WHERE DO TENANTS COME FROM - USING A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION-SYSTEM TOSTUDY THE DEMAND FOR NEW OFFICE SPACE

This paper traces the inter- and intraregional moves of office tenants and demonstrates how Geographic Information Systems can be used to ad dress substantive research questions. The research tracks the origin o f office tenants in new buildings over 10,000 square feet and the dest ination of tenants from older buildings larger chan 10,000 square feet , during 1980 to 1986. For data from Prince George's County, Maryland, the results show chat in a new office building, 76 percent of establi shments and 50 percent of employees were in firms that were either sta rtups or in-migrants to the Washington metropolitan statistical area. Four percent of establishments but 22 percent. of employment in new of fice space came from older office buildings in Prince George's county. Seven percent of establishments and 22 percent of employment were rel ocations from small or non-office locations, and che remaining share c ame from other counties in the region. Nine percent of establishments and of employment had relocated from the District of Columbia. We conc lude that the new office space did not draw primarily tenants from old er area buildings; rather, the majority of its tenants came from new s tartups and inmigrants to the Washington, D.C. region.