Even as many investors and managers warn the office sector will never be restored to its pre-pandemic status, one of commercial real estate’s longtime players is betting that it’s making a comeback — and that the Big Apple, the nation’s premier office market, is ground zero for that recovery.
Swinerton, a 135-year-old provider of commercial construction and construction management services, opened its first New York City office about 18 months ago in the very metro hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, sending office workers and companies scrambling to other states, the suburbs, the outer boroughs, and to their homes.
Spearheading the company’s Gotham office is Andrew Pearl, a vice president and division manager at Swinerton.
“At the time of our opening, there was great uncertainty in the future of workplace environments in urban cities, such as New York,” says Pearl. “However, as a national bicoastal construction firm with national accounts to service, we saw the need to support our clients in their efforts to return to office in one of the hardest hit areas of the country.”
Since opening the New York office, Swinerton is completing projects with its national accounts totaling more than 250,000 square feet throughout the New York metro area. The work is representative of the company’s national accounts, such as Patreon in the tech sector, as well as national brands, such as Live Nation Entertainment, in addition to office interiors and retail spaces at Newark Airport.
“We continue to see the opportunity for growth in the office market segment and will continue to grow as we establish ourselves in this new and challenging market,” says Pearl, who made a guest appearance on a recent Real Assets Adviser podcast. “Walk around Midtown Manhattan and the financial district. There are restaurants throughout the day that are jammed with people,” he observed during the podcast. “It’s because they’re back in the office, and not necessarily the work itself, but for the social aspect of it, the networking, and the deals that are made outside the four walls of a conference room. It’s not because they can’t be productive elsewhere. I think we’ve proven that we can be productive outside the office, but you cannot replicate virtually what happens in the lunch meetings and the dinner-time events that go on in New York.”
Swinerton was founded in 1888 as a masonry and contracting firm, putting down roots in Los Angeles. When disaster struck San Francisco with the 1906 earthquake that destroyed 28,000 structures, many of the buildings left standing were made of concrete from Swinerton, making them the first to pioneer reinforced concrete as a building material to withstand the pressures of California earthquakes. Today the company is headquartered in Concord, Calif.
Hear more from Andrew Pearl about Swinerton’s bullish office outlook from his guest appearance on the Real Assets Adviser podcast here.
Mike Consol (m.consol@irei.com) is senior editor of Real Assets Adviser. Follow him on Twitter (@mikeconsol) and LinkedIn (linkedIn.com/in/mikeconsol) to read his latest postings.