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C R E AT E D BY BCBusiness I N PA RT N E RS H I P W IT H WILLIAM WRIGHT COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SERVICES British Columbia. Clients have requested the service for years, but the team wanted to make sure the timing was right in order to maintain the same high level of service it offers through the company's brokerage arm. "It has been a very successful launch, and into the post-COVID era, a lot of landlords have realized property management is a challenging job," Wright says. "We are currently focused on building long-term relationships and reaching out to landlords who are taking us up on our offer for assistance." Luckily, if there is any marketplace that can take a hit, it's Vancouver, Wright says. In Greater Vancouver, some commercial asset classes have the lowest vacancy rate in Canada and in some cases, in North America. "An increase in inventory will create a more balanced market for some asset classes, which isn't always a bad thing," Wright adds. "Although our industry could look different coming out of this crisis, our marketplace will stabilize." The company has an eye on expansions in Kelowna, Nanaimo and Kamloops, and is prepared to stay nimble as the shape of the 'new workplace normal' materializes. For example, businesses across BC have implemented technology and behavioural practices that allowed a work from home model—one that many are saying could con- tinue in some form and that could have an effect on the commercial real estate market. Agility and adaptability will be key in adjusting, says Wright. "It is hard to predict how the novelty of working from home will be a few months from now because it is forced on us at the moment," he says. "There is still an office culture that exists and that proliferates productivity. In every past crisis, from the .com bubble bursting to the September 11 attack and the financial melt down in 08/09, people said the traditional office would disappear, yet as we can see, it has only gotten stronger over the past 20 years." William Wright Commercial was founded in 2013 out of 200 square feet in Yaletown, with the primary goal of push- ing the boundaries of customer service in the industry. If anything has become clear over the past weeks, it is that the company has the will, the team and the model to suc- cessfully stay the course. "As we enter the post-COVID era we expect to come out stronger than ever," Wright says. "Our business was where we felt the industry was going in the coming years, and this pandemic accelerates that change within our industry, which will propel our expansion in the coming years." n Learn more at williamwright.ca P R O M O T E D C O N T E N T