Bull Realty's Jesse Whalen on Atlanta's Office Space Renaissance
“Just look at the cars in the parking lots,” says Jesse Whalen, Vice President of The Office Group at Bull Realty, when asked about return-to-office trends. “People are back in the office. If there aren’t cars there, then maybe there’s another problem – and that’s also an opportunity for me to call that landlord.”
This practical observation from Whalen, who specializes in tenant representation for Class A office space in Atlanta, challenges prevailing narratives about office space decline. In fact, Whalen reports that January and February 2025 have been his busiest months since entering the industry four years ago, driven by companies increasingly pushing for five-day office attendance.
Shifting Workplace Expectations
“When the pandemic came along, companies shed a lot of their office space, if not all of their space. They thought, ‘We’ll have our folks work from home, and this will be very easy,'” Whalen explains. However, that calculation has shifted dramatically.
“What I’ve been seeing, starting back in 2024, is these companies are realizing that they don’t have the culture they need when working from home,” Whalen notes. The transition has been incremental: “It started with adding more desks and seats because we wanted them in three days a week. Towards the end of 2024, it was four days a week, and now this year, what I’m hearing is five days a week.”
Strategic Amenity Investment
To attract workers back to the office, building owners and tenants are investing in compelling workspaces. Building owners in Atlanta are offering substantial tenant improvement allowances, ranging from $25 to $35 per square foot on five-year lease terms.
These improvements extend beyond basic upgrades. Whalen describes touring buildings with distinctive features: “One has built almost like an oasis greenery in the center with waterfalls, music that you can plug your phone into, and putting greens. They’re creating a community, with yoga sessions on the putting greens at lunch and happy hours where they provide food and drinks for tenants.”
Key amenities now include:
- On-site cafes to maximize productivity by reducing lunch breaks
- Tenant lounges with private phone booths and quiet work areas
- Community programming to foster interaction between tenants
Private Offices Return
The open office concept is giving way to a resurgence in private offices, with modern adaptations. “We used to have a lot of glass offices, private offices, and then we went to this open concept that everybody thought was going to be great. Now they’re going back to private offices again,” Whalen explains.
“If you’re a salesperson on the phone all day, and the person in marketing is trying to think quietly and come up with great marketing ideas, it doesn’t mesh well,” says Whalen. The solution often involves glass walls with privacy screening, allowing for both isolation when needed and a sense of openness.
Space Planning Priorities
Companies have substantially revised their space calculations. Pre-pandemic allocations of 100-200 square feet per employee have increased to 345-500 square feet per person, reflecting both health considerations and changing work patterns.
Human Resources departments increasingly join CEOs and CFOs in discussions about optimal office layout. “We’re having a lot of these other heads of different divisions get in the mix and talk about our pillars of people and how we want to make this make the most sense,” Whalen notes.
Office design preferences continue to evolve: “Way back when, the trend was to have a lot of offices on the exterior perimeter of the space. Now that’s changing quite a bit, where you’re having them on the interior perimeters. The folks that don’t have a private office get more natural light coming into the middle of the core of the space.”
Market Outlook
Whalen sees promising signs for Atlanta’s office market in 2025 and beyond. “I think we’re going to see a lot more companies encourage their employees to come back five days a week, quicker than what we were anticipating,” he predicts.
The Atlanta office market continues to adapt, with successful spaces offering thoughtful design, strategic amenities, and flexibility. Companies navigating these changes increasingly rely on tenant representatives with deep market knowledge to optimize their workspace decisions.
