Looking at the future for
Private Equity and Investors

Overview     Experience       Insights     How We Help 

OVERVIEW \ Private Equity

AOR prepares and positions private and institutional capital on performance expectations / performance in the face of unprecedented change

The world of office investments is on the precipice of major change. We advise our private and institutional equity clients to plan for what is coming next and how to protect what they have now. 


An industry whose foundational model is grounded in long-term, high credit “bond yields” accrued from traditional leases in a very low churn environment is under assault. These markets are not driven by supply-siders, but in response the needs of the end-user customer who will always vote with their feet—and whose operational needs / priorities are very different than in the past. Even before the pandemic, trends were in place tolling the bell on these traditional models. 


End-user customers are embracing the native attributes of agile products such as plug-and-play models with inherently shorter fixed commitments. Underwriting “office investment” will require evolution around changes in credit attributes, capital intensity, increased customer turnover (more akin to multi-family apartment churn rather than hospitality churn velocities) and value some level of business services above and beyond lobby guards, and basic life support to the individual spaces. 


This fresh new perspective and a lens on the future is why AOR is leading the way through investment and portfolio restructuring conversations inside the changing commercial real estate ecosystem.

HOUSTON DEAL 
A privately held, 40 MSF owner/operator of class A+ assets had maximized its potential as an "outstanding operator". Growth was only going to be derived from changing the paradigm. more
PRICE WATERHOUSE COOPER
For one of the largest institutional buyers in the industry with shorter asset holds, they improved the customer experience to compete on higher-touch services positioning them as the top choice. more
UNLOCKING PERFORMANCE IN AN UNDER PERFORMING PORTFOLIO
A private, 18M SF office asset owner/operator across the southeastern US was under performing in its peer group. They had not unlocked the potential value from being a good operator. more
EXPANDING THE FOOTPRINT FOR A LEADING OAAS OPERATOR

A privately held, established bi-coastal operator with 7 locations desired accelerated growth and an improved go-to-market strategy. more

Research-based Decision Support  

ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE RIGHT DATA ? 

EXPERIENCE  \ Private Equity

RECENT WORK.

Institutional ownership with over 15M SF of Class A office assets in major MSAs

AOR helped to unlock thought leadership from the key stakeholders, working closely with senior management on the architecture for the “2.0 version” of their operations, portfolio composition and asset management model. Target improvement areas were expanded NOIs, improved ROIs and increased asset value via enhanced, premium cap rate treatment on divestiture. Target for realizing improvement was within an 18-to-24-month window from program launch. 

Unlocking intrinsic value from a “B-“ grade portfolio 

An owner/operator with a 25+ MM square foot portfolio of office assets distributed over a variety of sunbelt markets, was realizing average performance and returns. Their goal was to unlock the Company’s intrinsic value but had been unsuccessful. AOR facilitated an attractive divestiture to an offshore private equity firm achieving stakeholder objectives. 


INSIGHTS  \ Private Equity

The Evolution of Buy-side Commercial Real Estate Intermediaries: From Space Brokers to Strategic Partners

By Jeffrey Langdon • February 4, 2025
The rise of technology-enabled "work-from-anywhere" is fundamentally reshaping commercial real estate, compelling buy-side intermediaries to transform their value proposition radically. While finding space, negotiating leases, and managing transactions remain important, these traditional services no longer suffice in an era where organizations are reimagining the very nature of work itself.

Re-Engineering for an alternative future for office investment and operation

By Jeffrey Langdon • May 20, 2024
For many investors and their capital partners, Covid 19 sped up behavioral change in how companies and their employees are working differently, altering their fundamental need for office space, and consequentially gutting the equity in their office investments. Asset after asset is in the news daily setting new price-per-square-foot lows that are unprecedented.

HOW WE CAN HELP \ Private Equity

INSIGHT

Often tapped for our opinion on which market when, AOR is a team of thought leaders always looking and advising on what is coming next for the office sector. 


  1. Office valuations must price in higher churn

  2. Increasing sophistication of the “activated” asset operating model creates more of an operating business model (like hospitality) than the legacy model

  3. The “activated” office asset has more capital invested prior to the credit commitment model

  4. Increasingly “plug and play” lowering capital intensity on customer turnover

  5. Traditionally operators were providing relatively similar approaches – no longer and with much greater differentiation in approaches it creates new underwriting needs


We apply research-based decision to support our work. Looking further and deeper and asking the questions that need the answers the most. 

WHAT WE DO

  1. Research, analytics and insight that is client and situation specific  

  2. Baseline current and historic performance, day-to-day operations, business processes and systems, organization, and core competency strengths / gaps

  3. Re-imagine and conceptualize alternatives that might produce different, improved results

  4. Implement performance improvement projects focused on delivering against gains / targets that can “move the needle” in terms valuable to Company stakeholders



HOW TO WORK WITH AOR

ANALYTICS

  • Analyzing model changes underwriting
    higher churn
  • Valuation and modeling backward-looking performance
  • Targeted research

 

PROJECT-BASED ASSIGNMENTS

  • Business process reengineering
  • Growth and capital deployment
  • Organizational development
  • Transaction related
  • Project definition, programming, and planning
  • Analytics and underwriting
  • Structure, negotiation, and arrangement
  • “Asset-light” model engineering


Ready to talk?

Watch your profits and efficiency soar. You’ll expand faster than you ever thought possible. 



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