At a growing number of apartment properties in the Chicago area, home office workers no longer have to spring for their own photocopiers or fax machines. Nor do residents needing party invitations or updated resumes have to dash out to a print shop. That’s because photocopiers and fax machines, computers and printers, and in some cases even access to the Internet, are all as close as the “business centers” in their buildings.
The growing presence of apartment community business centers is a natural response by building managers to a demand by residents.
“Tenants would come to the office and ask if they could make a copy or use the fax machine,” said Don Sanders, area marketing leasing director for Chicago’s Equity Residential Properties Trust, owner of Four Lakes in Lisle and many other Chicago-area rental properties.
“After you’ve heard that a few times, you begin to feel maybe this is a service residents would appreciate.” As more and more renters set up shop in their own home offices or find they routinely carry work home, business centers are also proving to be tools to attract and retain residents.
“We put in the business center (because) there’s competition in this area from newer communities that have business centers,” said Angela Parenti, community manager for Park Avenue Apartments in Lombard. “This is a way to compete. It’s part of our tour to prospects.”
Business centers are as diverse as the apartment communities offering them. Some centers are well-appointed and double as conference rooms; others are spartanin size and furnishings. At the 279-unit Park Avenue Apartments, for instance, the business center was originally a 22-by-14-foot conference room, and still offers leather sofas, a conference table and a dry-erase presentation board.
Since being converted to a business center in March, the room has gained a photocopier and a desk with a computer and printer. While no Internet access is yet available, management has discussed the idea of offering that extra amenity.
“There’s been a good response (to the center),” said Parenti. “It’s used every day. We have home-office people using it, and students use it both for studying and for writing.”
Park Avenue Apartments doesn’t charge residents for using the center, but does insist on a $125 deposit to reserve the room. Residents can book it for a day, and one resident once booked it for three weeks straight, said Parenti.
At Four Lakes, the business center was installed three years ago. “It’s a complete, dedicated office that’s centrally located,” said Sanders. “It has a fax machine, a Xerox photocopier, a computer linked to the Internet and a printer. There’s also a small conference table and a phone for outgoing local calls and incoming conference calls from anywhere.”
Sanders adds that while the center is used by some residents who have home offices, its purpose is to service a much broader spectrum of the community’s 4,000 residents. For instance, he says, if a resident has a baby shower coming up, she can use the Print Shop software on the computer to create invitations. Others use the computer and photocopier to print out notices of upcoming meetings or schedules for their softball or volleyball teams.
The center has been a success in attracting and retaining residents, adds Sanders. “It’s one more step toward absolute convenience,” he notes. “It’s a point on our tour for prospective residents. We tell them they don’t have to bother going to (a commercial copy shop that’s) 10 minutes away. A lot of prospective renters are surprised that it exists, because it’s not standard in the rental market. In terms of retention, people almost get addicted to it. What you get is consistent praise that it exists.”
At the International Village Apartments in Schaumburg (with 732 units) and Lombard (671 units), residents also enjoy access to business machines. The computer lounge in each International Village Apartments clubhouse features three Compaq 486 computers loaded with Windows 95 and three top-of-the-line business software packages. Also offered is a typewriter and a laser printer. Residents are free to use the fax machine and photocopier in the offices.
“We even furnish the paper,” said Larry Gertgen, senior vice president of The Ackerberg Group, which was involved in the original development of the communities and reacquired them in January 1996, the same month the computer lounges were installed.
Gertgen said The Ackerberg Group had good reason to believe the lounges would be as well-accepted as they have been. “Our Minneapolis International Village Apartments has had a computer lounge for about eight years, and it’s been very successful up there,” he remarked. “The lounges give people ready access when they need to work on their resumes. And they can also use it when they have to bring home work from the office.”
At some newer apartment communities, business centers have been there from the start. The center at Osprey Lake Apartments, a 300-unit community in Gurnee that opened in April, is situated in the clubhouse. Residents have 24-hour access to the 135-square-foot center, which offers a computer, copier, fax machine, telephone, five-seat conference table and desk.
“(Residents) really like it for the convenience,” said assistant property manager Karen Tucker. “If they work long hours, they can do some of their work at home. And if they’re self-employed, they can use our fax machine or copier.”
Some communities currently under renovation are getting business centers, too. The 466-unit Briarwood Terrace Luxury Apartments in Prospect Heights is adding a center in the first two phases of renovation, expected to be completed this year. The 150-square-foot room will offer fax and copy machines, a computer with pre-installed business software and a laser printer.
“We find that people have less and less leisure time,” said David Friedman, president and CEO of Skokie’s F&F Realty Ltd., which manages Briarwood Terrace and four other Chicago-area communities. “We’ve offered faxing, copying and overnight services at another of our properties, and we’ve found over the years that these services get used more and more. A lot of our residents work out of their homes, and they don’t always invest in a $2,000 copier.”
The business center concept isn’t limited to suburban communities. At Park Place Tower, a 901-unit building on Chicago’s North Side, a business center opened this spring. About the size of a typical apartment’s living room, the center has three computers linked to on-line services like America Online and Prodigy. Also featured are printers, a fax machine and copier. Residents use a debit card system that deducts 50 cents for each faxed page and 5 cents for each copy.
Management gets “all positive feedback” from residents, said leasing director Karen Spaid. Frequent users include home-office workers, residents who frequently bring work home, those needing to update resumes and students, she added.
Meanwhile, management at The Chicagoan, a 221-unit apartment building on Chicago’s Near North Side, is planning to add a business center next year, said community manager Jean LaSpisa. Destined to occupy an unused 11-by-10 foot room on the building’s sixth floor, the center plans to offer a fax machine, computer and printer and a photocopier.
“It’ll be a backup for those who have that kind of equipment in their apartments, and will also be available for those who don’t have computers or fax machines,” said LaSpisa.
“If we can keep them from having to leave the building, they’ll save time, and that’s what everyone values these days. What we’ll offer goes beyond the conveniences of home. It’s the conveniences of business.”
BUSINESS-TYPE AMENITIES OFFER SPECIAL APPEAL
If you’re among those renters who have established or are planning to start a home-based business, a business center may be the single most attractive feature of an apartment building or community. But a couple of other business-related amenities offered at select apartment properties in the Chicago area are also worth examining.
Hospitality suites are one such amenity. Putting visiting clients up in a fully-furnished apartment within a few steps of your home office may win you points with that business contact.
Lisle’s Four Lakes offers about 10 furnished apartments complete with everything from bed linens and towels to pots and pans. While area marketing leasing director Don Sanders won’t quote prices on the suites, he does say they’re available “for less than a hotel room.”
Because the suites are used frequently, those residents wishing to reserve a suite are asked to give the office about a week’s notice, added Sanders.
Park Place Tower on Chicago’s North Side offers three hospitality suites.
The fully-furnished one-bedroom apartments rent for $85 a night, and residents are urged to reserve them a week in advance of a weeknight visit by a guest.
The Chicagoan, an apartment building on Chicago’s Near North Side, offers only one hospitality suite, but management is considering adding another because of the popularity of the concept. Cost to rent the suite is $110, and residents are advised to book reservations for out-of-town guests at least three weeks in advance.
Another lure for the home office worker is found at International Village Apartments in Lombard. There, residents can keep their home and work lives separate by renting one of seven available “mini-suites” as an office. The fully carpeted, enclosed mini-suites are situated off a lobby area, measure 250 to 500 square feet and rent for $250 to $375 per month.
