How Hobbs Brook Real Estate Elevates Tenant Engagement

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

02 Jun 2025

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In a post-pandemic world where remote work has become normalized, commercial property managers face a critical challenge: how to make physical workspaces genuinely appealing destinations rather than obligatory locations. For Faron Brazis, Tenant Engagement Manager at Hobbs Brook Real Estate, whose background spans politics and event planning before entering corporate real estate, this challenge represents an exciting opportunity to reimagine the workplace experience.

“We had a tenant describe it perfectly—they use this campus as a destination office. When employees come here, they know it’s going to be a memorable experience,” says Brazis.

From “Nice to Have” to Essential Strategy

Brazis joined Hobbs Brook Real Estate four and a half years ago, just before the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered workplace dynamics. This timing provided him with a unique perspective on the industry’s rapid evolution.

“I’ve witnessed tenant engagement transform from an afterthought to an integral part of property management, leasing, and everything related to the built environment,” Brazis explains. “It’s no longer just a nice amenity, it’s a core business strategy.”

Working across properties in New England, Chicago, and occasionally Georgia, Brazis has observed that return-to-office patterns vary significantly by industry. Life sciences companies typically require five days in office due to laboratory needs. Technology companies might request only one or two days, while professional services tend to hover around three days weekly.

This variability creates unique challenges for tenant engagement professionals, requiring flexible approaches tailored to different workplace cultures and schedules.

Technology as the Engagement Backbone

At the heart of Hobbs Brook’s tenant engagement strategy is a sophisticated technology infrastructure that both simplifies administrative processes and provides valuable insights into how tenants actually use their spaces.

“I work in tandem with technology, that is my job,” Brazis says. “I use it for everything from trend analysis and predictive modeling to completing everyday tasks and digitizing processes that eliminate tedium.”

The company has implemented a comprehensive tenant engagement software platform that serves as a central hub for all campus interactions. Tenants use this platform to sign fitness waivers, RSVP for events, view campus maps, check café menus, and more. Meanwhile, designated tenant contacts have access to higher-level functions like conference room reservations and contract signings.

This digital transformation extends beyond convenience to actual cost savings. By digitizing tenant event waivers through a blanket contract developed by their legal team, Hobbs Brook has saved countless hours of administrative work while making the process seamless for tenants.

Geofencing: Understanding Real Behavior

Perhaps most innovative is Hobbs Brook’s use of geofencing technology to track and analyze campus usage patterns. Rather than relying solely on surveys and self-reported behavior, this technology provides objective data about how tenants actually interact with the space.

“There’s a significant difference between asking people about their preferences versus observing their actual behavior,” Brazis notes. “It’s similar to telling your doctor you’re dieting when your actual habits might differ.”

Using Placer AI software, the team tracks population and foot traffic on days of campus events, revealing which activities truly drive office attendance. The data has yielded valuable insights: wellness events focused on personal care (like complimentary massages and manicures) and farmers market days consistently generate the highest foot traffic throughout the year.

Additionally, they discovered that weeks featuring multiple events (at least two per week) reliably produced two or three days of high traffic. This finding has directly informed their programming strategy.

The “Destination Office” Concept

One of the most significant revelations from their tenant engagement efforts is how programming influences when people choose to come to the office. Brazis reports that many tenants now plan their in-office days around the calendar of events.

“Companies often schedule their family days or major gatherings—where headquarters brings in satellite office employees—around our campus events,” he explains. “They’re leveraging our programming to enhance their own company culture.”

This has led to what one tenant aptly described as the “destination office”. A concept transforming the workplace from a mandatory location into a desirable destination that offers experiences unavailable elsewhere.

Bridging the Work-From-Home Gap

Understanding what employees miss about working from home has been crucial to Hobbs Brook’s strategy. Brazis reflects on his own experience: “The initial work-from-home policy was remarkable. I enjoyed completing household tasks between meetings. Returning to the office full-time was definitely an adjustment.”

To ease this transition, Hobbs Brook focuses on bringing convenience services to the workplace, particularly those that typically require taking time off work. These include medical screenings, bike repairs, ski tuning, haircuts, manicures, car maintenance and cleaning, and grocery pickup.

“These services were significant benefits of remote work,” Brazis notes. “We’re bringing them to campus to help bridge that gap and make office life more seamless.”

Blurring Campus and Community Boundaries

A broader trend Brazis identifies is the evolution of office buildings into extensions of both tenant companies and local communities. While major corporations like Google and Meta can provide comprehensive employee engagement programs, smaller businesses often lack these resources despite employee demand.

“We function as an extension of the tenant,” Brazis explains. For suburban office locations that lack the walkable amenities of downtown buildings, this means bringing those conveniences to the campus.

“It’s about integrating these services into the campus environment,” he says. “Building partnerships with local restaurants, hotels, gyms, and other businesses has become essential.”

When Hobbs Brook can’t directly provide certain amenities—like a conference center—they negotiate discounts with local hotels for their tenants to use. “We meet tenants halfway,” Brazis says, describing their approach as “blurring the lines between campus boundaries and community resources.”

A Calendar Full of Engagement

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2025, Hobbs Brook has an ambitious event calendar designed to maximize tenant engagement:

• Convenience services: Regular bike repair days where tenants drop off bicycles in the morning and pick them up repaired in the afternoon, all complimentary; similar services for ski equipment in winter months
• Food-focused events: Seasonal farmers markets, CSA bag deliveries, and donation-based markets that support local food banks
• Shopping opportunities: Holiday and summer shopping pop-ups featuring local vendors and makers
• Entertainment: A summer concert series featuring Berklee graduates, creating Thursday afternoon happy hours in the courtyard with food, drinks, and games
• Food truck days: Multiple food trucks visiting the campus with complimentary offerings
• Wellness programming: On-site personal training, group fitness classes, on-demand fitness programming, complimentary massages, manicures, and soon, haircuts
• Skill development: Cooking classes teaching practical culinary skills
• Community gardening: Campus gardens in underutilized spaces where tenants can experience gardening and take home produce, with portions going to on-site cafés and local food banks

These events strategically address different tenant needs and preferences while creating a vibrant campus community that makes coming to the office worthwhile.

The Future of Tenant Engagement

As the commercial real estate industry continues to navigate post-pandemic workplace dynamics, Hobbs Brook’s approach offers valuable insights for property managers and owners. By leveraging technology to understand tenant behavior, bringing convenience services on-site, and creating meaningful community experiences, they’re redefining what an office can be.

The “destination office” concept represents a fundamental shift in thinking. From viewing the office as a place employees must go to seeing it as a place they want to be. For Brazis and the team at Hobbs Brook Real Estate, this transformation isn’t just about filling buildings; it’s about creating environments where people genuinely thrive.

“When we get this right,” Brazis concludes, “everyone wins. Tenants get better employee engagement and retention, property owners see higher occupancy rates, and employees get a workplace that enhances rather than detracts from their quality of life.”