Pickleball, golf, infrared sauna: Will amenities entice workers back to the office?

Indoor pickleball court, Peloton bikes, CrossFit stations, infrared sauna, ice baths, a massage room.

These are the sorts of amenities usually reserved for high-end resorts. But now they could be coming to an office building near you.

Chartwell Property Group and Jefferson River Capital are redeveloping the former Martin Marietta headquarters at 2700 and 2710 Wycliff Road north of Lake Boone Trail. The project, called The Grove, will offer 152,000 square feet of Class A office space, plus a slew of high-end amenities to entice workers back to the office.

It represents a “fundamental shift” in approach to designing office space, Jack Dunn, managing director with Chartwell Property Group, told the N&O.

It also shows how far some companies are willing go to win over employees in this age of remote work.

“The tenant reception has been overwhelmingly positive,” Dunn said. “We purchased the property with the intent of developing a hospitality-inspired workplace that changed how companies and individual employees thought about using the office.”

The campus will have more than 16,000 square feet of amenity space that will also include a self-serve café and bar, library and lounge, indoor and outdoor conference rooms, outdoor workspaces, an HVAC ionization system, and a fitness center with “spa-quality” locker rooms.

Chartwell bought the 11.46-acre campus from Martin Marietta in May 2021 for $17.6 million. It came with two buildings built in the 1980s.

The Grove is expected to be completed by early 2023.

Despite reports of companies nationwide looking to shrink their organization’s real estate footprint, Dunn said the long-term trajectory of the Triangle’s office market remains robust.

“Companies are clearly rethinking how they utilize their office space,” he said. “The market is likely to remain in a state of rebalancing for the next 18 months or so.”