Top CRE executives discuss selecting the right amenity mix for your property.

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Hussain Ali-Khan, Global Alliance Director, CBRE

It's a really good question because I'm not sure that there's a ton of data out there that says well this is a must have, and these are nice to haves, right. I'm not sure that's out there yet in a way that is actionable.

Jack Sibley, Technology & Innovation Strategies, TH Real Estate

In terms of how we pick and choose which amenities we provide… You can spend a lot of capital doing something that you know you might risk. It's really a cool thing to do in 2018, but going forward for the next two, three, five years you need to make sure you're doing things that are sustainable, and that really provide that value in the long term.

Hussain Ali-Khan, Global Alliance Director, CBRE

Basically everybody is offering some type of food service, because it's like an arms race. I mean if you don't have the food services, well who wants to work there.

John Gilbert, EVP, COO, CTO, Rudin Management

Well, it's an ongoing conversation. We're clearly on our multifamily side doing a lot with gyms, yoga rooms. We're looking at creation of an app, ultimately that will allow that experience to be very much branded for that building.

Adam Stoltz, National Director, Consulting Services - Transwestern

So the mix of amenities within a building has become a bit more complex. Complex in the sense that we have access to data or other information about the tenants in those buildings. Both about the organization itself. We're talking about a multi tenant property and the sorts of work that they do. The people that they compete with and the ways that they support their employees. And now can apply that, again not only to that information about the business, but also the interests and the wants and needs of the individuals in that building to better tailor what those amenities actually are.

Gabrielle Rubin Deveaux, Global Real Estate & Facilities, Buzzfeed

I think the important thing when it comes to amenities is to have a variety of spaces. There are a variety of people so therefore everybody works a little bit differently.

John Gilbert, EVP, COO, CTO, Rudin Management

On the office side, I think that at the Dock 72 product that we're creating with Boston Properties over in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, that has 30,000 feet of amenities. It has a gym. It has yoga rooms. It has pilates rooms. It has an amazing food service component. It's got a roof deck that allows events to be held. So it's a full suite of amenities that you know more and more companies are wanting and expecting in terms of being part of the fabric of that building.

Kent Tarrach, VP, Asset Management & Global Corporate Development, Brookfield

Brookfield selecting its amenity mix through quite a bit of reading and research around what others are doing, as well as direct conversations with the types of tenants that are currently in our portfolio that we would like to have the closest relationships with. And so Brookfield kind of position its portfolio to focus more on the large enterprise type tenancy. And so we spent a lot of time speaking to their facility management folks, and more so and more so there H.R. folks who are we feel provide very good insight into what their employees are looking for.

Adam Stoltz, National Director, Consulting Services - Transwestern

And so I'm even talking about things like being able to offer what might have been a lobby based coffee or happy hour and ice cream social, down to now understanding if we're going to put coffee in the lobby we can know more about: Well where should the coffee come from? When should it actually arrive? If the tenant mix in the building tends to go out and get their coffee at 11, you don't want to offer coffee at 11:30. It's already past.

Hussain Ali-Khan, Global Alliance Director, CBRE

The amenity mix is still I think a little bit of an art more than a science.

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