Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Highwoods Properties
Search every verified Brian Leary interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2021 interview, Highwoods Properties CEO Ted Klinck discussed the company's priorities and outlook for the office sector. He stated that the company's top priority was the safety of its employees and customers, followed by maintaining liquidity and a "fortress balance sheet" amid economic uncertainty. Klinck said Highwoods was working with customers needing rent relief to find solutions that keep them in buildings while minimizing financial impact to the company. He also noted that the company was not planning to start any speculative developments until it had a better sense of the economic situation and rental rate demand. Klinck expressed the view that the long-term trend of office densification was over and likely to reverse, and that de-densification could offset increased remote work. He said he did not believe working from home full-time would be successful over the long term, citing challenges in building company culture. Klinck stated that the workplace remained a key tool for recruiting and retaining employees, and that he expected Sun Belt markets to see increased demand from companies relocating from the Northeast and West Coast due to lower costs and fewer transportation issues. He also mentioned that Highwoods was beginning to consider changes to future development projects, such as improved air quality systems and touchless technologies.
“Our top priority is the safety of our employees and our customers. After that, we're very focused today on maintaining our liquidity and our fortress balance sheet given the economic uncertainty.”
“We're spending a lot of time these days with our customers who have demonstrated a need for some sort of rent relief, so we're working with them to come up with solutions that can help keep them in our buildings while minimizing the financial impact to Highwoods.”
“We continue to pursue development opportunities, but we really don't plan on starting any spec developments until we get a better sense of the overall economic situation and specifically where rental rates and demand are.”
“We're just starting to think about potential changes to our future development projects, such as improved climate control systems to improve air quality and technologies like touchless elevators or facial recognition to avoid touching building surfaces.”
“I think the densification trend is over and it's likely going to reverse over time. The de-densification of office could easily offset the increased work from home trend that we may see.”
“I just don't see how working from home for an entire company 100 percent of the time is going to be successful over the long term. It's very difficult to build a strong company culture when everyone's working remotely.”
“The workplace has really become a big retention and recruiting tool for companies, and I don't see that trend ending. Companies want places where they can recruit and retain employees and provide a great work experience.”
“Sun belt markets are going to see increased demand from companies relocating from the dense northeast and west coast markets. These markets have less mass transportation issues and offer a lower cost of doing business and living.”
Ted Klinck says de-densification of office space could offset increase in remote working.
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