Suburban Office Growth

I've been fascinated recently by out-of-downtown employment centers. Naturally, cities like San Fransisco have large employers making their headquarters 30-60 miles outside of metropolitan centers. Through strong urban planning (and the laws of supply and demand working appropriately together) other cities , such as, Portland, Seattle and Denver also have strong employment centers spread around their cities.

"Though it has been widely reported that Millennials are city-flocking suburbia shunners, Cross said that assumption is far from true. In fact, U.S. census data shows only 30% of Millennials lived within urban areas as of last August, and the remaining 70% were in no rush to move downtown. A market’s appeal for Millennials has very little do with whether it is suburban or urban, and everything to do with its offerings, such as its access to public transportation, walkability, housing options, access to good jobs and available amenities," CBRE Americas head of office research Andrea Cross.

We have seen here in Austin with recent large office deliveries of 200,00 square feet or more. Large employers like Apple, Flextronics, Home Away followed by the likes of hot co-working spaces, such as WeWork, Regus, and Link Coworking have significantly altered our employment centers and made thriving suburban-type markets in our city. There's no doubt (data shows) that the millenial generation have assisted fueling these markets and (data shows) through long-term home ownership and living areas, this trend will continue. Not only does this make sense on the individual level, but from an employer's view mostly all markets outside of CBD (aka downtown) in any city are saving money with less expensive rents. Long live strong employment centers, mixed-use, vibrant suburban markets!