the old real estate adage of “Location, Location, Location” with “Location, Location, Connectivity”.

Over twenty years ago, Intelligent Buildings were talked about as a new concept to add technology to a building to make it more effective and efficient in the areas of communications, information technologies and building automation.

Many in real estate have yet to understand this demand shift to intelligent amenities that include broadband connectivity, diverse power sources and other communications-based applications in single commercial properties let alone newer campuses of synergistic businesses and functional operations where intelligent buildings have now been clustered instead of built in a stand-alone environment.

Some of these concepts were ahead of there time, by the virtue of price, performance and acceptance.  Today, these concepts are being used to develop clusters of buildings in campuses and parks.  These enhancements would better support the tenants with their day-to-day operations.

More municipalities and regions are also trying to establish centers for economic development, global trade and job growth.  They are concerned about creating and maintaining regional sustainability.  This is a phenomenon occurring globally, not just in the United States.

One of the key ingredients is broadband connectivity and the ability to add this concept upfront along with power requirements as part of the overall Master Planning of a new campus environment.

Traditional real estate and property managers might ask, “Is having broadband connectivity a differentiating amenity?”  The answer is “Yes.”

Ten years ago, site selection teams did not have “Broadband Connectivity” in their Top 20 issues for choosing a location.  In the last couple of years, it has risen to being one of the top three issues.  Areas that do not have adequate access to connectivity are starting to feel the loss of interest by companies that are locating or re-locating their facilities.

To a property manager trying to lease up the building, having broadband connectivity creates a clear market differentiation that will attract a higher caliber tenant which in turn means a higher occupancy rate and more profitable building.

In one example, 60 Class A buildings have available space in a county just outside Chicago.  If you require broadband connectivity as an amenity, the available buildings offering that capability, drops to five.  To a potential tenant, that lowers the choices dramatically.

In soft markets, the availability of amenities like this will circumvent the traditional approach of dealing with competition by lowering price.

The bottom line is that broadband connectivity is becoming a major differentiating amenity for sophisticated business tenants choosing one location over the other.  More and more site selection teams are looking for this as a given amenity and not a hoped for.  A higher level of network infrastructure coupled with a redundant power grid is being desired by tenants.   Property management companies cannot get away from this fact.

Besides specific amenities, the concept of “one-stop shopping” and fast-track build-out capability facilitated by a streamlined development process from the municipalities and  master developer working together are also concepts that have traction with corporate site selection in the United States.  This also includes having a Menu of Intelligent Amenities that business tenants can select from including a Common Campus Response Team which provides “one-stop supporting”.  (SEE CHART 1A and 1B)

CHART 1A:  SAMPLE MENU OF INTELLIGENT AMENITIES

Source: James Carlini, certified Infrastructure Consultant.   All Rights Reserved.

CHART 1B:  IMPACT OF INTELLIGENT AMENITIES

Source: James Carlini, certified Infrastructure Consultant.   All Rights Reserved.