5 Key CRE Trends from SGA
January 24, 2023
Beyond LEED
With LEED becoming standard for most commercial buildings, the next frontier in sustainable design is achieving net zero. FORUM – a new ultra-modern life sciences development in Boston Landing that broke ground this fall – is designed to have net zero operational carbon upon completion, aligning with Lendlease’s Mission Zero initiative and Ivanhoé Cambridge’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2040.
Building with Purpose
More purpose-built buildings are coming to fruition than ever before, particularly in the booming Life Sciences market, which has a specific set of spatial needs. This past September, SGA celebrated the opening of Boynton Yards: the first purpose-built Class A lab building in Somerville, MA. Understanding the need for flexible lab space, the building features column-free floor plates – offering tenants room to grow and redesign their space as needed – as well as high ceilings and accessible multi-tenant shaft space for chemical piping and exhaust systems.
Office Conversions
According to CBRE, the national office vacancy rate reached a nearly 30-year-high of 17.1% in Q3 2022 as the pandemic-induced rise of remote work has lowered office demand and occupancy rates. While this may seem bleak, it also offers an opportunity to convert underutilized space, which is what SGA accomplished with 95 Greene Street. Previously occupied by Merrill Lynch, SGA transformed the eight-story building into Jersey City’s first lab-ready office building that sets an example for life sciences development in dense urban environments like NYC.
Virtual Design & Construction
Virtual design and construction is on the rise as architects are asked to deliver more complex buildings with shorter schedules while remaining on time and on budget. Utilizing the firm’s VDC arm, SGA was able to complete a new, four-story building for the Kraft Group in just six months, opening in time for the 2022 NFL season. Key to this was the firm’s proprietary SGA Dashboard, which allowed the team to make decisions in real-time when faced with constant construction challenges such as supply chain constraints, shifting timelines and project changes.
Speculative Design
Part of a new era of leasing strategies, speculative design addresses the demand for move-in ready spaces from tenants. Completed in September, Oxford Properties tapped SGA to design a 32,219 SF speculative office suite on the fourth floor of its 22-story, LEED-Gold certified office tower in Boston. With the modern workplace evolving, SGA designed a flexible, scalable, and hospitality-focused environment that masterfully balances the wide spectrum of personal, team, spatial, and technological needs of today’s workers.
