As a commercial property manager in Greater Chicago, you want shoppers to invest in goods and services at your retail center. You know employees should enjoy coming to work and using outdoor break and meeting spots. You want patients to feel confident using medical services at your healthcare facility, or customers to trust in your business. Maybe you want potential homeowners to choose your HOA over others and refer your multifamily residence to others.
No matter what type of commercial facility you manage, you want visitors and guests to notice your property in a positive, professional, and productive way. Your mission is to draw people into a safe, welcoming environment that is well-manicured with high-end landscaping.
Nothing attracts more attention than the right commercial landscape amenities that can elevate curb appeal and entice your visitors and guests to stay a while. In fact, the right impressive touches at your commercial site can create big impacts without breaking the bank.
Let’s discuss some outdoor site amenities that property managers can focus on in Greater Chicago and their key benefits to maximum impact and ensure your property stands out from the rest.
Commercial Landscaping Amenities Worth the Investment
You might think your commercial landscape is all about a few perennials and annuals in some landscape beds and some nicely mowed grass.
That’s not enough today to stand out in the competitive commercial marketplace.
You can make a significant impact on the people who venture onto your property with the right outdoor amenities. As potential customers, employees, tenants, and visitors come to your commercial property, your landscaping will communicate your care for your facility and your customers. This kind of care shows that you want your customers to have a good experience and is what leads people to choose your site above others.
Showcasing landscape amenities that go beyond just flowers can express your dedication to your business and its clients, as well as your impact on the local community.
Since many of these amenities can apply to multiple types of commercial sites, we’ll highlight some examples to showcase where they might best fit, so you can prioritize your goals. These are some of the best suggestions on where you can take your commercial landscape.
Landscaping Amenities That Enhance Safety & Security
One of the most important elements to focus on when it comes to choosing outdoor amenities for properties like multifamily properties, retirement communities, and healthcare facilities is safety.
Landscaping mistakes are unacceptable on commercial sites like these where the number of people and the health or age of people on the site need to be considered. You wouldn’t want to have any landscaping issues that could compromise residents’ safety or increase your liability concerns.
Anything you can do to make your residents, patients, or visitors feel safer is an enhancement that should rank pretty high on your priority list. One of the key reasons people choose a place to live, especially when they are older, is because they feel secure.
Let’s find out what kinds of landscape amenities fall into this safety category.
1. Hardscapes That Are Properly Installed and Well Maintained
Trips and falls need to be avoided at all costs, which means creating and maintaining walking spaces to ensure smooth surfaces and no raised or uneven grounds or hardscapes.
And walkways and pathways, as well as retaining walls with bench seating or patios, can all be designed to match your facility using attractive stones and pavers. These kinds of welcoming spaces are practical but also beautiful outdoor amenities.
2. Pay Attention to Sight Lines and Visibility
It’s best to avoid creating blocked sight lines to enhance safety on a site, and many landscape amenities can do this.
This means taking care of where you plant trees and shrubs and making sure you maintain the ones you do plant so you can avoid any overgrown trees or shrubs that block egresses or cover lighting.
Also, adding landscape lighting that accentuates key features and highlights entryways and walkways ensures safety, while also adding aesthetics that boost curb appeal.
3. Eliminate Standing Water With Creative Solutions
You also want to incorporate landscape amenities that eliminate standing water, such as proper grading, adding french drains, or coming up with more creative solutions like rain gardens or dry creek beds that look great but also serve the job of moving water properly.
Using permeable pavers in your hardscapes can also help with improving drainage on your site by allowing water to drain through its surface or surrounding joints into the crushed aggregate and ground beneath.
Outdoor Site Amenities That Increase Functionality
When you’re creating plans for adding landscape amenities to your commercial landscape in Greater Chicago, you also need to prioritize functionality.
These types of enhancements will solve specific needs of the people who use your commercial site.
4. Walking Paths and Exercise Stations
If the seniors of your retirement community, the patients at your hospital, or the residents at your HOA want a space to exercise or enjoy time outdoors, creating an outdoor amenity in the form of a meandering walking path at your site can give you a competitive edge over other similar facilities in the area.
In fact, according to the National Apartment Association, 42% of apartment residents were willing to pay a premium for apartments with walking trails.
Adding benches along the way, intriguing landscaping, proper lighting, and even exercise stations can amplify the desire to use this type of space.
5. Dog Parks, Playgrounds and Common Areas
Thinking about members of the entire family – including children and pets – is a great way to draw interest from new customers and retain current customers with landscaping amenities.
People may choose your shopping center over another if you have a place for their children to unwind and play outside between running errands.
If you offer a dog park, HOA residents with pets will be more apt to live there because they have a great place for their dog to roam and play.
Socialization is important at nearly every type of commercial facility. At some commercial sites like an HOA, you can create bocce ball courts or cornhole game spots to create places for outdoor play and teamwork building.
Common areas can also draw people to them for networking and discussion. Since a playground or a dog park or an outdoor game spot aren’t appropriate for every type of facility, it is not too little of an effort to create great outdoor meeting areas, lunch spots, or places for workers to engage or take breaks. If you provide WI-FIi in these areas, that takes it up a notch and enables people to really use the locations for more than just quick breaks.
6. Shade Structures
As you incorporate functional outdoor amenities for people to use to hang out in nature, remember to offer some protection from the elements to ensure people can use the space for extended periods of time and during different seasons to get the most out of these spaces.
Sun shades, pergolas, pavilions, and canopies are all great ways to
Landscaping Amenities That Amplify Aesthetics
Outdoor amenities can also draw more people to your commercial site because of their beauty and aesthetics.
Great looking gardens with eye-catching spaces not only serve as beautiful additions to your property, but they are also spaces where people can relax and connect with nature and each other.
7. Fire Pits and Water Features
These outdoor amenities bring a retreat feeling to a home landscape, which means they also work for office parks, HOAs, and other commercial facilities.
Fire pits draw people into their warmth with practicality, but are also incredibly attractive additions to stage an employee cookout or entertain out-of-town clients.
Water features add a sensory appeal to your commercial space, boosting that relaxing atmosphere.
Looking for Some Great Outdoor Amenities For Your Greater Chicago Commercial Site? Call KD Landscape
To enhance curb appeal landscaping on your commercial facility, opt for professional commercial landscape design. Using the skillsets of experts in the field in Greater Chicago can help you optimize function as well as beautify the overall look of your site.
You want your outdoor site amenities to look good, delivering something for you that is next level. You want to be able to draw in new residents, shoppers, and visitors and keep the ones you have. You want to offer amenities that encourage interaction, engagement, usability, and security.
As you’re assessing your site, you might find yourself asking questions, wondering what you could possibly do to keep your commercial property looking its best – elevating safety, enhancing functionality, and improving aesthetics.
If you’re not sure where to start, give KD Landscape a call. We can do a thorough walk-through, and our landscape designers can come up with creative solutions to build designs that serve multiple purposes and look great at the same time, making your property stand out from the rest.
Ready to see how KD Landscape can transform your Chicago commercial facility with outdoor amenities? We’d love to share our professional expertise with you. Get started today with a free consultation. Together, we can help you elevate your business image and reputation.
