Office Suites, A Sweet Alternative

For Valentine's Day, I thought I would examine a "suite" alternative to leasing conventional office space for small businesses.  They go by many names, Office Suites, Executive Centers, Business Centers, Virtual Offices, or Executive Offices, and offer many different service packages and levels, from basic to gold plated opulence, but they all do one basic thing - provide an immediate plug-and-play office for your business.

I had never actually visited one of these services, so I called upon Tom Jamison of Connecticut Business Centers to give me a personal tour and behind the scenes look at his operation.  It was an interesting visit and I now think about the benefits these services can offer a small tenant in a different light.  To quote Tom, "If you tell me you want an office today, you can be in business with a T-1 connection here tomorrow." 

Office suites are like a Chinese menu, they offer a variety of choices in multiple combinations with great flexibility and price points which can include.

• Short or long term leases
• Private office and/or workstations
• High-speed Internet access (in most cases)
• Telephone answering/Voice mail
• Phone/Fax lines
• Secretarial services
• Conference rooms
• Copiers
• Receptionist
• Professional mailing address
• Coffee stations/lunch rooms
• Virtual Offices (more on this below)
• And more

In short, everything you would put in your own office space (and probably more) are contained in these suites.  You get to select the package of services that best suits your needs.  Many also offer "virtual offices". This means you do not actually have a physical desk at the facility, but use the business address for receiving mail, can arrange to have a phone answered in your name, and use the conference rooms for business meetings.  This can be a very affordable service for small businesses that want the illusion of a traditional business address, but can continue to operate their home-based business.

What amazed me most about my tour with Tom Jamison was the diversity of the tenants using the space and the ease of set up. In his Westport, CT location, there were chemical companies, insurance companies, broker/traders, sales offices and CPA's.  There was a meeting going on in the conference room, with a nice spread of pastries and coffee on the side-board, the traders had five screens going on every desk, the insurance company had rows of files and piles of paper on every desk - it was a bee-hive of activity and each office reflected the individuality of the company inhabiting it. I had always assumed that sharing office suites would lead to a uniform sameness of all tenants in the space, but found that you could place your own stamp of individuality (within reason) on your little piece of commercial real estate heaven.  I was completely sold on the ease of set-up.  Each fully furnished office came with a T-1 line and private phone number.  If I arrived at the desk with my lap-top in the morning, I would be in business.  For small business owners, pressed for time, this is a huge advantage.

According to Crowne Office Suites, which had several locations in the Atlanta region , renting office suites for small companies is a effect way to save a lot of money.  Crowne does a cost comparison of renting 1,000 square feet of conventional space with two 300 square foot offices in their facility.  Their analysis shows that the company could save as much as $20,000 in set up costs and $50,000 annually. Savings like that deserve a close look at office suites as an alternative to traditional office space.

Brokers should embrace this alternative for small tenants as well. Tom has a broker friendly policy and pays commissions for tenant referrals.  Most of the office suites companies have similar broker payment programs also, so this may be a great way to service your small office tenants effectively and be paid for your knowledge. 

MySquareFeet suggests you take a tour of your local office suites center.  It is an enlightening experience and could be a "suite" answer to your office space needs.

MySquareFeet is the commercial real estate listing service that gives owners and leasing agents an affordable platform to showcase available space with full building descriptions, photos, maps and direct email links so tenants can connect with you and your available space directly.