Robert Kasvinsky and Benjamin Breslau are part of Spaulding & Slye’s Business and Strategic Intelligence division.

Commercial real estate is more informal these days, but the trend has nothing to do with attire.

As the business world enters its second year of turmoil, property owners, tenants and brokers are scrambling for information on the evolving market, from rental rates and absorption levels to subleasing availabilities and other supply indices. Subsequently, research professionals are being inundated with requests for in-depth data and analysis.

Our clients, particularly on the investment and leasing side, are just dying for information right now, acknowledged Benjamin Breslau, manager of research at Spaulding & Slye Colliers. The phone has been ringing off the hook.

In any down market, people are going to do their homework, seconded Katie Kelly, director of research for Richards Barry Joyce & Partners in Boston. Companies today want to understand what their real estate needs are, and to [accomplish] that they are taking a much harder look at the numbers.

There are a variety of reasons offered for why firms are now leaning so heavily on research. Not only does the business climate mandate that companies keep abreast of current conditions, broker Matthew Dwyer noted that commercial real estate ownership has shifted dramatically from private groups to publicly traded entities such as real estate investment trusts.

Investor reporting is more important than ever, said Dwyer, a principal with Spaulding & Slye. That’s encouraging us to get better at what we do as far as research is concerned. Tenants, now rife with choices, want the latest news on rental rates or amenities, said Dwyer, whereas landlords need updates on economic trends or where new construction might be coming on line. Other property owners may require regional data to show lenders why their building is struggling, added Kelly.

To meet the demand, Spaulding & Slye recently folded its research arm into a new division known as Business and Strategic Intelligence. Breslau said it reflects the philosophy that the group should go beyond providing data and try to decipher what the indicies actually mean.

It’s not so much a division as it is a vision for us, said Breslau. Strategic intelligence is what we think our clients are really looking for. It’s a [concept] of providing strategic, interpretive analysis of market conditions … and helping people to understand where we are headed.

Spaulding & Slye has always had a strong research element, with its quarterly reports and property database on office, industrial and flex space dating back to 1979. Separate surveys are prepared for Boston, Cambridge and the suburbs. Richard W. Reynolds, named to lead the Business and Strategic Intelligence division, said the company’s research capabilities are critical.

It is a major competitive advantage, said Reynolds. While not a profit center, the research division more than earns its keep by retaining such interested clients as Boston Properties and Westbrook Partners, said Reynolds. It is such a lure, he said, that the company does not sell the proprietary data as a separate service.

The information is used to provide both raw data and perspective, said Reynolds. In one recent presentation, for example, Spaulding & Slye researchers were able to determine metropolitan Boston has absorbed 60 million square feet of office space in the past 18 years at an average of 3 percent of the total annually. Reynolds said the analysis shows the office sector has been historically steady in that period despite two wild swings, including the current slide.

That’s the sort of thing that’s important for investors so they can understand how the market performs over time, he said.

RBJ&P, the newest addition to Boston’s real estate services lineup, also considers research a critical element for success today, said principal Robert B. Richards. The skill set of what clients are looking for has changed dramatically, he said. There is new information and different kinds of information that people are looking for, and you need to provide that to them.

‘Better Tools’
RBJ&P hired Kelly soon after the company opened in June. She had spent nearly three years at CoStar, a resource which tracks commercial leasing availabilities and other market data. Richards said Kelly’s knowledge of the widely used CoStar network was a key reason in her selection, as well as her experience and interest in research.

We also didn’t want our research people to be broker wannabes, said Richards. We wanted them to be research experts.

For whatever reason, it does appear that real estate information has struck a nerve in recent years. Boston itself has two established companies that offer both local and national information in Torto Wheaton Research and Property and Portfolio Research. And just about every real estate services firm has some element of research to offer its customers.

Few players have embraced the research component of the business as greatly as Spaulding & Slye, with a team of eight in Boston and another three in Washington, D.C. The company scored a coup in June when it hired Robert Kasvinsky away from Grubb & Ellis. While stressing he enjoyed his 19 years at Grubb & Ellis, Kasvinsky said he was enthused by the opportunity to join Spaulding & Slye due to its high regard for research.

The level of cooperation and camaraderie is very high here, he said. People share all the information and work very well together.

Breslau said Kasvinsky knows [the market] as well as anybody in the industry. Along with two decades covering the sector, Kasvinsky has a background in military intelligence and holds a master’s degree in geology. The research group complements itself with a mix of talents, said Breslau, who has been at the firm four years. Besides statistics and mapping experts, Vice President of Research Jocelina Benzmiller has a master’s degree in economics from Yale University.

Spaulding & Slye uses Global Information Systems and other tools to produce mapping for presentations, Breslau said, helping clients identify population centers or pockets where rent deals might exist. Kelly said firms who before were petrified to stray from areas where job applicants were thin now put fiscal austerity ahead of worker demands. It’s a big shift, she said.

Other clients want to know who the hot business prospects are, Kelly said, with many currently seeking guidance on the biotechnology industry. Office buildings in Cambridge are being assessed for conversion to biotech, for example, with the latter industry concentrated in that city and struggling to find space at the same time the office market vacancy is soaring out of control.

Overall, clients are attempting to stay ahead of the curve, Kelly said, adding that the dour climate also affords people the ability to pore over and assess reams of information. In the go-go environment that dominated much of 2000, such an opportunity was not available, said Kelly.

Spaulding & Slye is offering additional services, said Reynolds, including a new survey of corporate-owned space and a regular e-mail newsletter that will offer extensive market information. Kasvinsky will serve as managing editor of the e-mail report. The research team also works jointly with Spaulding & Slye’s marketing group to produce industry snapshots of particular trends or submarkets.

It’s all about [generating] better information faster, said Reynolds. The new division will ensure continued cooperation between the research group and Spaulding & Slye brokers, Reynolds added. That relationship is critical, according to Breslau, who said his group relies on the grassroots brokerage network for street-level insight, and to see whether data conflicts with their observations. Research members sit in on sales meetings and interact regularly with the brokers, according to Breslau.

We’re in there in the trenches listening to their needs and strategizing how we can provide better tools and analysis to help them do their jobs better, he said. We really feel like we’re part of the team.