The New Math of Office Engagement and Why Landlords Are Becoming Culture Partners

• Engagement of the people: Hybrid work has changed how companies measure the value of office space.

• Shady science: Investors claim Alexandria misled the market on its life science campus, prompting a class action.

• Development league: Youth sports is emerging as a powerful new anchor for mixed-use development.

• This week’s webinar: Smart buildings are evolving as AI and connected systems redefine how properties think, adapt, and perform. Sign up

Tenant Experience

The New Math of Office Engagement and Why Landlords Are Becoming Culture Partners

For decades, office engagement was measured by bodies in seats. If people showed up and worked, the space was considered successful. The pandemic shattered that formula. Remote work proved productivity isn’t tied to a desk, forcing companies to rethink what the office is actually for—and why anyone should bother coming back.

What they’ve rediscovered is that the office isn’t valuable because work happens there. It’s valuable because certain kinds of work happen better there. Collaboration, training, creative problem-solving, culture-building—these moments depend on shared space. As leaders like Cove CEO Adam Segal note, the real excitement in the office market today comes from this reframing. Engagement isn’t a headcount metric anymore. It’s an experience metric.

That shift is pulling landlords directly into the engagement equation. Programming, visitor traffic, team activation, talent attraction, even cultural alignment—these have become the new signals tenants care about. Companies want operators who can help create purpose, not just provide square footage. The winners in this cycle will be the buildings that understand the office is no longer a passive container for work, but an active tool for connection.

Overheard

Lawsuit Over Alexandria Real Estate Could Signal Trouble in Life Science Real Estate

A newly filed class action against Alexandria accuses the REIT of painting too rosy a picture of its leasing and occupancy prospects, especially at its flagship Long Island City (LIC) campus, while allegedly concealing underlying weakness. The complaint argues that for much of 2025 the company issued bullish guidance for revenue and FFO growth based on expectations of robust leasing, then blindsided the market with a $323.9 million impairment that caused a steep drop in share price.

Life-science space has been among the more hyped subsectors but is now showing signs of being overbuilt. If the core assumptions of one of the largest life science developers is now visibly in question, it may inject more skepticism across the entire industry. Borrowers, appraisers, and lenders may begin taking a harder, more skeptical look at future projections of value and cash flow, especially for speculative or development-heavy assets.

This case underscores how quickly sentiment can skew valuations based on narrative rather than fundamentals. If shareholders—and the courts—demand more accountability and transparency around assumptions like occupancy forecasts or tenant pipelines, we may see a shift away from aggressive growth projections in favor of more conservative underwriting. That could reset how a whole class of real-estate assets is financed, valued, and traded.

The Rise of Youth Sports as a Real Estate Engine

A $1 billion, privately funded youth-sports and hospitality complex near Orlando reflects a broader national shift in how developers approach large-scale mixed-use projects. Even as traditional retail and office demand softens, youth sports remains one of the few dependable magnets for year-round travel, hotel nights, food-and-beverage spend, and repeat visitation. With 1,100 hotel rooms, 17 fields, and half a million square feet of commercial space, the project reflects a model that developers across the country are increasingly embracing: build around tournaments and sports tourism, and anchor the rest of the site with lodging, restaurants, entertainment, and long-stay revenue.

Across the country, youth-sports facilities are becoming reliable economic engines. The U.S. sports-facility market was valued at $36 billion in 2024 and is projected to skyrocket to $262 billion by 2034—a growth curve that dwarfs most categories of experiential real estate. Major metros and suburban regions alike are competing for events that drive hotel occupancy and retail traffic, from Disney’s 200-plus annual tournaments in Orlando to Perfect Game’s long-term agreements in Seminole County, to the forthcoming Olympus project in Clermont and new public-private initiatives in Volusia County. For CRE developers, these facilities offer something increasingly rare: predictable, calendar-driven demand. Tournaments deliver consistent weekend peaks, attract out-of-market families, and support long-term food, beverage, and retail leasing.

But the deeper national takeaway is that youth sports is becoming a proxy for broader lifestyle and travel patterns. Although participation in organized team sports has softened nationally, tournament travel has grown more intense, more specialized, and more economically durable—especially in the Southeast. Metro Orlando being named the No. 1 sports-event market in 2024 signals where investor interest is headed: toward regions with accessible land, favorable permitting, strong tourism ecosystems, and the ability to host large volumes of families. For developers nationwide, the lesson is clear: youth-sports–anchored mixed-use is evolving into a defensible asset class—one that blends hospitality, entertainment, and community infrastructure into a sticky destination capable of sustaining long-term demand even as other real estate categories remain volatile.

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Propmodo Daily is written and edited by Franco Faraudo with contributions from readers like you and the Propmodo team.

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