Some Tips for Determining the Actual Cost of an Office Rental Space in Overland Park

Once you have found a promising office space for your business, the next step is to calculate the true rental rate.  The rent for a commercial office space is always more complicated than a simple monthly rate; it consists of several different factors, and sometimes there are extra expenses that are technically not part of your rent, but must be paid on a regular basis.  Here are a few tips for determining the actual cost of your rent.

  1. Determine how the square feet is measured.  Commercial space is usually advertised as a cost-per-square-foot basis, versus a descriptive basis (i.e. “the first floor” is available to rent).  However, it is important to be aware that just because a space is advertised as “3,000 Square Feet of Office Space” does not necessarily mean that you will occupy and pay for exactly 3,000 square feet.  Sometimes landlords take measurements that begin at the exterior of a wall, so you could end up paying for both usable space and wall thickness.
  2. Determine the cost of common areas.  In many office buildings, there are parts of a floor that you will share with other tenants, such as hallways, lobbies, elevator shafts, restrooms, and parking lots.  These can add up to quite a lot of space, so do not assume there will be no cost associated with the use of these areas.

It is always prudent to not take prices at face value.  Do a little digging to make sure that you are really getting all that you are paying for.

If you are interested in commercial realty in Overland Park, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our available commercial space for rent in Overland Park!

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Three Ways to Decorate Your Kansas City Office Space

Since you spend so much time during the week in your office or cubicle, why not personalize it?  Before you get started, think about the culture of your company.  If you work for a more conservative business, you do not want to go overboard on decorations, but if your company is more creative and modern, you might have more freedom to jazz up your space.  Here are some tips for making your office or cubicle your own:

  1. Brighten up the walls.  If you have plain grey walls, consider covering them with craft paper, colorful fabric, wallpaper, or even Astroturf!  You can attach these coverings using Velcro tape.
  2. Add some green.  A living plant will improve both your mood and the air quality of your office, since plants give off oxygen and soak up pollutants.  Bamboo or some small ivy plant are good low-maintenance plants for an office.  You might also consider bringing in fresh flowers every so often.  If plants aren’t really your thing, you could even put a goldfish in a bowl (but remember to feed it!).
  3. Make a fake window.  Have a photo that inspires you or a piece of art framed with lightweight window molding and hang it in your office for your own personal picture window!

These are just a few ideas to make your personal workspace more enjoyable for you!

If your business is interested in finding office space in Overland Park, KS, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our available office suites for rent in Overland Park!

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Does Your Potential Office Rental Space in Overland Park Have the Appropriate Facilities? Part II

There are so many different factors to consider when relocating your business to a new office space, but it is important to make sure a potential space meets your basic facility needs.  If a space does not have the minimum amenities that you need, or a landlord is not willing to pay for those amenities, it could be a poor financial decision for your business to foot the cost of adapting the space.  Here are a few more factors to look for as you consider whether a space will meet your needs:

Parking

Sufficient parking is typically a concern for most businesses.  If a large percentage of your business’s customers will come to you by car, you need to make sure that a space has adequate parking, or begin looking elsewhere.  Often the zoning board or city planning will not even let you operate in a space if you do not have enough parking.

Zoning Regulations

A final consideration is checking on the legality of what you plan to do there.  You might find the perfect location for attracting customers, but if that building is not zoned for the business you plan to do there, your business will run into trouble.  Never sign a lease without being positive that you will receive permission to operate your business in the space.

Before you get too attached to a particular location, make sure it is legally and practically possible for your business to operate there!

If you are considering an office space for lease in Overland Park, give a commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

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Does Your Potential Office Rental Space in Overland Park Have the Appropriate Facilities?

Sometimes a deciding factor when choosing an office space is not its location, but the building facilities.  Facilities need to be either appropriate for or adaptable to what you want to do at your location.  For instance, if you want to open a coffee shop, you will need some sort of kitchen area.  If you cannot convince a landlord to make those kinds of adjustments for you, it will most likely not be worth it to pay for it yourself.  Here are a few things you should make sure a space has before you seriously consider moving into it:

Electricity and Heating/Cooling

It seems like a simple thing, but do not overlook electrical power as a factor in choosing an office space.  Be sure that the space has enough power to meet your needs, both in terms of circuit capacity and amount of outlets.  If your business uses sensitive computer equipment, talk to the landlord about how many hours of air conditioning your lease includes, and negotiate for longer hours if needed.

Communications Wiring

In the age of technology, another important consideration is having modern phone and other data lines available in your office space.  Find out specific information about the type of communications wiring, as well as who has the rights to the risers (wire conduits) in your space.  Sometimes landlords enter into contracts with specific providers, and bringing in a different one could be expensive.

Look into these things before signing a lease for a space, because bringing in these amenities yourself could be pricey for your business.

Give Kathy Woodward at DDI Commercial a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about available spaces in a Southcreek office building in Overland Park!

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9 Tips for Keeping your Kansas City Office Space Organized: Part III

Check out these few final tips for keeping your office space organized and kick-starting your productivity:

7.      Keep Track of your “To-Do’s”:  Whether you do it using pen and paper or you prefer to keep track of your life electronically, maintaining a running to do list can help prevent things from falling through the cracks.  Divide your tasks into categories (i.e. by client or project), and make sure you include all important dates and deadlines for those tasks.

8.      Stay current with your communication:  One of the biggest mistakes you can make is ignoring communications from others.  Schedule yourself a time every day to check and respond to emails and phone messages.  Taking care of this once in the morning and again in the afternoon will get the job done and minimally interrupt your work flow.

9.      Organize your Inbox:  It is important to stay electrically organized as well as physically organized.  Make different folders and subfolders within your inbox for different projects and clients.  With this system, you can respond to a new email right away and then file it under the appropriate inbox folder.

Keeping yourself and your space free of physical, mental, and electronic clutter can help make sure that your workdays are more productive!

If your business needs an office space for rent in Kansas City, give a commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100!

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9 Tips for Keeping your Kansas City Office Space Organized: Part II

Sometimes too much clutter and disorganization can get in the way of office productivity.  Here are a few tips for getting back on track in your office:

4.      Set up a filing system:  Piling papers on the floors is a recipe for lots items and disorganization.  There are a lot of effective options for organizing your files: alphabetically, by project, by client, etc.  But having that filing cabinet is the key.  Determine what system works best for your thought process and work style so it will be easiest to maintain.

5.      Archive older files:  Files from years ago are not essential to your day-to-day work.  Store these files you do not need in a different location so they do not add to workspace clutter.   If you have a lot of these old files, consider looking into a scanning and storage company to remove the files to an off-site space.

6.      End of the day habits:  It is miserable to start each morning coming into work with a pile of papers on your desk.  When you are wrapping up work each day, leave yourself 15 minutes to put things away and update any to-do lists.  This will enhance your sense of accomplishment for your day and help you begin the next morning with a clean slate.

Staying on top of files and keeping the paper piles to a minimum can help you feel spatially and mentally more organized!

If you are interested in finding a small office lease in Kansas City, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our available Kansas City office space for lease!

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9 Tips for Keeping your Kansas City Office Space Organized

Keeping an office space organized is essential to the success of your business.  If you are wasting time hunting for the things you need to do your work, that is productive time lost.  Here are a few simple tips for keeping your work space in order:

  1. Rearrange your space: If your current configuration requires you to get up and move across the room every time you need to throw something away or file something, in all likelihood your trash and files are going to start to pile up on the floor.  Make things easier for yourself by arranging furniture so that things are easily accessible.
  2. Purge: The reality is that unnecessarily junk tends to accumulate over time.  Go through your stuff and dispose of things that you no longer need or use, as well as any duplicates.  Once you have only your essential items, you will have a better idea of how much space you actually need to organize these things.
  3. Keep frequently used items within reach:  Since you are probably working on a computer, white-out is most likely does not need a place of prominence on your desk, nor does your pen holder need to contain twenty different writing tools.  Align items on your desk so that the things you know you will use regularly—computer, phone, stapler, a few pens, etc.—are within arm’s length.  Supplies that you use less often can be stored in drawers, eliminating some desk clutter.

Taking the time to periodically determine what is essential to your office and where these items should go will keep your workspace at maximum efficiency!

Interested in commercial realty in Overland Park?  Give a commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

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TI Allowances and Credits for Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City

If you have found the perfect space for your business, but have decided it needs improvements, consider asking your landlord for a Tenant Improvement (TI) Allowance or TI Credit, which is a fixed amount of money a landlord agrees to give a tenant to improve a space.  This can help you do things like repaint a space, put up new signage, or even reconfigure the entire layout.  Here is some information on how to go about the process of obtaining a TI Allowance or Credit:

  1. First, both parties agree that improvements are necessary, and they put this agreement in a lease addendum called the Work Letter.
  2. The landlord maintains the right to oversee and approve each step of the improvement process.  It might be the tenant’s responsibility to coordinate the work or get estimates from contractors, but it is the landlord who ultimately reviews all of the work and invoices before paying the contractors.
  3. If a landlord does not agree to the proposed improvements, they might still allow the tenant to make the changes to the space—but at their own expense.  However, even in this eventuality the tenant might still be able to get the cost spread out, or amortized, over the duration of the lease term.

Talk to your landlord to find out if obtaining a TI Allowance or Credit is possible!

If you would like to learn more about our affordable office space in Kansas City, give a commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100!

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Silver Dollar City Discount for Southcreek Office Park Tenants

Good Morning America has referred to Silver Dollar City as a “Top 5 spot to light up the Holidays,” so do not miss out on an opportunity to bring your family to Branson’s Silver Dollar City for a Christmas Celebration!  Create beautiful holiday memories and celebrate the true meaning of the magical holiday season in the dazzling glow of over 5 million Christmas lights!  Here are a few of the Christmas attractions featured at Silver Dollar City this year:

Shopping – Get some Christmas shopping done at over two dozen one-of-a-kind shops such as Jingle Bell Junction, located in the Frisco Barn, which showcases 80 different themed trees as well as a variety of other Christmas decorations, including tableware, snow globes, lighted collectibles, and more!

An Old Time Christmas – In addition to your favorite Silver Dollar City rides and attractions (open weather permitting), experience the tastes of the season!  Enjoy an evening of family and food at a hickory-smoked prime rib buffet, or warm yourself up with a bowl of chili.  You can get your fill of holiday treats with the selection of gingerbread cookies, apple dumpling, and S ’mores!

Musicals – Come see two family-friendly Christmas classics: A Dickens’ Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life.  The kids will love seeing Christmas on Main Street and the Gifts of Christmas Holiday Light Parade—just a few of the festive events taking place this season!

To get your discounted tickets (Adult = $53.00 + tax; Child = $43.00 + tax), go to www.sdcticketoffers.com, click purchase tickets, enter the corporate promo code 13810, and then proceed to checkout and print your tickets!  If you have any questions, call Chris at 913-685-4100.

If you are interested in commercial realty in Kansas City, give a commercial real estate broker a call today at 913-685-4100!

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Southcreek Office Park Discounts for Upcoming Sprint Center Events Part II

The Sprint Center has several exciting upcoming events, and Southcreek tenants can get special discounts to them!  Check out a few more events this winter that you might want to get tickets for:

The Original Harlem Globetrotters

January 25, 2014 at 2 pm & 7 pm
Special offer:
Tickets for $31, $23, $17 depending on section
Offer expires: January 17th at 5:00 pm
See link for seating chart
Ages 2 & up need ticket
$3 handling fee
Order online

Monster Jam

Dates:
Friday, February 7th at 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 8th at 2:00 pm, 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 9th at 2:00 pm
Special offers:
$22 for adults; $12 for kids
$17 for adults; $12 for kids*
*Kids tickets are available by calling Heather to place your entire order.  Not available through online link.
Offer Expires: January 31st at 5:00 pm
Ages 2 and up require a ticket
$3 per ticket handling fee
Order online

Disney on Ice: Let’s Celebrate!

Dates:
Thursday, March 27th at 7 pm
Saturday, March 29th at 7 pm
Sunday, March 30 at 1 pm & 5 pm
Special offers:
$20 Lower Level B
$14 Lower Level C
Other regular priced tickets available
*See link for seating chart
Offer Expires: March 17th at 5:00 pm
Ages 2 and up require a ticket
$3 per ticket handling fee
Order online

You can get your tickets to these events by entering the code property at the ordering links!  If you have any questions, contact Heather at 816-949-7147 or hfischer@sprintcenter.com.

If you are interested in business space for rent in Overland Park, give a commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

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