JLL: FIVE HOUSTON CENTER
FIVE Houston Center increases foot traffic with urban beekeeping program
FIVE Houston Center is a 580,000 square foot office building in the heart of downtown Houston, TX. The LEED Gold certified building is managed by JLL – making it one of over 45 JLL buildings across North America that has implemented Alvéole’s nature-based solutions.
The mission
General Manager Scott Talbert spends his days ensuring everything at FIVE Houston Center is running smoothly. At the heart of everything he does is one objective: to delight his tenants.
His tenants want their employees back in the office. To do that, Scott is constantly coming up with innovative initiatives to get people excited about coming to the building.
Scott was approached by the building’s largest tenant, an international accounting firm, who wanted to offer a unique experience to their employees. They requested permission to bring an urban beekeeping initiative to the building.
After hearing about Alvéole through his JLL network and learning more about the solutions, Scott wanted the entire building to benefit. He opted to spearhead the program and involve all tenants.
“I want to foster a sense of place, a sense of ownership for the people who work here. That’s so important post-pandemic. Everyone calls it ‘my house’, ‘my home’. So let’s make this ‘your building’, ‘your office’, ‘your space’.”
– Scott Talbert, General Manager, FIVE Houston Center
The solution
To encourage as much engagement as possible, Scott wanted the bees to be highly visible. He chose to repurpose an area of unused space on top of the parking garage, accessible to all building occupants. It directly faces the tenant lounge, so anyone can sit back, relax, and watch the bees (and the beekeeper) come and go.
But that wasn’t all. Scott hired a local artist to paint a custom mural around the space. The finishing touch was an urban garden of pollinator-friendly flowers for the bees and the tenants to enjoy.
“When you have something highly visible like that, it becomes a major stop for every broker tour that comes through the building. It becomes an amenity. My intention was to make it a conversation piece, a community piece.”
– Scott Talbert, General Manager, FIVE Houston Center
Alvéole’s service
Urban beekeeping Environmental education Community engagement
The results
The building is known for its innovative events and the bees have played an important role in FIVE Houston Center’s engagement initiatives. Occupants have bottled honey, made beeswax candles, and learned about the fascinating world of bees from their beekeeper.
The property management team even hosted a contest where people could submit photos with the beehives for a chance to win prizes. Competition was fierce.
The team also makes sure tenants receive a portion of the annual honey harvest, complete with custom labels featuring the tenants’ logos.
All of this plays into creating an office that people want to come to, leading to increased foot traffic in the building.
“We want to build a comfortable, collaborative space that everyone enjoys coming to, rather than working from home. What brings people to your building is a metric that everyone should be looking at. You can’t experience something like urban beekeeping from home!”
– Scott Talbert, General Manager, FIVE Houston Center
Increased occupancy rate
Since the bees arrived, the building saw expected leased occupancy increase by 20%.
“These kinds of initiatives that foster a sense of place help with renewals and expansions.”
– Scott Talbert
High level of engagement
Any event or activity involving the bees fills up quickly and receives excellent feedback.
“Having something accessible that people can engage with drives a sense of ownership.”
– Scott Talbert
Delighted tenants
Tenant feedback has been glowing, especially from the largest tenant who proposed the program.
“In their minds, we went above and beyond what they had requested.”
– Scott Talbert
Let’s make your property stand out
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