Page 68 - BusinessWest September 28, 2020

Commercial Real Estate
A Matter of I
Speculation
Questions Cloud Future of Commercial Real-estate Market
By George O’Brien
t was time to face facts, Ned Barowsky recalled.
For six months, two brokers assigned by a large, national real- estate firm had been trying to fill the
vacancies left at Barowsky’s property at 98 Lower Westfield Road by the departure of Pier One Imports and Kaoud Oriental Rugs. And they had gotten ... nowhere.
“I met with them on the phone weekly, and they sent me a sheet of everyone they talked to and e-mailed, and all the responses they got,” he said. “For six months prior to COVID, not one bite. And they worked it. I felt bad for them; I wanted to pay them, but they didn’t get me anybody.”
Faced with this handwriting on the wall and an uncertain future for the Holy- oke property he has owned for nearly 35 years, Barowsky is doing what so many are doing in the midst of COVID-19, and in general. He’s
pivoting — big
time.
“
absolutely on fire.”
Indeed,
he intends to
remake those
vacated store-
fronts, and
some additional space at the complex, into a franchise for the emerging co-work concept known as Venture X, which bills itself as “the future of workspace” (more on that later).
Tower Square is
This intriguing pivot is just one indica- tion that the local commercial real-estate market is in a state of flux, if you will, with perhaps profound changes to come as the pandemic continues and its impact on this sector grows.
Indeed, there is already significant movement in the market when it comes to additional vacancies and properties becoming available. Meanwhile, there is widespread speculation that the office market in particular may see considerable disruption as businesses with some or most of their employees working remotely consider making such arrangements permanent.
And even if they don’t swing that far when it comes to working arrangements, there are questions about how much of their present space they’ll retain when their lease is up.
“We have lost a few tenants, mostly due to non-renewals as companies look for ways to be more efficient and perhaps consolidate if they had multiple loca- tions,” said Evan Plotkin, president of NAI Plotkin and co-owner of 1350 Main St. in Springfield, noting that Bay Path Univer- sity, which occupies roughly 12,000 square feet, is one of these tenants.
But as some are downsizing or not renewing, others are actually taking more
Ned Barowsky is transforming 14,000 square feet of what was retail space into Venture X, a co-working concept, one of many signs of change within the region’s commercial real-estate market.
28 SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BusinessWest