[ad_1]
Listen to this articleThe basics:
- The landlord-tenant relationship is evolving, with owners increasingly focusing on occupier satisfaction and engagement.
- One such example is Glenpointe in Teaneck, which offers diverse amenities including stylish office spaces, onsite hotels, dining options and fitness centers to attract tenants.
- While some additions such as an on-site eatery are in place, others, such as solar panel installations and Tesla supercharger stations, are underway.
Last year, work-play-stay corporate campus Glenpointe recorded more than 100,000 square feet of leasing activity. So far in 2024, Alfred Sanzari Enterprises says that figure totals more than 25,000 square feet. Amid a challenging and changing office environment, the 50-acre Teaneck property is leaning into its strengths, reflecting a think-outside-the-box approach and attracting a diverse roster of tenants.
Developer, owner and property manager Alfred Sanari Enterprises introduced Glenpointe in the early 1980s. At the time, The New York Times described the project as “a mixed-use development that has no counterpart in New Jersey.” Now, Glenpointe features 67,000 square feet of Class A office space, three onsite hotels with a total of 700 keys, Teaneck’s only Starbucks, the 26,000-square-foot Glenpointe Fitness Center, casual and fine dining options, and more.
With direct access to Interstates 80 and 95, the property is 12 miles from Manhattan and within proximity to the Garden State Parkway, Palisades Interstate Parkway, and Routes 4 and 46.
Touring the space in the fall, panels from Hackensack-based Alfred Sanzari’s recent 75th anniversary celebration were on display. “From the beginning to the future,” President Ryan Sanzari said of the placards, which depicted highlights from the company’s history. The clippings and images tell a larger story, too, of the company’s investment and commitment.
Sanzari pointed to the ownership strategy behind Glenpointe as a factor in its success.
“It’s, I think, rare these days, right? It’s a long-term owner – or lifetime owner – strategy. We have to be very strategic in how we invest in the property because, I mean, just walking around here now, and at least in my mind, we could pick out 50 things easily that we could improve or work on tomorrow. And if we were looking to sell the building in five years, that’s probably what we’d be doing,” he explained – make the space as appealing as possible, lease it up and sell it off.
“But that’s not our strategy. And it’s never been. We know that we’re going to have this for the long haul. So, we need to be very, like I said, strategic and smart about how we proceed forward with the property while still trying to keep it as relevant as possible,” Sanzari said. “Knowing that, if we let things get to the point of neglect or the building feels tired and dated – is not current – that people aren’t going to want to work here.”
But people do want to work there.
Apples and oranges
Alfred Sanzari announced two new headquarters spaces earlier this month. The leases for tech company Made4net LLC and GC Biopharma USA cover more than 11,000 square feet. Overall, the property’s tenants include several international companies and cover a wide variety of sectors.
One of those occupants is revered photography stalwart Leica Camera Inc. For the company, which built out a unique space in Teaneck, the change was huge. Previously, the more than 150-year-old premium camera and sports optics maker’s North American operations were based in Allendale.
Also in this week’s
Real Estate Report:
As operators in the life sciences industry search for high-end locations with very specific needs, there’s a particularly unique opportunity in Kenilworth awaiting them. Click here to read more.
“You worked in, what I would consider an industrial park,” Mike Giannattasio, president, Leica Camera Inc. North America told NJBIZ.
Before starting with the company in January 2020, Giannattasio interviewed with Leica at its corporate headquarters in Germany. “And I showed up … and I was like, oh my God, this is like the Disneyland of corporate offices,” he said. The headquarters itself, he explained, is a park.
“In the park, we have our own hotel, our museum, three buildings,” he said. “And the buildings from the exterior look like a roll of film, but then when you look from above, there are binoculars. When you look over at the museum, it’s like an old 35 Polaroid image. … And I had never come to interview in Allendale.”
When he showed up at the East Coast stateside office for his first day, Giannattasio said the experiences could not have been more different.
“I was looking and looking … And then I found the Leica sign,” he said. “It was on this black metal thing with like metal rivets screwed into brown cinder block with this green awning.” Because the Leica office includes a service component, customers as well as employees were having that same experience.
Giannattasio said it was important to rectify it for both constituencies.
He added that the Allendale space served its purpose, “But in terms of portraying the brand, it really wasn’t well-suited in terms of receiving customers. It wasn’t well-suited in terms of comfort for our employees.”
In the old office, the space was split – with executives occupying space on a floor above the reception desk and the service and sales teams. Not a conducive layout for fostering a team atmosphere.
“It was dark. It hadn’t been updated in many years,” Giannattasio explained.
Building a better base
Now, the experience is, again, completely different.
A team of nearly 50 employees are based in Leica’s 12,274-square-foot Glenpointe space. The modern, stylish office welcomes visitors into a bright, open white space. To one side is an art gallery with prints by Leica photographers. On the other, large windows provide an inside look, framing Leica’s technicians at work in the equipment repair facility.
“And so, these are the two things that you see — the people who work on our products and make them special. And then the software, like the beautiful photography that is the living embodiment,” Giannattasio said.
The new office includes a kitchen and behind the reception desk is the Leica Studio. From there, the company records its Tech Talks. Additionally, the space features a camera display and showroom.
Transforming the space has helped to transform the experience. Now, when people come to Leica’s North American headquarters, “They’re greeted downstairs, they have a place to park the car, there’s always fresh flowers out there. And then they come up and they have a new experience,” he added.
And Glenpointe continues to try new things to enhance and hone that.
In 2019, Alfred Sanzari became the first company to work with Better Spaces in New Jersey, according to the company. Introduced during a trip to the SL Green building in Manhattan, Sanzari said the amenity and tenant engagement service was impressive. “I could tell there was just something different about it,” he said. The programming offers more than 40 free programs and classes each week via online content – to assist with meditation, practice your golf swing or learn the latest TikTok dance, for example – as well as at an onsite community lounge, The Pointe.
Another recent addition is Marketplace, an Urban Eatery. The dining option opened in October 2022.
“We’ve always had a food operation here, but it was a little different, because someone came in and rented the space from us and operated it,” explained Carolina Gutierrez, leasing and marketing manager, Alfred Sanzari Enterprises.
Unable to control the quality of the offerings, the company decided the best way to make things better was to “take it over and make it our own.” By incorporating local manufacturers, their products and food operators, that notion has taken on a second meaning.
Marketplace offers online ordering for pick-up, is available on DoorDash and also provides catering services.
Reasons not to leave
For Leica, onsite – and nearby – food options are another distinguishing feature from the company’s previous site. In Allendale, there was a vending machine, Giannattasio said.
Meanwhile in Teaneck, Leica can do things it could not do at its prior space. Last April, the onsite Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe hosted the annual Leica Society International Spring Conference, as well as the company’s holiday party later in the year.
Giannattasio said the hotels were a draw. During the three-day spring conference, Leica was able to offer convenient visits to its corporate office as well as the opportunity to meet with technicians and photographers without ever leaving the building.
According to Alfred Sanzari Enterprises, the Marriot has the largest conference area in Bergen County – and it’s where the New York Giants and Jets stay for home games. A free-standing, dual-branded Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites building is also part of Glenpointe.
“And just generally the hotel is a really big draw,” Gutierrez said. Easing travel accommodations, Newark Liberty International Airport is about 20 minutes away. “It’s just convenient to have a place for their people from other international offices to come and stay here. And then, whether they have a meeting in their office or whether they just book the boardroom here at the hotel or something, they have that all in one location.”
Glenpointe also offers a direct route and transportation to New York City via an onsite NJ Transit bus stop. A treat for travelers, but the norm for tenants.
The property’s two-story, state-of-the-art onsite fitness center offers equipment, machines, a fitness studio, classes and a full-sized Olympic swimming pool. According to Giannattasio, Leica pays 50% of the membership fee to Glenpointe Fitness on behalf of its employees.
At its new base, Leica can still do the things it did in Allendale, but with more ease and comfort. Due to the nature of its products, “We need to be able to go outside and look,” Giannattasio explained. “We used to do that … right onto that lovely Route 17. So here, the technicians go out on the balcony, they look out at that little park, and that’s how they can measure the optics.”
The Green, affectionately “that little park,” is a 22,000-square-foot outdoor amenity space that has really resonated with tenants. The area was “reinvented” in 2019.
“This is a really popular space for tenants – just like for daily use and stuff like that. But then also, our tenants will use it for private events,” Gutierrez explained said, citing barbecues and happy hours.
Alfred Sanzari also activates its communal spaces – indoors and out – to bring more value to them. The meticulously landscaped, Wi-Fi-enabled The Green, for example, has in the past hosted a summer concert series featuring live music. Inside, in the light-filled Atrium, Glenpointe has for two years hosted a popular holiday market with local vendors. Last month, the property hosted a Wellness Fair. With seating options and connectivity as well, it’s not surprising to see someone working from the Atrium, either.
Creating value
Despite the new base, Leica employees split their time between the office and remote work 50-50.
While the nature of some positions dictates those employees be in the office full time, Giannattasio said the company adopted a hybrid workplace policy in the post-COVID years. At Leica, “really embracing the changes” seems to have actually highlighted the office experience.
“I think that because of that, people are so eager when they’re here in the office,” Giannattasio said. “I think people really appreciate the efforts that the company has made to see them through the other side.”
He said the move has had a real impact, including on the company’s attrition rate.
“We knew from our first meeting that the Alfred Sanzari Enterprises team shared the same commitment to quality and service that has defined our success for over 150 years,” Giannattasio commented when the office opened. “We look forward to building upon our relationship with the firm in the years to come and continue to welcome our employees and community to experience all that the Glenpointe campus has to offer.”
In the unfolding office saga that relationship between tenant and landlord is taking on new importance and perspective, as each strives to keep employees engaged as well as energized about the office environment.
“What I love about this cycle, it’s just like what’s happened in retail. What happened in retail was, there was always this landlord versus the tenant. And I think the pandemic really taught us how to change that paradigm. I think this office disruption is also changing the paradigm,” Julie Ingersoll, chief investment officer of Americas Direct Real Estate Strategies at CBRE Investment Management explained during a November 2023 episode of CBRE’s “The Weekly Take” podcast. “We are partners now with our office tenants in so many more ways than we used to be, and I think that’s just going to continue to improve our relationship going forward.”
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, CBRE reported that along with location and amenities, “understanding an owner’s financial footing has become a focal point. Tenants want confidence that an owner can deliver on tenant improvement allowances or to operate amenity offerings as costs increase due to elevated interest rates.”
At Glenpointe, where Alfred Sanzari is in it for the long-haul, the property continues to evolve. Currently, the company is working with Brightcore Energy on a solar panel installation scheduled for completion this spring.
The work will include more than 5,000 interconnected solar panels positioned on a newly installed canopy over the parking garage. The system will produce about 30% of the electric power needs for Glenpointe Center East and Glenpointe Center West – two of the three buildings that comprise the interconnected campus.
According to Alfred Sanzari, every kilowatt hour of electricity produced will be utilized at Glenpointe. That will reduced the property’s demand from the local supply grid by an estimated annual total of 3.5 megawatts, or enough to power 330 average homes.
In addition, 25 Tesla supercharger stations are in the process of being added to the campus.
“From the beginning to the future,” indeed.
Sanzari said the company has put a lot of work into Glenpointe over the past few years, “and it’s starting to really pay off. But it took some time and patience.”
If you’re playing the long game though, the virtues are useful. And they can serve as a foundation which to build a new relationship.
“I think we can all agree that we really love being here,” Giannattasio said.
“It’s made an impact, I think, on how productive people are and how happy they are. … And I think it’s more emotional than anything else,” he added. “I think walking into a nice building, having the services, having everything – I think it just makes you feel a lot better about coming to work.”
“It’s something that I know we say to our tenants often, whether it’s a prospective tenant or an existing one, is that we can guarantee that your landlord at the beginning of your lease is going to be the same at the end of your lease,” Sanzari said.
“I think that’s extremely valuable to a group or a company looking to put their home in a new building — that they can find stability there,” he added. “And they don’t have to worry about buyer’s remorse. Especially in this market of like, constant disposition.”
[ad_2]
Source link
