1. SIMPLIFY THE LANDSCAPE

Limb up, cut down, and remove. Just because its green doesn’t mean it helps.  Clean, straight forward and low maintenance looks organized and easy to approach.

2. PAINT

Technology has come a long way with coatings, and for the dollar, paint is the fastest and cheapest way.  Don’t take risks, take a digital picture to a local graphic artist or architect to come up with a few virtual schemes. Keep it classic and timeless, but avoid copping out with beige.  Look at your adjacent buildings and be careful not to copy, but make a bold change and passersby will double take as if you just built a new building.

3. WASH THE FACADE WITH LIGHT AT NIGHT

Don’t be too delicate with this, show that your building is always alive and secure, even if the businesses are not open as late as the lights are on.  12V and solar  systems won’t cut it, but with LED technology, ongoing cost is minimal.

4. THE ADDRESS NUMBERS

Don’t overdo this, but the right address number size and font can make a fashion statement similar to a pocket square on a sport coat.

5. SIGNAGE

Always a difficult balance with tenant requirements and franchise standards, but get the right advise.  A poor tenant with a good sign can help set a high quality tone for the whole building nonetheless.  The fastest way to research this is to visit a high end retail plaza with national franchise tenants in your area, and you will likely get some ideas.  Most tenants never look into their options, so the signage faux pas have little to do with budget and more to do with configuration.

6. HIDE AWKWARD ELEMENTS WITH “THE NON-COLOR”

“The Non-Color” is the color of things that don’t want to be seen, like Battleships.  “The Non-Color” does not care what the rest of your building material palette is, nor should it work too hard to coordinate, or it becomes part of the broader composition. Dumpster doors, mechanical louvers, sheds, utilitarian fencing and other odd features can be “visually erased” easier than they can be beautified.  A gallon of dark neutral gray paint will almost always push ugly features to the background…and with the few moments that people have to look at your building as they pass by,  you will ensure they see only the good. Landscaping is not always the answer to hiding things, and has its own problems.  A row of half dead arborvitae in front of an ugly dumpster, and you just made your problem worse.

7. CLEAN EXTERIOR SURFACE OF GLASS

Seems obvious, but glass from all angles and in all lighting conditions shows dirt more than any other building material.  HVAC costs can be reduced just by having clean windows as well.

8. HAVING THE BEST MAILBOX ALONG YOUR ROAD CAN SAY SOMETHING

Get creative because a mailbox is like “Bonus Signage” and usually not heavily regulated by zoning.

9. LIGHTS ARE SIMILAR TO MAILBOXES AND ADDRESS NUMBERS

The eye is immediately attracted to intricate details of pedestrian level lighting especially when they occupy an otherwise mundane building wall. An older industrial building with great looking, properly sized stylish wall, post and bollard lighting can be fresh and hip practically overnight.

10. DIRECTIONAL SIGNS

Point out the way to the main lobby, loading docks, handicap entries in and around the parking lot. Most of these are generally unregulated by sign codes and are great opportunities for landscape elements like stone monuments or even backlit identifiers. Your tenants may not need daily help finding their way, but I can assure you, their customers will benefit.

11. EMBRACE YOUR BUILDING’S ORIGINAL/NATIVE STYLE

Too often, I see owners try to offset the style of their building with these “improvements”. Regardless of today’s trends, this is a bad idea because diluting the original/native style of a building with features that are not bold enough to redefine the building will only make your design statement even more mundane. Set personal opinion aside; if it’s a utilitarian building – stay High Tech with the features, don’t soften it.  If it’s a brick colonial office complex, keep the features traditional. Cohesion of an idea, in your case, a building and it’s site, has an exponential affect in the eyes of the public and more importantly, the appraiser.