The Future of Office Real Estate: Why Property Owners Need to Think Beyond the Building

For decades, commercial real estate has relied on a familiar business model: secure long-term leases, fill the building, and generate predictable rental income.

But as companies rethink workplace strategies and demand more flexibility, that model faces new challenges. Shorter leases, changing employee expectations, and evolving ways of working are forcing property owners to reconsider what it takes to remain profitable.

According to Tuomas Sahi, CEO of Finnish real estate company Antilooppi, the answer starts with a fundamental shift in perspective.

“Our job is not to own buildings but to service work.”

In a conversation with Liz Elam on the GCUC Podcast, Tuomas explains why the future of office real estate requires property owners to think beyond square footage and focus on the people, businesses, and work their buildings are designed to support.

The Traditional Office Model Is Changing

The traditional office lease was built around predictability. Companies committed to long-term agreements, and property owners could plan around relatively stable rental income. Today, that equation is becoming more complicated.

Companies want greater flexibility in how much space they use and how long they commit to it. At the same time, expectations around workplace quality continue to rise.

For property owners, this creates a challenge: How do you deliver better workplace experiences when customers are less willing to commit to long-term leases?

Tuomas believes the market is moving toward a different model, one in which property owners must engage more with their customers and understand how their businesses operate.

Rather than relying exclusively on long-term leases, owners need to explore ways to accommodate changing needs while maintaining profitable operations.

This is where lessons from the coworking and flexible workspace industry become especially valuable.

What Traditional Real Estate Can Learn From Coworking

Coworking operators have long understood that providing a workspace is only part of the job. Members also expect flexibility, useful amenities, opportunities for connection, and an environment that helps them get work done.

Tuomas believes traditional office real estate can learn from the industry’s approach to customer service, space design, and day-to-day operations.

The question is no longer simply whether a building has enough square footage to accommodate a company. It’s whether that space supports the company’s needs as they evolve.

For property owners, that means understanding the businesses in their buildings, anticipating their changing needs, and creating environments that help employees work productively and collaboratively.

It also means recognizing that a tenant relationship shouldn’t end at the lease agreement.

When property owners understand their customers and adapt to their needs, they can build stronger relationships and create additional value across the building.

How Antilooppi Combines Fixed Leases With Flexible Workspace

Antilooppi has put this approach into practice through POOL, its flexible workspace concept that serves companies and employees in its office buildings.

Rather than asking businesses to lease enough space to accommodate every possible need, Antilooppi combines traditional office leases with access to shared, flexible workspace.

Tuomas describes this approach as “fix plus flex.”

Here’s how it works: A company might lease a smaller, dedicated office for everyday needs while using POOL’s shared meeting rooms, lounges, and other spaces when it needs more capacity.

Instead of paying for space that may sit unused, the company can access additional workspace on demand.

For example, Tuomas explains that a business expecting to need 1,000 square meters could potentially lease 700 square meters as its permanent office and meet the remaining demand through POOL.

This creates a more adaptable workplace for the customer while allowing Antilooppi to offer a differentiated product.

The model also changes the financial equation. A portion of the company’s occupancy costs becomes variable, giving it more flexibility as its workforce and space requirements change.

For Antilooppi, the goal is to create value across the entire building, not simply to make the flexible workspace profitable on its own.

Flexibility Must Work for Property Owners, Too

While flexibility offers clear advantages for businesses, it also introduces new considerations for real estate owners.

Flexible workspace requires careful planning, thoughtful operations, and an understanding of how shared spaces affect the broader property’s performance.

Tuomas explains that size and placement matter. A flexible workspace that’s too small may struggle to deliver on its promise, while allocating too much of a building to flexible space can reduce the proportion dedicated to longer-term contractual income.

Antilooppi has also learned that integration is critical.

In some buildings, POOL operates as a destination on a separate floor. In others, the concept is integrated into tenants’ daily movement, making shared amenities and services a natural part of the workplace experience.

Tuomas describes this as the relationship between the “heart and the veins”: POOL serves as the building’s heart, while convenient internal access connects it to people working throughout the property.

Shared concierge services further connect the flexible workspace to the wider building.

These operational decisions influence both the customer experience and the financial performance of the property. The objective is to build a model that creates measurable value for customers and owners alike.

From Managing Buildings to Managing Customer Relationships

One of the most significant changes at Antilooppi has been organizational.

Rather than structuring its team around traditional asset management alone, the company has introduced account managers responsible for maintaining customer relationships.

Tuomas explains that Antilooppi’s approach is to look beyond the length of an individual lease and focus on retaining customers over time.

A three-year lease doesn’t necessarily represent a failure compared with a ten-year lease. If the company can continue serving that customer and earn successive renewals, the relationship can still deliver long-term value.

This requires a different way of thinking about performance.

Instead of focusing exclusively on occupancy and lease duration, property owners must also consider whether customers are satisfied, whether their needs are being met, and whether the building continues to support their businesses.

The shift is subtle but important: customer retention becomes an ongoing responsibility, not simply something addressed when a lease is approaching expiration.

For coworking operators, this approach will sound familiar. Understanding members, building relationships, and responding to feedback are central to running a successful workspace.

For traditional landlords, it may require a complete change in mindset.

Why the Future of Office Depends on Understanding Work

The workplace continues to evolve, and technology is accelerating that change. As Tuomas discusses in the episode, AI may further reshape the work people do and why they come together in an office.

For property owners, the challenge isn’t simply convincing employees to return to the workplace. It’s understanding the people who are there and making the experience valuable enough to support their work.

That means creating environments where people can collaborate, connect across companies, access the services they need, and accomplish things they may struggle to do working alone.

It also means building business models that can adapt as those needs change.

Tuomas believes flexible workspace operators have already developed many of the practices that traditional real estate will need to adopt. Property owners can develop those capabilities themselves or partner with experienced operators who already understand how to deliver them.

Either way, the underlying principle remains the same: Real estate must respond to the people and businesses it serves.

The Bottom Line: Serve the Work, Not Just the Space

The future of office real estate won’t be determined by square footage alone. It will depend on how effectively property owners adapt to changing customer expectations while building sustainable, profitable businesses.

Antilooppi’s experience with POOL shows one way to approach that challenge: combine fixed and flexible workspace, integrate services into the building’s daily experience, and make customer relationships central to the business model.

For coworking operators, the opportunity is to continue demonstrating the value of flexibility, hospitality, and community.

For traditional property owners, the opportunity is to rethink what their buildings can do when they prioritize the people working inside them.

As Tuomas puts it, the job isn’t simply to own infrastructure. It’s to serve work and find new ways to make that work profitable.

A question worth asking: When was the last time you asked your customers what would make their working day better, and then changed something because of the answer?

That may be where the future of office real estate begins.

Listen to the Full Conversation

Hear more from Tuomas Sahi and Liz Elam on the GCUC Podcast, where they explore the evolution of office real estate, the lessons traditional property owners can learn from coworking, and what it takes to build a more flexible, customer-focused workplace.

Learn more about Antilooppi and POOL at antiloop.fi.