A commercial real estate broker who is a household name in metropolitan Phoenix received the top honor for his “significant and positive” impact to the industry at the annual awards ceremony of the Arizona Chapter of , the voice of commercial real estate. 

R. Craig Coppola, the highest-producing broker in the 40-plus history of the largest broker-owned firm in the country, Lee & Associates, received the top honor, the Award of Excellence at the annual 2020 Best of Arizona NAIOP Awards ceremony at WestWorld of Scottsdale.

Coppola received one of 34 awards handed out at the event to recognize the most successful commercial real estate projects, companies and individuals in the prior year. 

Other longtime Arizona institutions also were winners at the event including Willmeng, which was named the General Contractor of the Year; Cushman & Wakefield, the Brokerage Firm of the Year; and Butler Design Group, Architect of the Year.

Winners helped state weather pandemic 

It was an incredibly rough year for the industry but developers remained “bullish on Arizona’s future,” said Suzanne Kinney, president and CEO of the Arizona chapter. 

“Creative mixed-use projects like The Collab in Gilbert’s Heritage District, Helios Education Foundation’s new building in Central Phoenix, and the Grand2 in Tempe, a spec project that brought DoorDash to our market, are examples of award-winning projects that exhibit excitement for and commitment to Arizona’s future,” Kinney said.   

The industrial sector had an especially strong year, she said. 

“Our members worked at a break-neck pace to implement advanced logistics capabilities, increase warehousing capacity and build state-of-the art fulfillment centers to respond to the increased demand for e-commerce and the warehousing of essential goods. For example, two large Amazon facilities won awards: Amazon Final Mile Facility in the Chandler Airport Commerce Park and the Amazon GYR3 IXD.”

Winning projects fed local economies 

Dozens of projects across the state also helped cushion the blow to the state economy during COVID-19 shutdowns and disruptions, Kinney said. 

For example, the Economic Impact Project of the Year award, the Novus Innovation Corridor – Phase III, generated a $277.8 million impact in 2020, she said. Located near Arizona State University, the public-private project is a mixed-use corridor for housing, retail, and space for leading-edge technology companies who have access to the university’s research and talent pipeline.  

Award of Excellence recognizes significant impact to industry 

Coppola received the top award, the Award of Excellence, which is given to individuals who have made a “significant and positive impact” on the commercial real estate industry in Arizona over at least 15 years, along with direct volunteer contributions to the chapter.

For more than 37 years as a founding principal of Lee & Associates Arizona, Coppola has specialized in the representation of landlords and tenants in the leasing and sale of office properties in the Valley. He has completed more than 3,800 transactions totaling more than 15 MSF valued in excess of $4 billion. 

The Arizona MBA grad is a 24-time top producer at Lee & Associates, six-time NAIOP Office Broker of the Year, and a 25-time finalist for NAIOP Office Broker of the Year. He also is the author of five books including, How to Win in Commercial Real Estate Investing and The Art of Commercial Real Estate Leasing. 

In his volunteer service, Coppola has served on the NAIOP board of directors; Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce board; St. Vincent de Paul Advisory Council; Banner Health Foundation; Xavier College Preparatory Board of Trustees; and more. 

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this award than Craig,” said Danny Swancey of ViaWest Group, NAIOP Arizona board chairman. “His hallmark qualities of integrity, high-energy, discipline, and perseverance positively impact our organization and the entire commercial real estate community.  It’s a pleasure to honor someone who has consistently contributed on so many levels for over three decades.”

Best of NAIOP 2020 winners

Award of Excellence: R. Craig Coppola, Lee & Associates Arizona

Architect of the Year: Butler Design Group

Brokerage Firm of the Year: Cushman & Wakefield

Firm of the Year: Willmeng

General Contractor of the Year: Willmeng

Interior Architect of the Year: Phoenix Design One, Inc.

Owner/Developer of the Year: Lincoln Property Company

Tenant Improvement Contractor of the Year: Willmeng

NAIOP Arizona’s Official Branding Sponsor: TRADEMARK

Developing Leader of the Year: Michael Strittmatter, CBRE

Emerging Broker of the Year: James Cohn, CBRE

Healthcare Broker of the Year: Perry Gabuzzi, Margaret Lloyd, Bill Cook and Mike McWilliams, Plaza Companies

Industrial Broker of the Year: Tony Lydon, Marc Hertzberg, Riley Gilbert and John Lydon, JLL

Investment Broker of the Year: Will Strong, Cushman & Wakefield

Office Broker of the Year: Kevin Calihan and Bryan Taute, CBRE

Retail Broker of the Year: Dave Cheatham and Darren Pitts, Velocity Retail Group, LLC

Rookie Broker of the Year: Matt Baniszewski, Colliers International

Tenant Representative Broker of the Year: Pat Williams, JLL

Economic Impact Project of the Year: Novus Innovation Corridor – Phase III

Industrial Build-to-Suit Project of the Year: Amazon Final Mile Facility (DPX7)

Industrial Tenant Improvement Project of the Year: Amazon GYR3 IXD

Medical Office Project of the Year: Wexford PBC1

Mixed-Use Project of the Year: The Collab

Office Build-to-Suit Project of the Year: Helios Education Foundation Campus and Vince Roig Convening Center

Office TI Project of the Year (Less Than 60,000 SF): Carvana HQ3

Office TI (More Than 60,000 SF): DoorDash

Redevelopment Project of the Year: ADOT Flagstaff offices

Retail Project of the Year: Volvo Arrowhead Dealership and Site Development

Spec Industrial Project of the Year (Less Than 365,000 SF): Gilbert Crossroads

Spec Industrial Project of the Year (More Than 365,000 SF): Chandler Airport Commerce Park

Spec Office Project of the Year: Union Building 1

Sustainable Project of the Year: 777 Tower at Novus Innovation Corridor

Transaction of the Year: Grand2

Talk of the Town: 777 Tower at Novus Innovation Corridor and Grand2/DoorDash (tied)

To learn more about NAIOP, visit:

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Workers are expected to come back in full force in the next few months as Covid-19 restrictions lift across Arizona, and many employers are configuring just how to bring everyone back to the office — or not. 

One of Arizona’s leading real estate attorneys, Jay Kramer of , spoke to Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ about what to expect as well as advice for employers on how to move forward. 

The first challenge will be motivating employees to come back to job sites, Kramer said.  

“People haven’t been in the office for awhile and in Phoenix, you can have a 40-minute to one-hour round-trip commute,” said Kramer, a partner with Fennemore, headquartered in Phoenix. “If they come back to the office and just go into a cubicle or close the door of their office, that may not be a reason to come back. So, we’ve got to make it more enjoyable, more of a communal environment conducive to collaboration and socialization as well as providing quiet spaces for people to work.”

Now that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has , Kramer predicts employees will be back in full force by the end of the year. 

Kramer offered up his projections for what’s ahead and some advice: 

Projections for the short and long term

In the short term, the commercial office market will continue to be bumpy, and Kramer advises remaining flexible right now.  

“I think there is going to be an initial knee jerk reaction of, ‘How can we reduce space?’ “ he said. “Most companies will be in a hybrid environment and wonder why they need as much space as they have with only 50 percent of their employees in the office on any given day.”

Longer term, more office space may be required because of the need for more collaborative space, social spaces, quiet spaces, and zoom meeting conference rooms, he said. 

“We may actually need as much or additional space because of all these experiential requirements that we’re going to need in order to get people back to working in the office.”  

Large headquarters may become more obsolete 

Expect large headquarters to go away in favor of regional satellite offices closer to provide more travel convenience for staff, Kramer said. Many offices also will need to be “re-imagined” to make them more attractive to bring staff in for a few days a week or more. 

“Instead of having one large corporate office located downtown or at 24th and Camelback, maybe an approach would be to have two or three smaller offices around the Valley, closer to where your employees are located so they do have a place to go where there can be some feeling of camaraderie and community and firm,” Kramer said. “But at same time, limit the commute and limit the exposure to a large number of people.”

Time to think about flexible lease options moving forward

Over the past 14 months, many big businesses were able to carry their mortgages and leases in 2020 because they were able to reduce other expenses associated with running an office by as much as 20 percent. 

Moving forward, CFOs may need to consider reducing costs on existing leases through vehicles like subleasing. Now is a good time to start thinking ahead about how to renegotiate leases to build in flexibility for expansion and contraction. 

“It’s very difficult to change your lease during the existing lease term unless you’ve negotiated contraction, expansion options or early termination provisions or something to that effect,” Kramer said. “So most of us are going to continue to have to live with our current office space.”

Subleasing glut right now 

With everyone trying to sublease right now, it can be difficult to find takers. Companies may find they are having to retrofit their offices to survive.  

“The key issues are going to be flexibility and that means the ability to contract and expand your space, have options to extend your term but also have the ability to terminate your lease contractually,” Kramer said.

With the knowledge that government mandates or orders can limit how many employees can be in the office, there will be more emphasis on force majeure provisions and leases and possibly condemnation. 

Tenants are in “leverage” position right now

Right now, leverage is with tenants, which means landlords will be more likely to work with flexible lease and other terms. 

“So, if you have a lease that is expiring, you might normally look at your lease 18 months before the expiration date but you may want to start looking three years in advance now and see if there is something you can do.”

Residential real estate boom will benefit commercial market  

With the housing market on fire in the Valley, expect the commercial real estate sector to benefit as well. 

“With more people, you assume that more businesses, whether they are small or large, will either start up here or potentially move their headquarters or their regional headquarters to the area.”

As people move to the region, more “knowledge-based” businesses and higher salaries will follow. 

“The next five years in the Valley are going to be good times for the real estate market. There will probably be some blips, but I think overall the trend will be very positive.”

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Top executives from three of the most successful commercial real estate firms in the world spoke recently in Phoenix about what the office of the future will look like here and across the nation during and post-pandemic. 

While the face of commercial office space could see permanent changes as it adapts, they all predict that the Phoenix metro region, unlike some other large cities, will continue to see healthy growth in the sector. 

Office space is not going away, they said. 

“In just the last few weeks, there’s been a huge uptick in activity in inquiries, and companies are going to continue to look at Arizona,” said Cathy Teeter, managing director of the Phoenix office for CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services company.

Affordability and lifestyle — including the ability to “park your car in a garage or adjacent to your house” — are top reasons the Phoenix area continues to attract interest, she said.  

Teeter and two other experts spoke this month at a meeting of the nonprofit Valley Partnership, the voice of the real estate industry. 

Martha dePlazaola Abbott, co-managing director and principal at Gensler, a global architecture, design, and planning firm, and Molly Ryan Carson, senior vice president and market leader of the Southwest region for Ryan Companies, a national builder, developer, designer, and real estate manager, also were panelists. 

They discussed what the industry is doing to reimagine and redesign the office environment. They are turning to employees through surveys and other means to make those decisions. 

Surveys show most people want back in the office

Employee surveys indicate most Americans do not want to work from home full-time. But they do enjoy the flexibility of being able to do so, they said. 

In May, Gensler’s Research Institute published the U.S. Work from Home Survey 2020 that provides insight into the home experience and how it is influencing people’s expectations for the future. The study surveyed more than 2,300 full-time U.S. office workers at companies of 100 or more people from April 16 to May 4. 

It found that employees overwhelmingly want to return to the office, but with changes to address the pandemic. Also, many workers, particularly young and new employees, are struggling in the home office setting.  

Among the findings:

• Only 12 percent of workers want to work from home full-time
• Seventy percent of people want to work in the office for the majority of their week as long as there is more space for social distancing and other safety measures
• Fifty-five percent of respondents said working from home makes collaborating with others harder, and 51 percent said staying up to date on the work of others is more difficult
• Millennial and Gen Z workers report being less productive and less satisfied at home
• People expect to return to the office, but it should look different with stricter sick policies and cleaning and space configurations for physical distancing

The office of the future  

Teeter said CBRE surveys show employee retention and safety is a critical concern for companies. So whatever it takes to keep employees happy and healthy will dictate how they move back into the office, she said. 

“People want flexibility. They don’t want to give up their place at the office. They just want to have flexibility in making that decision for themselves. They want to work remotely between two and three days a week.”

All three panelists said many companies will respond with a mix of options for workers. Physical distancing will dictate the new office configuration.

Abbott of Gensler said, “Seventy percent of employees don’t want to be at home all the time, so they (clients) are trying to create a hybrid environment where you come to the office for meetings and collaboration but you do your focus work at home.”  

Arizona can expect healthy future for commercial office space   

Meanwhile, fears of office space stagnating and rental relief requests are not surfacing in many regions, the panelists said.  

In Arizona, they report seeing an uptick in interest for relocations and expansions from a mix of industries: technology, healthcare, manufacturing, insurance, pharmaceuticals, financial technology.

Ryan Companies’ Carson said she’s seeing clients talk of needing more space, not eliminating it with more employees working remotely.  

“We haven’t had many companies say they are downsizing. They are not people downsizing. Now, they’re thinking when they come back to the office they’re going to need that additional elbow room and how can they do that with their square footage.”

As the workplace evolves, Arizona will continue to be a desirable location for many reasons including its central location, Carson said.  

“You can get virtually anywhere from here now. It has become a place for everyone. It’s for the hourly employee at a call center and it is for a CEO, and it is for having both of those individuals under the same roof. This is becoming more common now because of that desire for synergy, communication and shared thought within the office.”

For more information about how offices can reopen safely, go to:

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