As a commercial property manager in Greater Chicago, your goal is to encourage shoppers to invest in goods and services at your retail center. You understand that employees should look forward to coming to work and enjoy outdoor breaks and meeting areas. You want patients to feel confident in using your healthcare services or customers to trust your business. Perhaps you aim to have potential homeowners choose your HOA over competitors and refer your multifamily residence to others.
Regardless of the type of commercial facility you manage, it’s important that visitors and guests perceive your property in a positive, professional, and productive way.
Your mission is to create a safe, inviting environment that features well-maintained, high-quality landscaping. Nothing captures attention like the right commercial landscape features that enhance curb appeal and encourage visitors and guests to linger. In fact, strategic landscape enhancements can significantly impact without significant costs.
Let’s explore some outdoor site amenities suitable for property managers in Greater Chicago, along with their key benefits to maximize their impact and help your property stand out.
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.
By providing well-designed outdoor amenities, you can greatly influence visitors to your property. As potential customers, employees, tenants, and visitors arrive, your landscaping reflects your commitment to your facility and their experience.
This attention to detail demonstrates that you value your visitors' comfort, encouraging them to prefer your site over 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 examples to show where they might fit best, so you can prioritize your goals. These are some of the best suggestions on where you can take your commercial landscape.
When selecting outdoor amenities for properties like multifamily buildings, retirement communities, and healthcare facilities, safety should be a top priority.
Landscaping errors are unacceptable in these commercial settings, where the safety and well-being of residents, patients, and visitors are critical. Any landscaping issue that could jeopardize safety or raise liability concerns must be avoided.
Improving safety features is essential because it helps residents, patients, or visitors feel more secure—a major reason why people choose certain living environments, especially older adults.
Let’s explore the types of landscape amenities that enhance safety.
Trips and falls must be prevented at all costs, so it's essential to create and maintain clean, level walking surfaces free of 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 outdoor spaces are practical yet beautiful.
To improve site safety, it's advisable to prevent blocked sight lines, which can often be achieved with landscape features.
This involves carefully selecting planting locations for trees and shrubs and maintaining them to prevent overgrowth that might obstruct exits or hide lighting.
Additionally, installing landscape lighting that highlights key features, entry points, and pathways can enhance safety and boost overall curb appeal.
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 and also serve the purpose of properly moving water.
Using permeable pavers in your hardscapes can also improve drainage on your site by allowing water to drain through the surface or surrounding joints into the crushed aggregate and ground beneath.
When adding landscape amenities to your commercial site in Greater Chicago, it's important to focus on functionality. These improvements will address particular needs of the people using your property.
If the seniors in your retirement community, the patients at your hospital, or the residents in your HOA want a space to exercise or enjoy time outdoors, creating an outdoor amenity—a meandering walking path at your site — can give you a competitive edge over similar facilities in the area.
According to the National Apartment Association, 42% of apartment residents are willing to pay extra for units with walking trails.
Enhancing these areas with benches, attractive landscaping, adequate lighting, and exercise stations can further increase their appeal and encourage greater use.
Considering the needs of the whole family—children and pets—can effectively attract new customers and keep existing ones engaged with landscaping amenities.
Visitors are more likely to prefer your shopping center over competitors if you provide a space where children can relax and play outside while running errands.
Additionally, offering a dog park can make HOA residents with pets more inclined to live there, as it provides a dedicated area for their dogs to run and play.
Socialization is important at nearly every type of commercial facility. At some locations, like an HOA, you can create bocce ball courts or cornhole game areas to foster outdoor play and teamwork.
Common areas can also attract people for networking and conversation. Since a playground, dog park, or outdoor game area aren’t suitable for every facility, it’s worthwhile to create inviting outdoor meeting spots, lunch areas, or places where workers can relax or socialize.
Adding Wi-Fi in these spaces enhances their use, allowing people to do more than just take quick breaks.
When adding functional outdoor amenities for socializing in nature, include some protection from the weather to allow people to enjoy the space for longer periods and across different seasons, maximizing the use of these areas.
Outdoor amenities can also attract more people to your commercial site through their beauty and aesthetics.
Great-looking gardens with eye-catching spaces not only serve as beautiful additions to your property but also offer places where people can relax and connect with nature and each other.
These outdoor amenities bring a retreat-like feel to a home landscape, making them suitable for office parks, HOAs, and other commercial facilities.
Fire pits draw people into their warmth with practicality, but are also beautiful additions for staging an employee cookout or entertaining out-of-town clients.
Water features add a sensory appeal to your commercial space, boosting that relaxing atmosphere.
To boost curb appeal on your commercial property, choose professional landscape design. Working with experts in Greater Chicago can help you improve both function and visual appeal of your site.
You want your outdoor amenities to look attractive and provide something exceptional. Your goal is to attract new residents, shoppers, and visitors, and to retain your current ones. Offer amenities that promote interaction, engagement, usability, and security.
While evaluating your site, you might ask yourself questions about how to keep your commercial property looking its best—enhancing safety, increasing functionality, and boosting aesthetics.
If you’re unsure where to begin, contact KD Landscape. We can conduct a thorough walk-through, and our landscape designers will develop creative solutions to create memorable, multi-purpose designs that make your property stand out.
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.