Page 89 - FDI Alliance International Magazine. Spring 2021 Digital Interactive Issue

The Wall Street Journal and other publications have noted that
employees located in large cities like San Francisco and New
York City have fled the urban life for the space that suburbs can
offer, often allowing for home ownership and dedicated home
offices. Pre-pandemic, workforce was the greatest driver for
relocations, and now, with the workforce moving away from dense
urban environments, companies will have to adapt or relocate.
Nothing tells that story more than the red-hot housing market
with extremely low inventory and plenty of buyers, housing sells
within 38 days and 31% faster than one year ago. Even still, the
median home price in McKinney, Texas is only $350,000 and
the average rent is ~$1,315.

We fully expect businesses to still require physical office space,
In August of 2020, five months into the first pandemic in modern especially younger companies who are trying to scale their product
times, office buildings were well below 50% of their pre-pandemic or disrupt an industry through our Innovation Fund but we don’t
occupancy, retail activity was down, and business sentiment was expect them to take more space than they need. Quality of life
looking forward to a reopening story, McKinney, Texas was making and work-life-balance is something that our organization thinks
headlines. The McKinney Economic Development Corporation about when recruiting new business to our city. Overall, 2021
partnered with Kaizen Development Partners to develop a 200,000 is shaping up to be another great year for North Texas, but for
square-foot Class AA tower in suburban North Texas as a part of McKinney specifically. We pride ourselves on being unique with
a larger mixed-use project, District 121. The district will include a innovative solutions to typical problems and our methods have
large outdoor space, restaurant options, and a modern Class AA been paying off. Reach out to us to learn more about how we’ve
office tower, complete with a technology program anchored by continued to thrive in what has been a challenging year.
achieving a Platinum Wired Score, dense fiber and 5G services.
In January 2021, a 55,000 sq. ft. building in Downtown McKinney
sold to a group to implement an innovative co-working concept,
CommonDesk, on the first two floors (open June 2021). The
third floor is remaining as-is for a single tenant. The building was
built in 2018, has ample parking, and is steps from the Historic
Downtown Square and adjacent to multi-family. These are just
two of the recent commercial developments that have occurred
in McKinney and with many more in the pipeline we will have
something for every business.
District 121 and CommonDesk are only part of what is shaping
up to be a record year in North Texas for commercial real estate
due to pent up demand in the market. The McKinney Economic
Development Corporation has secured over $110 million in
capital investment to the City in the first three months of 2021.
Anchored by a scorching hot housing market and an influx of
companies wanting to relocate from the East and West Coast,
available inventory and land are being snapped up at a pace
McKinney hasn’t seen before.

Demand in McKinney is higher than the DFW market as a whole
right now, and we are fairly flat on 12 month net absorption
whereas the rest of the market is down considerably; vacancy
rate dropped to a 6 month low of 10% compared to 20% at the
height of the pandemic. “The fact is that companies are starting
to return to the office and those looking to make relocation
decisions are looking for new and cutting-edge locations where
their employees want to live. Many of which are choosing to allow
their employees the option to have a flexible work schedule.” says
Danny Chavez, Senior Vice President at MEDC, “This approach
allows companies to be more competitive in recruiting talent
and I think we’ll see flex work as a permanent shift for corporate
America, as well as influencing relocation decisions.”

89. FDI ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL