Overview
Location
Boston, MA
Property Size
730,000 square feet
Client Type
Asset-Level
Summary: 99 High Street is a Class-A office asset located in the heart of Boston’s Financial District on the city’s Greenway. The property is owned by Nuveen and operated by Cushman & Wakefield. Together, they partnered with HqO in 2020 to enhance their tenant experience strategies through technology and create a stronger sense of community.
As many owners and operators sought to do in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 99 High Street team made it their mission to not only understand the operational aspects of the asset, but to form deep, meaningful relationships with building tenants through exceptional customer service, building amenities, and events.
To achieve these goals, they built out a robust tenant experience program that involved hiring a dedicated Tenant Experience Manager, hosting ongoing programming and events for tenants, and implementing HqO’s Workplace Experience Platform to channel these efforts into a one-stop-shop for tenant engagement and community-building.
The Asset
99 High Street sits at the epicenter of Boston’s urban core — the gateway to both the Seaport and Financial District — offering tenants access to an unparalleled stream of energy and innovation. A property owned by Nuveen and operated by Cushman & Wakefield, 99 High Street is the ideal destination for the ever-growing needs of today’s tenants due to its convergence of culture, commerce, retail, and technology.
All About Community
First and foremost, Nuveen and Cushman & Wakefield focused on establishing a premier tenant experience by hiring a dedicated Tenant Experience Manager and building out a comprehensive events program with the help of HqO. The Tenant Experience Manager was responsible for assisting tenants and guests by developing a tenant welcome program, planning a diverse range of events, offering convenient services, and managing social media accounts.
In their inaugural year, the Tenant Experience Manager hosted over 50 tenant events ranging from pop-ups, nonprofit sponsored events, green activations, and food celebrations. Participation at building events typically ranges from 200-300 employees over the duration of each event.
These included:
- Mental Health Awareness Month: Tenants were able to "Take What they Needed" for the day from a designated board in the lobby. Positivity, relaxation, and encouragement were consistent themes in the building throughout the month of May.
- Earth Week: 99 High Street extended Earth Day in 2022 to promote green initiatives all month long. A new home or office "green tip" was released to tenants daily during the month of April. The team also welcomed the City Scapes TransPLANTed truck to 99 High Street to sell desk plants to tenants and explain the benefits. Honey from the property’s Best Bees Hives was given out in the lobby, and they set up a tabletop display for Bootstrap Compost, educating those interested in the community’s composting program.
- Food Pop-Ups: Food is always a hit at 99 High Street, whether it be pastries in the morning, Halloween cake pops, National Donut Day, lemonade in the summer months, or ice cream sundaes!
- Raffles: A goal the Tenant Experience Manager had was to ensure all tenants had the opportunity to participate in events, even if they were not in the office every day. Raffles have run for weeks at a time — both in the building and virtually — through the property’s HqO Workplace Experience Platform. Raffles have created a buzz in the building, and get tenants excited to participate in other types of events.
- 99 High Street has also been a collection site for Thanksgiving Food Drives, Toys for Tots, Belle of the Ball Prom Dress Drive, Coats for Kids Drive, and Kids in Need Foundations School Supplies Drive.
The Results
With HqO, 99 High Street successfully engaged with their tenants by streamlining building information and events, as well as enabling capabilities like mobile access, order ahead, amenities and resource reservations, perks and giveaways, and more. Notable wins include:
- A fully digital app deployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in high engagement with the app’s more than 850 total users.
- A successful mobile access implementation across the property.
- Raffles, events, and digital giveaways hosted through the app, allowing the property team to show tenant appreciation during the pandemic and re-allocate budgeted funds from typical on-site appreciation events.
- Accelerated app usage through 99 High Street’s highly engaged Community Management team, resulting in ~60% monthly active users.
“I have been impressed with the level of collaboration between the property team and HqO since the minute I started working with them. HqO has encouraged open communication between us, and has allowed me to step in creatively whenever I feel fit. When we do need assistance, their responsiveness is unmatched and is truly appreciated by myself and the rest of the property team.”
— Carly Thayer, Community Manager at Cushman & Wakefield
