Avison Young expands flex office team to support current and future CRE needs

Adds eight professionals in Q1 to meet growing demand and serve as a resource for companies engaging in remote workforce strategies

Toronto, ON – Avison Young today announced that it is seeing growth in core and flex strategy interest from owners and occupiers, as the demand for flexibility continues to increase. To meet the growing interest, the global commercial real estate firm has invested in its Flexible Office Solutions (FOS) team, adding eight new team members already this year. 

According to the firm’s Avison Young 2020 Forecast, flexible offerings account for up to five percent of space across most major office markets and is expected to leap to 15-30 percent within ten years. As a result, Avison Young is continuing to expand its multi-disciplinary FOS team, focusing on bringing the right people to the table to provide customized solutions.

“Our team is comprised of experts from all aspects of the flexible office sector, so we bring a really well-rounded perspective to serve the entire flex office community,” said Charlie Morris, head of Avison Young’s FOS group, who joined the company in the fall of last year to build the firm’s service platform and expand it globally.

“The importance of flex office in an investor or an occupier’s portfolio is nowhere more evident than in the nature of today’s battle for workforce talent and can even be seen in how companies are preparing for business impacts related to the coronavirus outbreak,” added Morris. “We see companies engaging in mobile workplace strategies, some for the first time at scale, by implementing work from home strategies or spreading out their personnel into various shared office facilities to limit exposure to their entire workforce and will need to navigate the dynamics associated with managing a productive remote workforce.”

Since January, the multidisciplinary team on top of the latest FOS needs and trends includes:

• Giovanni Palavicini, who joined Avison Young as Principal and flexible workspace strategist last month, based in Dallas. Giovanni brings experience advising operators and landlords in the delivery of their flexible real estate solutions. A prominent influencer within the flexible office economy, Giovanni has both a network and relevant experience to expertly advise operators and owners on ways to differentiate their offering within the flexible office economy.
• Michael Kloppenburg, a Senior Consultant based in Washington D.C., specializes in owner advisory. Michael brings significant office leasing experience, both in flexible and traditional practices. In his previous role as Carr Companies Director of Leasing, he managed traditional leasing efforts as well as Carr’s own flexible offering, Carr Workplaces. He was also a Director for Preferred Office Network, the largest alliance of coworking locations and office space solutions in North America.
• Joshua Beer, a Senior Consultant based in Chicago, focuses on advisory services across all verticals within the FOS offering, with an emphasis on the occupier vertical. Josh has years of corporate services experience with Johnson Controls and CBRE prior to entering the flexible office sector at Instant Offices. Most recently, Josh was based in London where he was on the initial team in Europe for the expansion of Hana, CBRE’s owned flexible operation.
• Chris Hagerup, a Director of Business Development based in New York City, is focused on enterprise occupiers. Previously with International Workplace Group (IWG), Chris specializes in working with Fortune 1000 companies, large private and fast-growing global occupiers to create efficiency and flexibility across their portfolios, bridging the gap between occupiers and the thousands of operators which continue to expand around the globe.
• Monica Speak, a Senior Consultant based in Atlanta, specializes in occupier advisory services. Monica comes to the team from Workplace Solutions, a boutique flexible brokerage company, and prior to that was Director of Sales for Serendipity Labs. With 18 years of CRE experience including roles with large brokerage companies (Colliers most recently), she brings a unique blend of knowledge from the legacy brokerage model along with a passion for the flexible arena.
• Jillian Brown, a Senior Consultant based in Chicago, specializes in occupier advisory services. After serving in various capacities at Lifetime and CBRE, Jillian entered the flexible arena with Enterprise sales roles at Serendipity Labs and, most recently, Convene. Jillian leverages her experience to support the evolution of occupier’s portfolio management strategies.
• Christina Lewis, a Consultant based in New York City, specializes in occupier advisory services. After starting her career on the ownership side as a tenant services coordinator at Vornado, one of the world’s largest institutional owners, Christina moved into the flexible arena in various capacities at the Instant Group, a large flexible brokerage company. She will leverage the firm’s full-service flexible offering to provide a higher level of service to her occupier clients.
• Mike Gross, a Consultant based in New York City, specializes in occupier advisory services. Mike brings a unique skillset to the occupier team after serving in general manager and sales capacities with Regus & TechSpace (acquired by Industrious). He will leverage this knowledge to advise enterprise occupiers about how to navigate the expanding flexible marketplace around the globe.

Avison Young’s FOS approach serves occupier, investor and operator clients. The team, who works closely together, is product agnostic and leverages their collective experience and expertise to take a consultative, bespoke approach that delivers the right space, technology and service solutions through both transaction and advisory services.