Property Management: Best Surveillance Can Be the Tenants, Managers Say
Local property managers are even more aware of the safety concerns of their tenants after the recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City, one of the largest office complexes in the world.
“I don’t think any business managers watched the news and didn’t picture that happening in their building,” said Cybele Thompson, a property manager with Houston-based PM Realty Group, and president of the San Diego chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association.
“The manager’s staff is still missing at the World Trade Center. Usually the building manager is the last one out,” Thompson said.
In Downtown San Diego, many buildings were either closed or nearly empty on Sept. 11 , the day of the World Trade Center attack , especially those with government agencies as tenants, according to Thompson. Suburban office buildings did not close, but many employees stayed home, although not for security reasons, she said.
Mary Youngman, property manager for the seven-story, 130,000-square-foot Allied Plaza in La Mesa, said on the day of the attack, the state agencies and financial companies that lease space in the building sent employees home.
By noon, only two businesses were still open. Even Youngman’s staff went home because they were not able to focus on work.
About 60 percent of the Allied Plaza tenants returned to work on the following day.
“But, the energy level in the building was zero,” Youngman said.
Assessing The Dangers
Allied Plaza has maintained its daytime security guards and nighttime drive-through patrol.
The 27-story, 547,000-square-foot First National Bank building Downtown remained open on the day of the attacks. Tenants made individual decisions to close their offices, according to the building’s management. About 80 percent of the tenants left the building by late afternoon.
Parking has been restricted to tenants with access cards and extra security was added inside the First National Bank Building.
Marie Giere manages One America Plaza for New York City-based Shimizu Development Corp. Giere said the 34-story, 570,000-square-foot office tower was not closed on the day of the attack, but “we recommended that tenants evacuate until we could ascertain the imminent danger to us.”
Most of the building’s tenants left and most returned the next day, but left early. Because the financial markets were closed for the rest of the week, money managers in the building decided to stay home, Giere said.
At Thompson’s building, La Jolla Executive Tower in University Towne Centre, tenants began to eagerly turn in their emergency contact information after the World Trade Center attack.
All around San Diego County, Thompson said property managers are reviewing their emergency procedures and making sure their tenants are familiar with them. And, she said, property managers are more aware, watching for unattended packages and cars parked in front of buildings.
Who’s In The Building
New security procedures require tenants to use their access cards to enter One America Plaza and its parking garage. Guests must sign in before being allowed to enter the elevators at the building and must be escorted in the elevators to the floor they need. Visitors and guests can only park on the first level in the garage.
“I think that’s the most important thing , being able to account for who is in the building,” Giere said. Tenants are going to be most sensitive about who is visiting the building and who is parking overnight from now on, she said.
Giere does not know when or if security measures will be eased at One America Plaza and says management will “play it by ear.” The building’s tenant committee will continue to report back on what members’ employees and neighboring tenants want to see happen at the building.
Through the tenant committee, the management staff at One America Plaza has been redistributing its evacuation procedures. The “Personal Safety Guide for One America Plaza” booklet will be redistributed too, with acknowledgement cards that must be returned to the management office.
Last week, the emergency guidebook for Allied Plaza was reprinted for distribution. Youngman said the book does not address terrorism directly, but addresses instances where tenants are being threatened.
Relying On Tenants
“We’re back to being on alert,” Youngman said. “Tenants are the best eyes for security.” Most of Allied Plaza’s tenants have been in the building for many years and are good about reporting suspicious people or activity, she said.
“(Tenants are) tremendously more sensitive about what’s around them. A lot of people are canceling travel plans,” Youngman said. Also, only about a third if the employees who usually work on the weekend were in the building the weekend following the attack.
Thompson said, “In our building, coincidentally, we had just done a fire drill a week before (the attack).” Because fire rises, she said the typical evacuation procedure has been to evacuate the affected floors, followed by the floors above the fire, then the floors underneath.
During the recent fire drill at La Jolla Executive Tower, Thompson said firefighters explained they evacuate buildings on a floor-by-floor basis to maintain order. She said she participated in a drill where everybody left at the same time, which worked, but took longer.
“What’s frustrating for the building managers is there were still people (in the World Trade Center) trying to take the elevator,” Thompson said. “If the elevator jams, you’re stuck in there.”
The evacuation procedures for high-rise buildings and for suburban buildings with larger floors are written the same, Thompson said. The difference is that in buildings with more space on each floor, tenants closer to the windows are farther from the stairwells. In that case, property managers have to be sure to run safety drills and educate tenants on procedures.
At One America Plaza, Giere said, “I think we’ve already settled into a comfortable routine , and it’s working. So far so good.”
BOMA International has provided emergency tips for property managers on its Web site, (www.boma.org).
