How to monetize every corner of your office building

A flight to quality, hybrid schedules and rising operating costs are reshaping the fundamentals of office ownership where occupancy alone is no longer a reliable measure of asset health. When fixed expenses rise and demand is inconsistent, owners and investors need strategies that convert idle hours and unused spaces into additional operating income.

Empty conference rooms, unused rooftops, and dormant fitness centers carry cost without offsetting income. Hybrid work can leave entire categories of space idle for long stretches. Without a monetization strategy, an office property can miss out on valuable incremental revenue—often in the seven figures.

JLL's dedicated Experience Management (XM) teams are built for this task. On-site community managers work in concert with property management staff to map real utilization, design activation plans, and commercialize underused square footage in ways that strengthen the tenant experience.

"We're moving from indirect value to direct value," said Mark Zettl, President of Property Management at JLL. "The shift to monetizing spaces has real implications for how owners think about individual building and portfolio performance."

"Many owners still see tenant lounges or fitness centers as cost centers," said Cynthia Romack, Managing Director of Revenue, Experience Management at JLL. "Our role is to reframe these underused spaces as income generators while ensuring that the building's brand and tenant experience remain protected."

Through experience management, underused areas in office properties can be positioned for:

• Fractional office space – Transform vacancies into revenue-generating assets, all while continuing to market the space for a long term lease.

• Corporate meetings, conferences, and training sessions
• Fashion activations, ticketed events and pop-ups
• Weddings and social gatherings

JLL's XM experts assess each building holistically to surface after-hours and weekend opportunities and to integrate retail and restaurant activations that generate measurable revenue.

At one Chicago office property, JLL identified roughly $1 million in annual revenue potential by evaluating space usage and implementing event sales and partnership strategies that turned underused areas into priced, recurring products.

Food and beverage outlets represent another significant opportunity within this monetization strategy. At The District at Beltline in Calgary, JLL's XM team integrated restaurant marketing into a community programming model. Events like the annual Stampede Breakfast and the ticketed Chef Showdown drew thousands, expanding visibility for on-site restaurants and lifting traffic for retail tenants.

By integrating XM programming with operational oversight, restaurants and retail shift from stand-alone amenities to an ecosystem of revenue multipliers. As event utilization grows, on-site restaurants gain catering opportunities and increased foot traffic.

This coordinated approach ensures fewer disruptions, faster approvals, and consistent experiences that build lender and insurer confidence. The result is scalable revenue opportunities across entire portfolios that reinforce asset value rather than risk it.

Traditional metrics like occupancy, tenant satisfaction, and rent premiums still matter. Today, XM is also measured by direct, auditable revenue from event bookings, retail and F&B activations, sponsorships, and specialty leases. This strengthens NOI and long-term positioning by:
 

• Diversifying income beyond base rent
• Stabilizing cash flow against leasing volatility
• Creating a stronger leasing story through activation and brand profile
• Improving forecasting through rate cards, pipelines, and repeat demand

Experience management helps owners adopt the entrepreneurial mindset that reshaped retail a decade ago. Properties that embrace this shift are already realizing measurable financial, operational, and reputational gains.

JLL's XM team helps owners adopt the entrepreneurial mindset that reshaped retail a decade ago.