Creative office spaces are expanding in Philadelphia, closely tracking a national trend for greater demand for differentiated space. JLL Philadelphia’s research team released its Philadelphia Creative Office Report, which details the trend.

What qualifies as a creative building? JLL defines this segment as buildings meeting at least two of four design characteristics: adaptive reuse of buildings; loft-inspired ceilings; use of alternative materials including brick or timber; and unique architectural features and amenities. This property type often attracts TAMI occupants (technology, advertising, media and information), but JLL Philadelphia focused on physical building attributes rather than tenancy to define the inventory.

JLL identified 56 creative office buildings containing nearly 5.9 million square feet of space. An additional eight creative buildings are proposed or under construction, which total just less than 1 million square feet of additional space. While two thirds of all existing space is located within the traditional CBD submarkets of Market Street East and Market Street West, nearly 2 million square feet of the identified inventory is located within three emerging creative submarkets: North Philadelphia, Callowhill, and Riverwards.

These emerging creative submarkets are not traditional locations for office buildings, suggesting that tenants in certain industries are increasingly willing to trade centrality for unique and exciting properties that serve as a draw for their workforce. With so much millennial talent residing in Center City-adjacent neighborhoods, a significant portion of the workforce fueling creative office tenants may prefer work locations closer to home or otherwise differentiated from the traditional high-rises associated with their parents’ generation.

“We don’t anticipate this trend will abate anytime soon,” said Senior Vice President and Senior Director of Research for JLL Philadelphia, Lauren Gilchrist. “As Millennials and Generation Z create businesses, they crave office spaces that reflect their ideals. With cities attracting more talent than the suburbs in Philadelphia and nationwide, expansion into previously unconsidered locations is likely, resulting in more differentiated spaces.”

For more information, visit jll.com/philadelphia or view the full report here.

About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. Our vision is to reimagine the world of real estate, creating rewarding opportunities and amazing spaces where people can achieve their ambitions. In doing so, we will build a better tomorrow for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with nearly 300 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of 86,000 as of June 30, 2018. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.