Multi-Tenant vs Single-Tenant Occupancy

While one look at your community's downtown and its high-rise might make you think that you should choose to site your business in a multi-tenant building. After all, that's where everyone else is, right? However, if you don't need the size and scale of a multi-tenant building (or are big enough to fill one yourself!), single-tenant options have compelling benefits as well.

Location

One of the key differences between multi-tenant and most single-tenant buildings is where they are located. One of the reasons that you have multi-tenant buildings is that when you have many businesses that want to be at a given place, there simply isn't enough room to give each of them their own building. High rise buildings sprouted up to squeeze more people into a finite area of land.

However, if you don't need to be at "main and main," you begin finding more single-tenant buildings. Suburban locations, neighborhoods, and areas on the edges of downtown (especially in the hip, emerging areas of many cities) frequently have those smaller, single-story or low rise buildings that can give you a single-tenant experience.

Co-Tenants

One of the benefits of multi-tenant space is that you have co-tenants -- other companies that share the building with you. The drawback of multi-tenant space is that you have co-tenants. In a single-tenant space, your building is yours. Your employees build a common culture. They only see each other. You don't have to worry about competitors on another floor overhearing conversations in the elevator or recruiting your people in the Starbucks downstairs. And you don't have to hear the drill from the dentist down the hall.

Then again, in a single-tenant space, you don't get the benefit of having a crack graphic designer 2 floors below you, or the ability to poach an HR whiz from the widget company down the hall.

Access

With a multi-tenant space, it can take a while to get from the door or the parking garage to your space. Big lobbies, elevators, and hallways all take time to traverse. In a single-tenant building, once your workers hit the front door, they're at your business. Given that single-tenant buildings are usually smaller, the whole process takes less time.

Control

With a multi-tenant space, the landlord and the management company are in control. With a single-tenant space -- especially a net-leased one -- you are in control. This applies to expenses. Since there's probably not going to be anyone there to change the lightbulbs for you or tweak the thermostats, you choose the light level and the temperature in your office and in the hallways. You will probably have a great deal of control over which vendors you use, too.

Control goes deeper than just costs. It also means that if someone is taking up two parking spaces in your lot every day, it's one of your employees and you can do something about it. You get to decorate your hallways and the like, and truly craft your own experience in your space.

Culture

Ultimately, a single-tenant space feels different from a multi-tenant space. Your house might not have the expansive spaces that you would find in a major hotel. But it's also a nicer place to live, because it's your home, and it's yours. You can't socialize as easily at home as you can in a hotel because you (probably) don't live with hundreds of people at a time, but you can also get left alone at home. And your home looks and feels exactly the way you and your family want, subject to the limits of your budget.

The culture of a single-tenant office is similar. It's yours, and you make what you want of it. It's also a place for your people as opposed to a place where your people are part of a larger, shared experience.

Which is Right for My Company?

Single-tenant and multi-tenant buildings both have significant benefits and drawbacks -- the importance of which vary based on your company and its needs. When you look into your next space, work with a skilled tenant representative who can help you determine which type of space is right for you. He or she can then help you find the perfect one with the best possible price and terms.