Avariety of frills and services designed to help the 9-to-5employee "have a nice day" has been loaded into some of the newsuburban office developments.
A good example is the Westbrook Corporate Center near Oak Brook,which provides a menu of practical and environmental amenities thatmay represent the ultimate in stress-fighting devices for officeemployees.
From the time employees arrive in one of the 900 covered parkingspaces until the wee hours when its two quality restaurants close,the Westbrook complex in Westchester will try to take the grind outof going to the office. Even the routine clerical duties are mademore endurable and probably more productive for companies if they tieinto the project's built-in technology.
A number of suburban properties offer some of these sameservices, giving them a competitive edge in a market where everyadvantage counts in the battle for tenants. However, Podolsky &Associates' Westbrook Corporate Center seems to have thought of justabout everything.
For instance, there is the on-site 100-child day-care centercalled Beginnings of Westbrook. When it opens this year, the centerwill provide care for infants from eight weeks of age up topre-schoolers.
An early education program in a play-oriented environment willkeep the kids busy, and working parents will be able to visit duringfeeding time.
In the next stage, Westbrook will offer a comprehensive healthservices facility, including general medical and sports medicineclinics and a cardio-fitness center.
Three tennis courts, a jogging path around the property, picnicareas and two lakes will be part of the development when completed.
The complex will have another 75,000 to 80,000 square feet ofretail space along the covered pedestrian walkways that will connectthe five buildings planned for the center. (Two buildings will becompleted this spring.) A 200-seat auditorium with multimediaequipment also is planned.
Part of the retail space is committed to two restaurantoperators who run several of the highest-volume dining places in themetropolitan area.
One is Arnold Morton, who will establish a Morton's Steak Housein the development.
The other is Roger Greenfield of Dixie Bar & Grill fame, whowill operate an American Cafe in the next phase of the project.
Other amenities include an internal and highway-access trafficsystem that will reduce rush-hour tieups, and a considerable amountof green space embellished with seasonal flowers.
In the long range, the development will include a heliport andhotel with additional meeting and convention services.
Tenants like both the technological advancements built into thedevelopment and the people services.
One of the development's first committed tenants, DouglasChristiansen, president of Chemical Personnel Service, said he wasimpressed by "the high-tech amenities, which will save us inoperating costs each year of our leasehold, and the total ambienceavailable to all our employees."
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