Gary Ceder is a managing director in transaction advisory at Cushman & Wakefield, where he has represented office tenants in New York for close to 20 years. He came to brokerage from marketing and advertising, and he treats the job as asking the right questions rather than finding space. He explains how tenants, landlords and brokers are each adjusting to an office market that has not returned to its old shape.

Gary Ceder, Managing Director - Transaction Advisory, Cushman & Wakefield

Watch the episode ↗

In this conversation

How Gary's advertising training taught him to probe for the real problem, because a client never just wants space.

Why tenants now chase trophy buildings near Penn Station and Grand Central, and why amenities went from luxury to requirement for Class B and C landlords.

What a remote company should ask before signing an office lease, and why pre-pandemic occupancy was never 100 percent to begin with.

The owners drilling light wells through the core of office towers to turn them into apartments.

Why Gary thinks a landlord's debt position is now some of the most useful information a broker can bring to a tenant.

Whereas we used to say that having amenities in your building, having some kind of curb appeal used to be a luxury, it's almost a requirement now.

Gary Ceder

Chapters

Never just find me space

How a marketing background taught Gary to ask what is really changing inside a company.

The flight to quality

Trophy buildings, transit hubs, and what Class B and C landlords must spend to compete.

Doing more with less

Reprogramming the space a company already has, and what it takes to convert offices to homes.

When a remote company needs an office

Critical mass, real occupancy numbers, and the new shape of flexible space.

What sets a broker apart now

Granular market knowledge, including which owners have loans coming due.

By the numbers

$929B

Commercial and multifamily mortgages maturing in 2024, 20 percent of the $4.7 trillion outstanding

Gary says owners extended their loans early in the pandemic to buy time, and those maturities are now coming due. A landlord facing that deadline will work hard to keep a building full.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association, Commercial Real Estate Survey of Loan Maturity Volumes (February 2024) ↗

What will not change

Why genuine interest in the client still decides who gets the first call.

If I'm an owner, I've got to be very smart about who I bring into my building. But we look at that from a tenant's perspective: it's a phenomenal opportunity. This person has debt coming due, they'll strike almost any deal possible.

Gary Ceder

Takeaways

Before looking for new space, look at the lease you already have. Swapping an unused boardroom for phone rooms and movable pods often lets a company do more in the same or fewer square feet.

Size an office for the people who actually show up. Even before the pandemic, occupancy sat around 65 to 70 percent, and a conferencing provider can cover the rare day everyone needs to be together.

A tenant negotiates best when it knows the owner's position. A landlord with a loan maturing soon has strong reasons to strike a deal and keep occupancy up.

Keeping existing clients happy is always easier than developing new ones.

Gary Ceder