Brent Smith, CEO, president, and CIO at Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PDM), participated in a video interview during Nareit’s REITworld: 2023 Annual Conference held Nov. 14-16 in Los Angeles.
Smith said that in today’s office environment, it’s important to create a differentiated product around either the built environment itself or the level of service.
“At Piedmont, we’ve really focused on creating that hospitality-infused built environment that creates unique collaboration spaces,” he said.
Turning to the company’skey achievements during 2023, Smith highlighted the volume of leasing Piedmont has achieved.
“We’ve almost approached 800,000 square feet of new leasing—that’s above pre-pandemic levels, and frankly a record for us since 2016,” he said.
Smith added that investors are trying to get a handle on the true demand within the office sector right now, and that is among the top questions that he is fielding in his outreach.