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Features

June 1, 1999

Site Selection: Congratulations on your new assignment at Cushman & Wakefield. How do you envision your role and that of the new Advisory Services unit going forward? Arnold C. Thomas: Advisory Services is a function that has been ongoing at several Cushman & Wakefield offices in the U.S. But the firm did not have an […]

June 1, 1999

Site Selection Magazine Online – Europe’s 1998 Facilities Race

 JULY 1999  SITE SELECTION  EUROPE’S 1998  FACILITIES RACE   • COVER PAGE   •  INTRODUCTION   •  EUROPEAN     CHAMPION:THE UNITED KINGDOM   •  THE RUNNER-UP:      FRANCE   •  GERMANY GRABS      THIRD PLACE   •  BELGIUM, NO. 4   •  POLAND TAKES      FIFTH PLACE   •  IRELAND, NO. 6   •  HUNGARY TAKES      SEVENTH PLACE   •  SPAIN, NO. 8   •  THE NETHERLANDS      RECORD BREAKING   &nbsp  YEAR   •  […]

June 1, 1999

IDRC’s Cannes Conference: Infrastructure Integration In the New Europe

C annes, France: Integration of a new and different sort is advancing on the new Europe: Like their U.S. corporate counterparts, European companies are feeling the pressure to maximize the synergies of their corporate infrastructure resources (CIR). Responding to the accelerated pace of workplace change generated by rapidly evolving technology, European firms are looking for […]

June 1, 1999

Quebec: Building Partnerships In the Americas

[Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from a speech by Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard in New York City on April 15.] I am very pleased to be back in New York City. On my last visit, three years ago, I had just become Premier of Quebec, and I spoke about our goal of turning around […]

June 1, 1999

Lucent Technologies’ ‘Project Atlas’ Sets Workplace Standard

At its best, corporate real estate is like Atlas, the mythical Greek god who bore the heavens: Top-flight real estate shoulders strategy. Appropriately, Lucent Technologies’ workplace strategy is dubbed “Project Atlas.” Led by Lucent’s real estate group, Project Atlas is a dramatic, five-year workplace transformation now under way for 24,000 key R&D employees located in […]

June 1, 1999

Due Diligence Experts Say Connectivity is King

If a corporate real estate executive (CRE) can get a due diligence professional to alleviate the countless headaches associated with environmental, architectural and engineering aspects of major transactions, then it may cost him, but he’s ahead of the pack. More importantly, expansion strategies stay on track and the CRE can stay focused on the other […]

June 1, 1999

Running With Gazelles Keeps Service Providers in Shape

One way to virtually ensure superior service from companies charged with solving business problems — service providers — is to stress your shop’s high-growth company characteristics. (That’s not a stretch for most high-tech and telecom companies.) Why? Because service providers are bending over backwards to retain the business of such players in the hope they’re […]

June 1, 1999

Born to Run Hot

”The rich,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “are not like you and me.” Similarly, Fitzgerald might’ve added, fast-growth firms are not like you and me — or most of our businesses. Very few of us can claim status as one of today’s fabled “gazelle” firms, who’ve become something like the business world’s Furbies. Everyone wants to […]

June 1, 1999

IDRC Abstracts

A look at recent major presentations of the International Development Research Council (IDRC), the world’s preeminent association of corporate real estate professionals. “Interactive Member Survey and Awards Luncheon,” IDRC San Antonio Fall World Congress for Corporate Real Estate Executives, Nov. 2, 1998: This interactive survey provides likely the most persuasive evidence of the growing importance […]

June 1, 1999

How Fast

In the beginning, Paychex was about not getting paid, providing an object lesson in fast-growth small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) cash-starved travails. Today, the Rochester, N.Y.-based payroll services provider is a US$500-million-a-year business with 100 facilities. But for five long years in the 1970s, Paychex was a $0-a-year business with zero facilities. “I started with […]

June 1, 1999

IDRC Log: IDRC Expands Electronic Member Services Menu

IDRC, the world’s leading professional association for corporate real estate executives, is going electronic with its membership services offerings. “Members on the Web” will include a number of new interactive features through IDRCNet, the group’s World Wide Web site in response to the growth of event registrations and other services on line. “Visits on IDRCNet […]

June 1, 1999

Citicorp’s Tampa Real Estate Prototype

Merger-contemplating executive No. 1:     “Can anybody stop us?” Merger-contemplating executive No. 2:     “Hmmm . . . NATO?” Citigroup does things big, as boldfaced by that humorous exchange, reported during 1998’s Travelers-Citicorp merger discussions. Just how big is obvious in Tampa. “We have 9,400 employees in Florida, 2,500 in the Tampa area and 2,200 […]

June 1, 1999

Decision Data: Watching Where Your Money Goes

Relocation: What’s Your Currency Conversion? How far will your employees’ current salaries go in a new location? Homefair’s Web site (www2.homefair.com) provides online assistance in that important currency conversion. We randomly picked 10 U.S. cities and calculated how far a US$100,000 salary in relatively low-cost Peoria, Ill., would go in each. And $100,000 of Peoria […]

June 1, 1999

Around the Real Estate World in 80 Minutes

Where do real estate consultants go for their expertise before meeting with corporate real estate professionals to plot strategy? Besides drawing on their own professional credentials, many attend educational meetings of The Counselors of Real Estate, a Chicago-based association of real estate consultants. The group’s Midyear Meeting in Seattle, held April 18-21, was a good […]

May 1, 1999

Real Estate Planning in the Financial Services Arena

Real estate and corporate resources executives from several leading financial companies gathered in New York City in mid-December 1998 to discuss ways in which they are helping drive change in their organizations. Unless an organization changes, it stops growing, becomes less competitive — even non-competitive — and will be left behind by more nimble players. […]

May 1, 1999

Q&A: A Corporate Services Chief Says CIR Is Key to Adding Value

Site Selection: Congratulations on your recent promotion to Senior Vice President, Corporate Services. How does this change your role at Charles Schwab? Parkash P. Ahuja: Thank you. As for my responsibilities, prior to this change I was responsible for corporate real estate facilities, purchasing, travel, food services and corporate records. I used to report to […]

May 1, 1999

Leadership Forum Concludes With New Service Provider Mandates

The industry crossroads referred to in Part 1 of this report on Jones Lang Wootton’s Corporate Real Estate Leadership Forum was brought sharply into focus during the final two sessions of the day-long event. The meeting, which had a “Focus on Innovation” theme, was held at IBM’s world headquarters facility in Armonk, N.Y., on Nov. […]

May 1, 1999

Awards Presentation

Site Selection 1998 Top 10 Development GroupsAwards Presentation The 1998 Top Economic Development Groups were honored by Site Selection magazine in a special Awards Ceremony and Reception held during the IDRC World Congress in Boston, Massachusetts on Sunday, April 25, 1999. Tim Venable, Managing Editor, Site Selection magazine opens the Awards Ceremony. Don Dunshee (left), […]

May 1, 1999

From Copenhagen and Stockholm to Oslo to as far out as Helsinki, Nordic markets are bubbling towards a top. After several years of rapid growth in available space, the market tune has changed. As a result, corporate denizens are scrambling to reposition themselves to control occupancy costs, which, for the average firm, make up 20-30 […]

May 1, 1999

Canada: It’s Time to Take a Fresh Look

A decade ago, many U.S. site seekers thought Canada an expensive place to do business. As a result, they rarely looked north of the border when expansion plans loomed. True, Canada was a costly place to operate, compared with many stateside locations. In fact, high operating costs helped turn the country into a favorite hunting […]

May 1, 1999

Breaking Boundaries: KeyCorp/Johnson Controls/Trammell Crow Alliance Sets Service Delivery Standards

Breaking down outmoded boundaries: It’s a key element in the ongoing revolution in corporate real estate service delivery. And boundary-breaking is precisely what’s driving the creative alliance between Cleveland-based KeyCorp (www.key.com) and service providers Johnson Controls (www.johnsoncontrols.com) and Trammell Crow Corporate Services (www.trammellcrow.com). Formed in September of 1997, the KeyCorp Real Estate Enterprise (KREE) is […]

May 1, 1999

Auto Exec: Taming the Property Tax Management Tiger

Most owners of diverse real estate holdings would jump at the chance to organize their property tax records and be able to access tax-related information for specific properties easily. And all owners of real estate would want to reduce their property tax burden wherever possible. Users of Property Tax Office (PTO), a software program from […]

May 1, 1999

The Approaching Industrial Land Shortfall

Much of the US is running out of attractive, properly prepared industrial land. Twenty-five years ago, the issue of site availability for expanding companies was not usually a major concern. When a client needed a fairly conventional property of perhaps a hundred acres, there was usually a range of choices. Virtually every community or region […]