In this VTS Innovators Spotlight, we spoke with Sara Spicklemire - Senior Vice President of Leasing & Tenant Experience at Callahan Capital Partners - about asset strategy in the current macroeconomic environment and why tenant experience is crucial to the overall leasing strategy.
Hi Sara! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat. Can you please tell our readers about your current role at Callahan Capital Partners and give us a quick primer on your career prior to Callahan?
Thanks for having me, Kevin. I'm the SVP of Leasing and Tenant Experience at Callahan, which means I focus on the traditional leasing function of developing and executing our leasing strategies for each building. Furthermore, to ensure those leasing goals are not only met but exceeded, a significant focus has to be on our tenant experience, so I spend time working closely with our leasing teams, our property management teams, and all of our customer-facing professionals. Customer facing includes our security professionals, engineering, janitorial - anybody who interacts with our tenant customers at any time of the day or night. I spend a significant amount of time working with the entire team on our expectations for tenant experience, including curating the amenities and services we want to offer our tenants at our buildings.
Before Callahan, I spent two decades in brokerage, working with various institutional ownership groups and multi-tenant office building owners to execute their leasing and development programs. After starting my career in tenant representation and then landlord representation at Grubb & Ellis, I was an SVP / Managing Director at a boutique firm called MB Real Estate that was bought by TransWestern before I moved on to CBRE, where I then spent about five years. While at CBRE, I had the honor of working with Tim Callahan as a client. I led a team at CBRE which leased about 11 million square feet, with roughly two million which were Callahan Capital’s. After leaving brokerage, Tim was the only person who could have called me off the bench so quickly, but it was a natural transition on the client side when the opportunity arose.
Strategy: The "Single-Threaded" Leadership Approach
What makes combining leasing and tenant experience under a single leader strategic?
"Hospitality is one of the most adulterated words in office real estate. Post-COVID, watered-down 'hospitality' attempts fell flat. Our CEO, Tim Callahan, predicted that the top 10-15% of buildings would continue to transact while the rest struggled. He recognized that we aren't just competing with the office tower down the road—we are competing with thousands of home offices.
My position focuses on consistent, high-touch hospitality. Tenant experience doesn’t begin once the lease is signed; it starts at the inquiry and ends the day the lease expires. From the first tour, we want tenants to feel that we are bringing true hospitality to their day, giving them the tools to be more productive and efficient."
Technology: Enhancing the Tenant Lifecycle
How does Callahan view technology’s place in the tenant experience?
"If people are commuting, they want their workday to be incredibly productive. We use Proptech in two ways:
- In-place experience: Through the building app (we are implementing Host powered by VTS).
- Internal leasing: Using VTS Lease to make interactions with brokerage teams more efficient.
I know we need to make it easy for brokers to provide information. With VTS Lease, we’ve embedded every piece of info—prospects, proposals, and milestones—in one place instead of 17 Excel spreadsheets. It allows us to be nimble and creates a reliable audit trail."
Market Insights: Navigating the Current Cycle
What makes this current market cycle unique, and how has your asset strategy changed?
"There is a fundamental change in how people use office space. You can no longer rest on anecdotes; you have to give people a reason to walk away from their home office. This isn't just a bubble that will autocorrect.
We are leaning into health, wellness, and productivity. As an owner, we have to meet the needs of the individual as a human being, ensuring they stay just as productive as they are at home to justify the sacrifice of the commute."
What has remained consistent in your approach to success?
"You have to focus on people. I recently read Admiral Robert Harward’s book, The Gouge, where he discusses our 'contract with humanity.' Whether it’s colleagues or customers, sharing the best of everyone for the collective wellbeing is the ideal. It’s not just a paycheck; we train our teams to be excited about engaging with people every day."
Looking Forward: Acquisitions and "Flight to Experience"
How is Callahan analyzing the market for potential investments?
"We are 100% in acquisition mode across 14 markets. We are pursuing the top 10-15% of assets and well-located assets with 'good bones' that we can upgrade into 'commute-worthy' experiences.
To get the full story, we combine our 'boots on the ground' expert network with VTS Data. This allows us to look past doomsday headlines in cities like DC, Chicago, or New York and substantiate the real demand to our investors."
Has any specific submarket surprised you?
"The biggest shocker was the DC market. Despite negative headlines, we found a great story. DC is a market where you must buy 'corner by corner.' When looking at the top-tier space that attracts Fortune 100 law firms, the supply/demand fundamentals are strong. VTS’s forward-looking data showed us exactly how much demand exists for prime space."
The Bottom Line
[Location and Tenant Experience] is what will separate the winners and losers in commercial leasing over the next five years.
"Beyond capital, it’s about where the building is and what it’s like when you’re there. We need to bring next-level hospitality to get people to the office and keep them coming back."
