If you live in the Chicago area and are looking for an office rental space, there are quite a few external factors that you should take into consideration. 

It happens too often that companies make the mistake of not looking at their chosen rental location carefully enough. Not taking all of the surrounding factors into consideration can be very costly for a company, both in terms of finances and company morale. Let’s take a closer look at some of the things you should be thinking about.

Safety

You can find the cheapest rent in town, but if the neighborhood you’re moving into doesn’t have the best safety record you could be asking for trouble. This could mean a number of different things. First of all, the general safety and comfort level of your employees. You want your staff to be happy, comfortable, and motivated when they go to work every day. Even if you manage to renovate the interior of an office space very nicely, if you’re in a bad neighborhood problems will eventually arise.

Also, you should take into consideration things like parking and transportation. If the neighborhood you’re in has a high crime rate, your employees might not want to leave their cars there. Also, public transportation should be convenient both in terms of location and frequency. If your staff members work late into the evening and then have to sit outside waiting for the bus at night, they probably won’t be very happy about it. This goes as much - and possibly even more so - for any guests that you might be having at your office.

Try to find the right balance between cost and safety. Obviously, no inner-city neighborhood is going to have a perfect record. But if you choose a place where there are other offices, you will be able to rest assured that there is similar activity going on around you and other workers that have the same expectations that your workers have. Keep all this in mind as you look through the office space in Chicago for a rental space.

Conveniences

People can always order delivery for lunch, but you want the neighborhood you work in to have a fair number of conveniences so that your staff members feel like they can take care of necessary business throughout the course of the business day. 

First of all, there should be convenience stores in or within a short walking distance from your office. There should be at least a decent variety of places where people can grab lunch. And, of course, if you’re running an upscale business and need to impress your potential clients, you might want to look for a space with fancier restaurants nearby. Nothing will turn off a would-be client like showing them bad service and sub-standard food.

Beyond this, ideally you want to have other types of facilities nearby as well. You’ll likely have employees that will want a fitness facility nearby, or perhaps a pool. Remember, the happier your employees are, the better they will do at their jobs.

The building itself

You also want to be sure that the actual building you choose is a good one. Ideally, it should be a proper office facility with other companies also located in it. Even if you have to choose an unorthodox setup like working in a former apartment space, you should ensure that the building itself is suitable for your staff members.

This means several things: Having a responsible landlord who will respond to issues in a timely manner; knowing that your energy needs will be taken care of and won’t be overwhelmingly expensive; being sure that your neighbors will be quiet and responsible, etc. What you should really have is a solid security system and guards to monitor who comes in and out of the building. So the more of these features you can tick off, the better.

You should also be sure that there aren’t any mobility issues. Some buildings have unreliable elevators, forcing people to walk up flights of stairs. Or the bathrooms could be located further away than your staff members want to deal with. Particularly - but not only - if you have disabled staff members, issues like this could spell disaster for you. 

And, of course, if you’re going to be having visitors, you absolutely have to have a space that says professionalism very loudly. If people see that you don’t even value your own environment, they will be unlikely to expect much from the products or services that you offer.

In short, you don’t want to have to deal with any potential problems like this, so be sure to check this all out beforehand.

Check external ratings

You should also look at third-party reviews of any office space that you are considering renting. If any aspect of the building or the parent company gets bad reviews, you might want to reconsider your choice. So be sure to do your research in advance and know exactly what you are potentially getting your company and your staff into. 

As mentioned above, what you want is to find the right balance between price, location, and conveniences. You might have to compromise on one of these things to some extent, but you should do whatever you can to keep your staff happy and keep your business in order.