Suite Deals

Duane Sulk started his public relations firm in 1992 with a small budget and a big dream. He set up shop in an executive office center, a venue chosen by many beginning entrepreneurs.

Dutchess Centre Executive Offices, a 30-suite facility above commercial space on Tamiami Trail in north Naples, was a 10-minute commute from his home in Bonita Springs and near his primary client base-developers of upscale communities. His corner office came with a view of Naples Park and he enjoyed use of the center's copy machine, receptionist services and conference room.

Just as important, the space exuded a professional ambiance with a handsomely furnished and decorated lobby. And lush planting outside of the building greeted customers with a classic Florida look. "It gave a good impression," Sulk says.

Over the next three years, Sulk's business grew to the point where he was renting three offices and it was time to move. Sulk Whalen Public Relations now leases traditional office space in Bonita Springs.

Sulk is one of the many entrepreneurs and professionals who are finding the executive office meets their needs. Those who don't want the expenses of a full-service office of their own can still enjoy prestigious digs featuring state-of-the-art technology and a high level of service. Some executive centers are also home to virtual offices where professionals use the center for a letterhead address and phone service and occasionally use a conference room to meet with clients.

The executive office is coming of age, says Ray Murphy, president of R.P. Murphy & Associates and owner of the building. Since the facility opened in 1992, Murphy has come to classify what he sees as three types of professionals drawn to the executive office. Many, like Sulk, are starting out and choose the turnkey venue because of low start-up costs and a prime location. If the business succeeds, the executive office is no longer financially feasible and they move on.

"For start-up companies, the executive suite is almost like an incubator," Murphy says. "For someone that doesn't need a lot of space and doesn't have the funds to rent a larger space with room for a receptionist, copier, fax and everything else, this is a good place to begin."

The second type, he says, are entrepreneurs who might have high hopes but don't make it and close up shop relatively quickly. The third type is the most stable tenant, the one- or two-person business in any number of professions-accountants, insurance agents, attorneys and realtors-that finds the supportive environment more than adequate for the long haul.

"It was ideal when I was starting out," says Sulk, who launched his firm in 1992. "I couldn't afford a secretary, and I wanted a warm body answering the phone."

Dutchess Centre houses one of many executive office operations in the area. The vast majority occupy space in a building that features either commercial space below and/or other larger businesses on other floors. Monthly rents at Dutchess range between $500 and $1,000, and optional services include furniture rental and phone answering.

Premier location

Premier Executive Center in north Naples may be the top of the line in Collier County. When developer Buzz Victor surveyed the area five years ago, he saw opportunity and started construction on the project. "I have a similar building in Colorado," he says. "What I found at that time were about a dozen fairly full executive office arrangements that ranged in quality from old to OK, but generally not of the same quality as this."

The three-story Premier Executive Center has 100 offices, a state-of-the-art conference room with capability for video conferencing, and a technology command center that enables a sophisticated infrastructure of T-1 lines, phone and cable systems throughout. The building's H-shaped architecture provides views from every office. Interior offices overlook attractive courtyards and first-floor courtyard offices feature private entrances. Located off Goodlette-Frank Road and north of Pine Ridge Road, the building has ample parking and a kitchen.

Premier also provides extras. A continental breakfast is available every morning and can be enjoyed in a spacious two-story lobby outfitted with sofas and club chairs. Newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Naples Daily News and magazines such as Boating and Fortune are on hand. The switchboard is equipped with software that helps make callers think they're speaking directly to the business being contacted. With a uniformed staff waiting to fulfill any request, it's more like a five-star hotel than an office building.

Monthly rents at Premier range from just under $800 for a 150-square-foot office, including furniture and phone answering, to between $4,500 to $5,500 for a three-office suite with space for a receptionist area. Services like photocopying and use of the conference room above a monthly allotment are extra.

Bradley Wasserman, a retirement income planning specialist who has offices in the building, views it as more than an executive office facility. Wasserman's business has grown recently, but he's wary of moving and instead has leased more space. "Where would I go?" he asks. "The older buildings in town have no technology, and financial service businesses are technology-intensive. For new buildings developers want you to build out infrastructure at a cost of $150 to $200 a square foot over a time period that might be nine months to a year. So the options for a growing company are to move to a technologically inferior building or pay to wait. Either way, you're not going to get the high level of service that we have here."

When the building was in planning stages, Victor assumed that

roughly 20 percent of his clientele would be the fabulously wealthy retired or semi-retired executives that winter in Florida. That is not the case.

"That market just doesn't exist," he says. "It's not a question of would I rent a space out for three or four months; it's that nobody wants it for three or four months. The rich guys who enjoy working in the morning and golfing in the afternoon have homes with fully-equipped libraries or studies."

All decked out

The Crexent Business Center, which is located in Bonita Springs' Riverview Corporate Center, also offers a high-end executive office experience with receptionists in uniform, a kitchen and coffee served throughout the day. Located on U.S. 41, Crexent has 92 offices, three conference rooms and a fully equipped exercise room. The building opened in 2003 and is 80 percent occupied.

The top rental in the building is $2,600 for a suite consisting of three offices and a reception area. Small, 80-square-foot offices start as low as $350 a month and come with call forwarding to cell phones.

"Many realtors just need a place to hang their license," says Tammy Plucker, manager.

Crexent is owned by H.J. Zimmerman and Associates, which owns multiple locations in the state. Howard Zimmerman, managing partner, entered the executive office business to avoid a colossal business failure and has found success along the way. In the early '80s, interest rates were going through the roof and his company had just completed a 25,000-square-foot building in Miami when what was supposed to have been his largest tenant went belly up.

"Besides our own corporate offices, we had no other tenants," he recalls. "We sat there with that empty building for six months before deciding to try something new."

Zimmerman had seen executive offices in the New York suburbs and convinced his partners to try a more upscale version. As an experiment, one-third of the building, 7,000 square feet, was converted to executive offices. When those rented within two months, they decided to convert another 20 percent of the building. When that parcel rented in one month, they decided to convert the entire building.

"My only regret is we didn't do it from the start," he says. "As a result it took two years to rent out that building. We've had 95 percent occupancy since the mid-'80s."

Over the years, even though interest rates have come back down and commercial development has taken off again, Zimmerman has never experienced a drop in demand for turnkey office space.

"This is not just start-up companies and sole proprietorships," he says. "We have major corporations using these spaces for their sales-force personnel. That includes Beringer Wine, General Mills, General Foods and Hartford Insurance. If you bring a pencil you can go to work tomorrow because I'll give you a filing cabinet, a phone, a desk, a chair and Internet access."

In Collier County, office space starts at $18 per square foot plus common area maintenance (CAM). Desirable Old Naples locations command more than $30 per square foot, before CAM and utilities. The true executive office will not price space in this fashion, because extras such as use of kitchens, conference rooms, the occasional fitness room, phone service, furniture, janitorial, mail delivery and coffee and doughnuts put the price per square foot over $60.

"Comparisons are difficult because we're providing so much more than an office," explains Charlene Laurent, manager of Premier Executive Center.

Steve Cornwell owns Naples Executive Suites, an upscale facility with 20 offices on the first floor of a Newgate Center building in Naples. Monthly rents range in price from $850 to $1,200. He's starting to see more of an interest from retired CEOs and executives, professionals that lease the office for the entire year and use it whenever they're in town.