When its 6,000 tenants asked Equity Office Properties Trust for improved services, the REIT responded with the launch of Equity Office Access, a business service that provides telecommunications, office suites, motivational speakers and training tools, unique information tools, advertising venues and more.

"The win-win is additional service. Some are going to work fabulously," said Michael Sheinkop, senior vice president of real estate services. "Others won’t, but we can retool them. There’s a real opportunity to help us drive growth for shareholders." To bring these services to its tenants, Equity Office Properties Trust has formed partnerships with service providers like Level 3, a telecommunications firm, Captivate, a media company which provides message screens in elevator cabs, and U.S. Bank, which will install ATMs in the REIT’s 285 office buildings.

Employees of tenants in Boston, Chicago, and New York are kept abreast of the weather and traffic in their local community via television feed in elevators. "The customer feedback says, we love it," said Sheinkop. "It improves the experience in the elevator cab and I think that we’re going to find as we improve the content—sport scores, stock quotes—people will find that their time is no longer wasted." In surveys conducted over a seven year period, Equity Office found that the most frequently requested service was an automatic teller machine (ATM). After reviewing the ATM status in its buildings, Equity Office learned that 60 buildings did not have ATMs and that some buildings were paying too much for that service. Through an agreement with U.S. Bank, the REIT will now offer this service to building tenants in 30 cities.

"Access fits beautifully into our plan by virtue of creating our service platform," said Sheinkop. "In the end, it will mean higher retention and longer relationships."