What features made the building attractive when it was brand new? Reframe those strengths to give the property the best possible positioning for today’s market conditions.
“Look at the structure of the building. Does it have good bones?” says McCafferty. “Can you take some walls down to allow more daylight into interior spaces? If it’s a building with eight-foot ceilings, can you do something to increase the floor-to-ceiling height?”
Mirrielees recalls one of Hixson’s biggest reconstruction projects, the headquarters of a Fortune 100 company in downtown Cincinnati. “It’s a triangular building with phenomenal views, but the only ones who could see them were the managers in the private offices. By opening the space, it gave everyone views from almost every direction, and that increased the value of the building.”