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V O L . X X V I N O. X V I I J U LY 2 7 , 2 0 2 0 22 R E A L E S T A T E / C O N S T R U C T I O N / E N G I N E E R I N G B efore the pandemic, Bill Seretta was looking for a 10,000-square-foot facility to double the size of Fork Food Lab, the shared commercial kitchen and food business incubator he owns. e goal was to accommodate growing demand for its services. e existing space was inadequate in terms of layout, location and size. Seretta is president of the Sustainability Lab, a Yarmouth nonprofit that bought Fork Food Lab, in Portland's West Bayside neighborhood, in 2018. By this past February, with the help of Portland commercial real estate agency the Boulos Co., he identified possibilities in Portland and South Portland. "en COVID came along," Seretta says. "We had to basically start over." New considerations included spac- ing out workstations and accommodat- ing interest from existing businesses that were looking for additional pro- duction space. Now Seretta is contemplating a 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot facil- ity, to buy or build. And he's thinking about space as a flexible proposition that can accommodate transitions Take your next steps with Rudman Winchell. Bangor, Maine • rudmanwinchell.com Guiding Maine families and businesses though the highs and lows of the past 100 years C O U N S E L O R S A T L A W F O C U S P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Boulos Co. managing director and broker Drew Sigfridson, left, is seeing almost all of his clients, including Fork Food Lab owner Bill Seretta, rethinking workspace needs. Boulos Co. managing director and broker Drew Sigfridson defines two commercial trends: 1. The need for more space Pre-pandemic, employers of light indus- trial, manufacturing, distribution and ser- vice-oriented businesses were moving toward lower inventories, on-demand de- livery, more densely populated co-work- ing spaces, smaller footprints and prox- imity to downtown near all the action. Post-pandemic, they're talking about moving away from congested areas, nail- ing down more square-footage in order to build flexible space with 6-foot spac- ing, offices with moveable partitions or hard-wall offices, increasing the foot- prints and space configurations per employee, and moving out of the urban centers to find more open greenspace, flexibility for future growth and more op- portunity for social distance. 2. New construction Pre-pandemic, these businesses want- ed the efficiency and ease of rent- ing or buying an existing building, an option that's considered easier and cheaper than building new. Post-pandemic, clients now have to retrofit old buildings to adhere to so- cial distancing requirements to re- open their doors. There is a signif- icant lack of available buildings to buy. Clients are willing to pay the cost of new construction. "It's very dynamic and changing weekly," Sigfridson says of his con- versations with clients. "But it's def- initely changing." Smaller footprints, densely popu- lated office spaces and open-area co- working spaces without appropriate ad- justments are in question, he notes. OUT Pandemic is already shifting demand for office space B y L a u R i e s C h R e i B e R S P A C E D

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