How the COVID-19 pandemic is changing commercial real estate

Just as office towers were filling up again, a new wave of COVID-19, omicron, arrived and pushed the return to the office back yet again.

This week on Down to Business, Samantha Sannella, Managing Director, Strategic Consulting for the global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield in Toronto, spoke about how the pandemic is changing commercial real estate.

Sannella, an architect by training who specializes in urban design and the workplace, said when we return to the office it may look different: many of the cafes and stores office workers used to frequent may not be there anymore.

Instead, Sannella says that companies would need to provide perks to lure people back to the office, which she predicted would happen, whether another wave of COVID-19 or an entirely different virus arrives or not. As always, the interview is edited for clarity of and brevity.

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