Internet connection, service provider: new property team member enhances building value and revenues.

Tenants and their businesses are more technologically sophisticated and dependent than ever before. In order to accommodate their needs, property owners around the country are planning or executing redevelopment and renovation programs which include telecommunications and technology upgrades. And, where the architect, engineer and general contractor once made up the bulk of the building owner's renovation team, technology service providers have earned a valued position on those teams today.

One brand new member of many New York City building renovation and service teams is the Internet service provider. Internet access has become a necessity for most modern office tenants. Tenants who want to affordably send and receive e-mail, communicate with clients and branch offices, browse the World Wide Web, undertake research projects, and download valuable information on competitors, vendors and clients will purchase Internet services. It's up to building owners and managers to decide how their tenants will arrange and purchase that Internet access.

The fact is that in today's high-tech environment and this cutting-edge city, most office properties are not currently wired for Internet access. Even many of the so-called "smart" buildings created in the mid-1980s, are now wrestling with strategies for technologically upgrading their properties for superior telecommunications service.

Owners, asset managers and property managers recognize that access to the Internet, like electricity, is fast becoming a necessary on-site service. If buildings don't provide it, tenants will contract for it on their own. The downside of that scenario for the tenant is that it must now undertake the cost and inconvenience of wiring the property and the space for Internet access. The concern for landlords is that such a situation, repeated by tenant after tenant, may threaten the physical infrastructure of the property with messy risers and conduits, overflowing with conflicting, crowded, organically-grown wiring. Intelligent owners and their advocates are keen on maintaining control and provenance over their properties, and, in many cases, interested in capturing a percentage of the revenues generated by building systems such as Internet access.

This is where Internet access and service providers deliver their value to tenants, the building owner and building service team. PFM Communications, Inc.'s Internet Wired division is one example of a company taking on a high profile role on the building service team through its delivery of superior Internet service. The company, at no cost to the building owner, makes an investment of up to $250,000 to design and install a custom fiber optic network within a commercial property. The system, which is installed with the approval and review of regular building contractors and management personnel, is organized within specific, dedicated conduits for easy monitoring and access.

Internet access through this system is then marketed by the Internet service company directly to each tenant, providing high-speed, direct Internet access at a fraction of the cost of traditional direct Internet service. The hook-up for tenants takes as little time as two days, compared with the season-long building wiring process. Not only is the building "smart" it's cost-efficient, too. And owners, who are liberated from Internet service paperwork, billing and system maintenance, can potentially recapture a percentage of the Internet service fees from the service provider, who handles all the administration and system upkeep.

A number of property owners and their management advocates are investigating their options for access to and delivery of Internet services. In the last few weeks alone, 342 Madison Avenue (under the direction of asset manager Odin Management and property manager Edward S. Gordon Company, Inc. and 611 Broadway managed by M.D. Carlisle) have signed on for the above-outlined service. These properties are responding to the market by anticipating certain future tenant demand. It's best, they recognize, to be prepared to meet a current or prospective tenant's demands than to have to play "catch-up" at the last minute.

As upgraded technology and, particularly, direct telecommunications and Internet service become key selling points - deal-makers - for office properties which want to attract and retain modern tenants, new faces will join longstanding highly valued building services teams around the City. These new team members, especially those who offer a combination of expertise in building engineering, real estate and technology, won't be "new" for long. Technology and Internet service providers who add value to properties and create new profit centers for owners will earn key and longstanding roles on building service crews well into the next millennium.