An office park is an area usually comprised of one or more buildings in which multiple offices are located. It is a type of commercial space, as opposed to residential or retail space. Normally, a commercial real estate investor owns the office park and rents individual offices to tenants; however, in some office parks, each tenant owns his or her own office space.
Office parks can be categorized around a certain type of office. For example, a medical office park may consist of a number of different doctor's offices, or of doctor's offices, lab testing facilities and dental offices. These types of office parks in which related businesses are grouped together are common, since it makes it more convenient for a person visiting one office to have access to related services.
On the other hand, an office park can just be a conglomeration of rental offices offered to numerous different individuals and types of businesses. These businesses are all separate entities who have little to do with one another, other than simply being neighbors. Each may rent its office space for different periods of time or under different lease terms.
There are several benefits to renting space in an office park for businesses. First, within the park, the business will be primarily surrounded by other professional entities and organizations. This will usually mean the office area is fairly quiet.
Some office parks also provide common spaces or common amenities to the individuals renting space within the park. A conference room may be shared, for example, and each tenant of the park may be able to sign up to use the conference room at different times. While a fee may be charged to use the conference room or other shared amenities, this can often be less expensive for an office than having a dedicated conference room, since the business will not have to pay for that square footage unless it is using it.
Shared parking lots are also common in office parks, making it easy for people to find parking, as the lots are usually large. Because multiple offices are clustered together, services that cater to offices may also visit these office parks, making it easier for workers. For example, a lunch truck may come to an office park or a service that picks up peoples' dry cleaning may pick up regularly. These services would not necessarily be available in a stand-alone office space, but since groups of workers are clustered together, it becomes advantageous for other businesses to provide services to those within the office park.