Economic forecast 2020: Commercial real estate

COMPANY: Paula Clair Smith, a managing director of commercial services at Colliers International, says 2019 was a year of disruption for her firm and the Tampa Bay commercial real estate sector. Smith, whose market is primarily Pinellas County, says the rise of the startup economy and co-working spaces has caused her and her colleagues to “rethink everything.” Landlords’ view of the market is changing because the way tenants enter the market is also shifting. “It’s had a major impact on how businesses react,” Smith says. Even in heavily built-up Pinellas County, where commercial real estate is hard to come by and thus in high demand, “consumers have a choice, … leases have been shortened, terms are changing, and landlords are having to adjust to that. Even in some of the Class A office buildings, they’re having to change their thinking. Some landlords are still trying to ‘win’ the negotiation, when really, they need to use common sense and just say, ‘Let’s fill up my center.’”