There's just not enough office space in Seattle and Bellevue for the job growth coming (Kent: real estate, sublease)

[homesinseattle]

I had no idea there were 500 gaming companies here, did you? Article link here: https://www.kuow.org/stories/there-s...wth-on-its-way

“The Seattle metro area is booming. It might not seem like it, when you look at our downtowns and see vacant store fronts. But the market for office space in our region tells a different story.

No other U.S. city, except Boston, has as much demand for office space right now. That’s according to a new report by CBRE, which looks at commercial real estate.

A CBRE analyst said that remote workers have changed the game a little, and hybrid offices will let companies save a little space on desks. But even so, when companies forecast 10 years into the future, they discover they’re gonna need a lot more desks. A lot.

“Given the job growth, and the trends in Seattle historically for job growth, they’re gonna far exceed what they currently have in their footprint,” said CBRE's John Miller.

And so, companies are signing 10 year leases.

Seattle was one of only two major U.S. metro regions where new office space leases did not slow down in January, Miller said. The other city was Denver.

In Seattle, January's lease activity was 34% higher than it averaged just before the pandemic.

Some of that is still subleases. That's when companies hedge their bets by leasing a large area but subleasing part of it out to another tenant until they know for sure how much they'll need. But the number of subleases in Seattle is shrinking.

Miller said the companies driving this growth are tech companies, of course, but also life science companies, which have boosted Seattle’s economy even as Bellevue soaks up some of the region’s tech workers.

Video game companies are booming too.

Years ago, Ed Fries helped create the hit game Age of Empires. Now he’s a venture capitalist.

There’s about 500 game companies in the local region," he said. "We live in kind of the Hollywood of the games business. Us game people, maybe we don’t make as much a big a deal out of it as the Hollywood people do, so maybe you don’t realize that you’re living in the middle of a great games place.”

[Blondebaerde]

Just seems odd to me but I have a myopic view being in tech with zero need for office space and gigabyte stable Internet at home. A long time coming: WFH (mostly) since 2017 makes me never, ever want to be in an office again. Nor will I be to whatever extent practicable.

Many techies feel that way. Here in socially-chilly metro Seattle, doubly so. We've had years to demonstrate productivity offsite. No questions asked if we perform well though does significantly change the political and social paradigm of office work! Studies forthcoming no doubt from experts in such stuff. My observations are subjective only.

The article and games: Valve's HQ is mere miles to my north. As I recall from the outside it looks like a nothing-burger, by-design, though that was at least five year ago when I stumbled across the place. Be-design surely, espionage being kryptonite to such endeavors. I worked for Bungie awhile way back when and one hand didn't know what the other was doing. By-design, bad pun intended. And that worked well. No questions asked either.

I think 'they' are going to try and lure the likes of 'me' back into offices next few years. They can forget it absent substantial carrots. They'll throw in a little stick too. Guessing that will manifest in FY23 more-so than this year.

[jabogitlu]

We've always had a huge influence in the gaming industry. Major players like Nintendo of America, Microsoft, and Digipen have definitely helped there. But I've never heard the 500 figure. That's pretty impressive.

I'm in the real estate finance sector and we've largely moved to WFH setups permanently. The brokers will always desire and have nice office space, so we may always have some hoteling options in concert with their floorspace. But for my specific niche, the days of going downtown to sit and grind at a desk for 9-10 hours are over.

[Hemlock140]

Our office of about 400 is going back in starting tomorrow, but all hybrid. We will still be using the usual amount of office space, just not all at the same times. Most are doing 3 days at the office, 2 at home.

Microsoft is returning to the office:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkel...h=4694720b46b0

and a couple of my neighbors have returned to work at Amazon Seattle.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/wor...ffice-guidance

[usernametaken]

A surprise, at least in Seattle. Not surprising in Redmond/Bellevue/Kirkland.

Companies are taking different approaches.

-- Zillow is offering most employees full-time work from home options last I heard.

-- REI sold its HQ in Kent in 2020. Then sold its brand new HQ in Bellevue in 2020. All their office employees work from home as of now.

Talking about gaming of a different kind, Gameworks' Seattle location closed a few months ago:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sea...ATJU5P2QHHV5M/

[dav51lin]

good maybe businesses will go to oither states

[pnwguy2]

Just when I thought more and more will continue to work from home and office buildings would become half empty, this story comes out. Never expected it.

[primaltech]

I think office space will continue to exist, but will become smaller. Most companies in general just need a meeting place where employees can meet a few days a week and get that face time. As opposed to needing a cubicle for everyone, that they'd be commuting to every day. Those days are leaving.

Which makes me question whether more space is really that in demand. But maybe I guess, if there's enough growth.

[uniquetraveler]

Originally Posted by usernametaken

A surprise, at least in Seattle. Not surprising in Redmond/Bellevue/Kirkland.

Companies are taking different approaches.

-- Zillow is offering most employees full-time work from home options last I heard.

-- REI sold its HQ in Kent in 2020. Then sold its brand new HQ in Bellevue in 2020. All their office employees work from home as of now.

Talking about gaming of a different kind, Gameworks' Seattle location closed a few months ago:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sea...ATJU5P2QHHV5M/

REI sold their HQ at Bellevue Spring District, but they are building 4-5 satellite offices across Seattle metro area. They recently opened a 68,000 sq feet facility at Issaquah. Looks like they are still counting on people going to the office, maybe at hybrid capacity..

https://www.issaquahreporter.com/new...e-in-issaquah/

[jabogitlu]

Why would this be surprising for Seattle, but not the Eastside? Seattle has major office tenants. South Lake Union isn't 3rd Avenue, and Eastlake isn't Pioneer Square. Shocking, I know.