Visitors to the Springline complex in Menlo Park, California, are greeted by an atmosphere of comfort and luxury reminiscent of high-end hotels. The space features off-white walls with a Roman clay finish, a gray-and-white marble coffee table, and a white leather bench beneath a large resin canvas inscribed with the words “Hello, tomorrow.” The air is filled with Springline’s signature scent, a blend of salty sea air, white water lily, dry musk, and honeydew melon.
However, Springline is not a hotel; it’s a “work resort,” a term used to describe office spaces designed with the aesthetics and amenities of boutique hotels.
Located on a 6.4-acre town square near the Menlo Park Caltrain station in the San Francisco Bay Area, Springline offers more than just office space. The complex includes two premium office buildings, nine restaurants, outdoor workspaces, terraces for socializing, gym facilities, a high-end golf simulator, an upscale Italian grocery store, and a 183-unit residential building. Like any good resort, it also boasts a calendar of community events ranging from craft cocktail fairs to silent discos.
With office vacancy rates hovering around 20 percent in the United States, according to Cushman & Wakefield, downtown business districts are exploring new ways to lure workers back into the office. One such strategy is creating resort-like workspaces that rival or even surpass the comfort of home.
“The idea comes from the image of a resort — a beautiful location or building that makes you think, ‘I want to experience this. I want to be there,’” said Matthias Hollwich, founding principal of the global design firm HWKN. Hollwich is currently designing a work resort complex called Sky Island at Canada Water in London. “It’s not like home, and it’s not like other office buildings. It’s something novel,” he added.
Hollwich noted that many people question the need to go into the office when they can accomplish the same tasks from home. “You have to offer something better, but it’s not about making it feel like a club. People still want to be efficient at work,” he said.
The trend of transforming traditional offices into spaces with hotel-like amenities is known as “hotelification.” This concept also incorporates a “hospitality experience,” which Amy Campbell, an architect and senior associate at Gensler in San Francisco, describes as “anticipating the needs of others and creating accommodations for them.” Campbell sees hotelification spreading across various sectors, including residences and airports, and believes it’s a niche market poised for growth.
Campbell’s own office embodies this concept, which she likens to “walking into a spa.” “There’s music playing, you can get a drink, sit on a lounge seat and work, or tuck into a room for a quick call,” she said. “The space anticipates all the different needs someone might have.”
Meeting these needs is what elevates a workplace from good to great, according to a recent Gensler workplace survey. The survey found that being merely functional and effective is no longer sufficient; the most important factors now are that the space feels beautiful, welcoming, and inspiring.
One of Springline’s tenants, the law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, has been there since 2022. The firm’s previous office lacked nearby restaurants, and employees were spread across several floors, said Joe Petersen, the firm’s office managing partner. “I could be in the office and not encounter any other colleagues,” he noted.
At Springline, where the firm occupies 10,100 square feet on a single floor, they were able to “reimagine our office for the post-pandemic world,” Petersen said. The new space encourages interaction, collaboration, and flexibility. He added that about half of the firm’s 22 lawyers are on-site on any given day, and in-office attendance is “materially better than our peer firms,” which he attributes to the space’s “buzz” and its ability to “draw people out.”
Creating a space that feels special and exclusive requires active management, akin to running a hotel, said Cyrus Sanandaji, managing principal and founder of Presidio Bay Ventures, the developer behind Springline. “That’s a whole new business that developers, institutional owners, or incumbent property managers don’t know how to do,” he explained.
Last summer, Presidio Bay purchased 88 Spear, a mostly vacant 60-year-old office tower in downtown San Francisco. Sanandaji said the company plans to implement the same features as Springline in this vertical setting.
Other work resort concepts across the country include Habitat in Los Angeles, which describes itself as a “live-work-thrive” campus, and the Mart in Chicago, which offers 2.4 million square feet of office space with tenant lounges, a speakeasy, an upgraded fitness center, meditation pods, and more.
In London, the 62-story 22 Bishopsgate is home to 25 companies and features high-end restaurants, a commuter area with lockers and space for 1,000 bicycles, food stalls, and fitness facilities.
Hollwich’s Sky Island at Canada Water, a 350,000-square-foot complex expected to break ground next spring, will include two office buildings and an open market square with food, drinks, music, and entertainment. The complex will also feature communal and individual workspaces, a “laptop bar,” and terraces designed for outdoor meetings. A boat will be available near Canada Water Dock, and the top floor will be dedicated to relaxation and socializing, complete with a saltwater therapy spa. Kayaks and bicycles will be available for rent for the commute home.
Throughout history, companies have improved their workspaces to boost employee satisfaction and productivity. From the Larkin Soap Company’s airy lunchrooms in the 1870s to Silicon Valley tech campuses with video game lounges, the goal has always been to create happier, healthier employees, said Nikil Saval, author of “Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace.” He noted that there has long been a belief that better environments could address worker discontent.
While rich amenities are appealing, Saval, now a Pennsylvania state senator, cautioned that they might not be enough to overcome resistance to returning to the office. “I would not argue against investing in environments conducive to work and people’s well-being,” he said, but he warned that the concept might not fully resolve the issue.
For Mary Miller, head of business development for the investment firm Norwest Venture Partners, the office space at Springline makes her two- to three-hour round-trip commute worthwhile. “You get to Springline, and there’s the fountain, and you feel relaxed and refreshed even though you’ve just battled the 101,” Miller said. “There’s so much negativity around office life. I feel like we’re an exception to that kind of talk. I feel lucky.”
Source: nytimes.com