| 'VIRTUAL'
OFFICES THRIVE AS BUSINESSES DOWNSIZE [METRO Edition]
Orlando
Sentinel - Orlando, Fla.
Author: Jack Snyder, Sentinel Staff Writer
Date: Nov 23, 2001
Start Page: C.7
Section: MONEY
Text Word Count: 500
Document
Text
(Copyright
2001 by The Orlando Sentinel)
Jack Snyder
can be reached at jsnyder@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420- 5094.
They're
certainly not immune to tough times, but a bummer economy can
mean business for executive-suite operators.
Although
conventional office space vacancies and the amount of sublease
space available in metro Orlando are climbing, executive suites
have seen a surge in revenue from "virtual offices."
The virtual
office client occupies no space, but the company's telephone
is answered and its mail is handled along with other basic services.
"It
gives a company an identity and keeps them in business with
a running office," said Nicole Collins, office coordinator
for The Intelligent Office at Capital Plaza in downtown Orlando.
A virtual
office can cost as little as $75 a month.
Cathy Price,
owner of Execu-Suites Inc. in Orlando, said her virtual office
business "has exploded" in the past few months. She
also has seen an increase in business from companies downsizing,
leaving high-priced space for smaller, less expensive quarters.
Some businesses
have slashed their office rental costs from $5,000 a month to
$1,500 a month, she said.
The economy
has been cooling for most of this year and nearly came to a
standstill after the September terrorist attacks.
Price said
her downtown operation at the former Angebilt Hotel building
was at 100 percent occupancy this time last year. She's now
about 90 percent.
The Intelligent
Office also is holding at high occupancy, Collins said. The
company, which opened in downtown Orlando last year, thinks
the market will rebound from the current softness. It's opening
a second office early next year at Millenia in southwest Orlando.
Price also
recently expanded, opening a second office in southwest Orlando
at the AmSouth Building off Kirkman Road.
But the
down market is hurting many operators.
Michael
Dye, executive vice president of Atlanta-based EBC Office Centers
which has operated in Orlando since 1984, said there is some
business bounce from downsizing companies, but the economic
decline still hurts.
EBC, which
operates in the Southeast, said occupancy is off 12 percent
to 14 percent, Dye said.
Dot-com
failures hurt the company both in Orlando and Atlanta. "I
think most of the companies we have now will make it,"
he said.
EBC operates
centers in Lake Mary, Maitland and Celebration and will open
a fourth location soon.
The 4,000
executive-suite operations around the nation have seen business
slow this year, but things now seem to be rebounding, said Jeannine
Windbigler, executive director of Office Business Centers Association
International, a
Columbus, Ohio-based trade group.
Industry
proponents think we'll see even more executive-suite operations
as the economy recovers.
But the
industry's largest player -- HQ Global Workplaces Inc. - is
retrenching.
HQ is closing
36 centers around the country, including its operation in Lake
Mary and one in Tampa, according to the Alliance Business Centers
Network, an organization of executive-suite operators.
The company
still has three Orlando locations.
[Illustration]
PHOTO: In Orlando. Cathy Price, owner of Execu-Suites Inc.,
stands in the doorway of one of her business tenants. ROBERTO
GONZALEZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL
Reproduced
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction
or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Abstract
(Document Summary)
The Intelligent Office also is holding at high occupancy, [Nicole
Collins] said. The company, which opened in downtown Orlando
last year, thinks the market will rebound from the current softness.
It's opening a second office early next year at Millenia in
southwest Orlando.
Reproduced
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction
or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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