Page 17 - RENJ_Combo_1120

REALESTATENJTM 15
With completion slated for December, Connell Real Estate & Development Co. is set to debut Round Table Studios, a shared, flexible workspace at 200 Connell Drive. The landlord has partnered with Hana, a CBRE subsidiary, to open the 40,000-square-foot space, offering a selection of workstations, private offices and common areas.
affordable grab-and-go meals that are all made in house.
The team is also focused on convenience, Connell said, pointing to the refrigerated Penguin Locker in the lobby that allows tenants to preorder dinner via a mobile app and pick up their meal on their way out.
“Every single one of the office buildings will have elevated service, so you feel like you’re eating at a restaurant instead of a café,” Shane Connell said. “That approach is then scalable because we’re then going to add restaurants to the campus, catering to the campus, so this team supports all of that.”
He added that dining goes hand
in hand with both nutrition and fitness, which are both part of
the company’s formula at The
Park. The campus’ on-site fitness director, Ryan Kennedy, recently joined Connell and now oversees
a high-end, 12,000-square-foot gym that opened last year. The space, known as the Fieldhouse, includes a full selection of weight and cardio equipment, a studio and modern locker rooms, along with additional workspaces and a lounge area with a pool table, a dartboard and other amenities.
The facility, which has operated during the pandemic using a reservation system, has remained popular even without a full-
time office population. Tenant employees who are working from home often come to the campus just to use the gym or get a meal, Connell said, “so it’s now become their hub.
“They don’t have to actually work here all day, but they like to come here because these things are sitting here,” he added. “So it’s working. With this whole change in work, even if you have the option of working at home, I’d rather be here because I get to see people, I get to have these amenities, and I can still work at home at some point during the week.”
The building, which is home to tenants such as Samsung, Hewlett- Packard and Jackson Lewis P.C. — also boasts a new on-site clinic by Eden Health, a concierge-style provider that offers primary care, physical therapy, behavioral health and other services. Along with having a full range of exam rooms and facilities on the premises,
the company offers telemedicine through a mobile app that is available to office workers, hotel employees and the Connell team.
Eden Health has also provided COVID-19 screening services during the pandemic. According to Brian Healy, Connell’s senior vice president for capital markets, the provider “fits the hospitality thread” of the entire campus.
“It’s a real high-touch-point service, so we wanted
bring them here and show them that this is now part of this campus.”
“Co-working is primarily what
this is all about, but then there is
a social element where you have access” to programming such as speaking engagements, live music and pop-up chef events, which he believes will appeal to both smaller users and large tenants.
Even with Round Table Studios still under construction, the landlord has already seen the benefits of
its $30 million investment at 200 Connell Drive. The building has seen rent appreciation of $8 per square foot since the investment, a significant milestone for a campus that has always enjoyed near 95 percent occupancy — thanks in large part to its location on I-78
— but never saw significant rent growth.
Connell also noted that building 200 was “always the most volatile” in terms of occupancy, so “we decided to do this one first” when it came to overhauling the five office buildings.
“It was a huge change in the perception of what this building was, and now it’s (about) taking the same design, character and operating and taking it to the campus,” Connell said. And that’s before the company’s on-site hospitality and wellness team is fully staffed.
Brian Healy
to align ourselves with someone that fits our strategy
and the culture we’re creating here for campus
wellness,” Healy said.
By year-end, 200 Connell will welcome its newest addition in the form of a shared, flexible workspace. The landlord
has partnered with Hana, a
CBRE subsidiary, to open the 40,000-square-foot space under a branded concept known as Round Table Studios, offering a selection of workstations, private offices and common areas.
The two-story space will also feature a restaurant, RT Farm,
as a gourmet dining and café option for members that can be converted to a cocktail bar after hours. It’s among several flexible event and hospitality spaces that will be available to both individual members and office workers at The Park whose companies have joined Round Table Studios.
To Connell, “this is basically the face of the change to our culture at this campus, so any prospect that comes to look at big space, we’re going to
Courtesy: Connell Real Estate & Development Co.