GCUC APAC- Week 1: Real Estate

We kicked off our GCUC APAC series this week with the real estate session. We are happy to report that it was well attended and received. If you missed it, the replay will be available on GCUC membership later this week.

We have three more sessions to go in the series so if you do not already have your ticket, you can snag one here.

Check out these soundbites from GCUC APAC Session 1:

The exciting thing about the future is the power shifts to the worker. We get to make more human decisions and provide spaces that are more enlightened and make people healthier. – Liz Elam, Founder at GCUC Global

On the other side of this, when this is over it’s going to be tremendous for our industry. We have a real opportunity to make things a hell of a lot better. – Liz Elam, Founder at GCUC Global

Already seeing coworking operators get disrupted will indeed keep us on our toes going into the next stage of workspace. – Brad Krauskopf, CEO & Founder at Hub Australia

Our biggest competitor in the future will be landlords. Whether or not they are operating themselves or they are partnering. We certainly hope they are partnering, and we are putting our strategy around that. Landlords want to retain that connection with their customer so they will be there for flex. – Brad Krauskopf, CEO& Founder at Hub Australia

Choice and fragmentation leaves space for a strong brand that knows exactly what product they’re delivering. – Brad Krauskopf, CEO & Founder at Hub Australia

There are various styles of flex space that cater to different needs of the tenants. Some more premium and high-end vs catered for young people and the tech sector. That’s why various brands can provide different solutions depending on the tenants you want to attract. That’s why for flex space several brands can coexist within the same building. – Ada Wong, CEO at Champion REIT

Bringing in an operating partner de-risked the operation aspect of the flex office product. It’s important to think about as landlords consider ways they can involve themselves with the flex office product. – Annie Rinker, Director – Office of Innovation at Hines

5 years ago if you were to present a management agreement to a landlord – they have a lease agreement in one hand and a management agreement in the other they would 100% choose the lease route. But there has been a shift. Landlords were seeing the level of premium that operators were able to achieve and they wanted in on that action. Coupled with COVID, we were pushed into the future. – Annie Rinker, Director – Office of Innovation at Hines

Consider the goals of the asset. What are you looking to accomplish from the amenities standpoint and how can we help with adding in coworking and it truly being an amenity of the space? – Annie Rinker, Director – Office of Innovation at Hines

For long term success: Establish a rapport with the community. Understand them as a member; their company and goals. Not a transaction. – Annie Rinker, Director – Office of Innovation at Hines

The reason that flex operators disrupted the office market is because landlords didn’t evolve. Now, if flex operators don’t evolve then they get disrupted, as well. – Jonny Wright, Director – Flexible Workspace Consulting at Asia – Colliers International

Asia is an exciting place. There are very few places in the world that have these size projects going on. – Jonny Wright, Director – Flexible Workspace Consulting at Asia – Colliers International

Asia is an interesting place because it’s so nuanced. It’s really hard to scale in Asia because it’s so different city to city. Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne would be relatively soft landings for operators but getting into China, Seoul, Japan you need local partners in those markets to be successful. – Jonny Wright, Director – Flexible Workspace Consulting at Asia – Colliers International

When you look at what we’ve seen over the years a lot of flex has been labeled the disruptors to the office market. Those different models that appeared and going to lead to disruption in other ways in terms of more traditional operators. They’re going to start getting disrupted by these different models because it is quite hard to compete and leading to a more fragmented/localized market. – Jonny Wright, Director – Flexible Workspace Consulting at Asia – Colliers International

It’s hard to think about during COVID but if you want to expand in Asia, you almost have to look over your borders because you quickly saturate your own country or city. – Cathy Hsieh, Head of Operations at Blueprint

In Hong Kong we travel a lot so the conversation circles around the cafe lounge you went to when traveling. People have a strong connection with those so I can see it being part of business centers and buildings. – Cathy Hsieh, Head of Operations at Blueprint

Lastly we want to give a big shout out to our partners who helped make GCUC APAC happen. Without our partners at Hub Australia, Colliers, The Executive Center and essensys GCUC would not be as juicy.

*Some quotes have been edited for length and clarity.

If you missed out, you can check out the replay of the real estate session here for a limited time or for viewing whenever you’d like, you can find it in the GCUC Community.