Some of the biggest themes emerging from this year's Urban Land Institute Spring Conference center on how to best accommodate shifts in the commercial real estate market as a result of the pandemic.

This year's event, the biggest in the history of the nonprofit research and education organization, included discussions on tailoring workplace design, bets on the evolving investment climate, and turning around downtowns that were subdued by the global health crisis.

When it comes to offices, buyers unwilling to offload properties at steep discounts may combine with lenders' willingness to provide some much-needed extensions to prevent the onslaught of listings some have predicted would hit the national office market this year.

That's the opinion of Harry Klaff, president of Avison Young's U.S. operations.

"Price discovery isn't happening in a widespread way since it requires owners to sell at a loss or maybe absorb a major hit," he told CoStar News. "While some are doing that, we aren't seeing them do it en masse."

The number of deals has picked up, no question, but Klaff said it isn't happening with nearly the amount of speed many would be hoping for to break through the current pricing rut and emerge on the other side.

"That price reset and getting through that wave of resets so we can move on with life is really our goal," he said. "We saw it a lot faster after the [Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s] when everything quickly reset, but this will take a lot longer because of how banks are dealing with expirations. Consequently, we won't see a waterfall; it will be more of a trickle to a stream."

It has been a turbulent few years for office landlords and tenants as both sides attempt to guess how and where employees want to work.

All of that is now beginning to settle, Gensler Co-Chair Diane Hoskins told CoStar News, meaning companies are now more willing to invest in high-quality spaces that will make it so their offices are destinations worthy of a commute, not a daily obligation.

"There is more certainty and clarity about the value of workspaces," she said. "We're heading toward an equilibrium where tenants are still looking for value but are also willing to invest in premier buildings that are helping to make it easier getting employees to want to come back to an office. A lot of dynamics have changed, and companies have far more confidence in decision-making now and are willing to make decisions about their future rather than stick to a wait-and-see approach."

Along with finding space in some of the nicest buildings a market has to offer, tenants are looking to finish them out with features and elements that cater to post-pandemic workplace trends. Employees want places both to collaborate and focus, Hoskins said, as well as adjacent amenities such as a nearby coffee shop for impromptu get-togethers, a fitness center and, ideally, easy access to public transportation.

The burgeoning demand among tenants looking to upgrade their office portfolio has also triggered a shift among landlords who, while they might not have the best-in-class properties, are investing in improvements that would make them more competitive with upper-tier alternatives.

"We're seeing a big cost differential," Hoskins said of upgraded buildings versus those that have yet to be renovated. "If an owner puts in the investment and incorporates more amenities, they can be extremely competitive. It's about finding the sweet spot and providing the amenities for the tenants that want them without overdoing it."

Several challenges have disrupted some central business districts across the United States as they grapple with empty office towers and foot traffic levels at just a fraction of what they used to be. The conversation continues on what needs to change to refill them.

Whether it is converting obsolete properties into housing or creating public-private partnerships to make new developments more economically feasible, officials and local stakeholders are trying to figure out how to make it so downtowns, which used to be a place people would have to come every day for work, can be re-imagined as places where people choose to come.

"Obviously, we have a pretty big challenge ahead of us," said Megumi Brod, a senior managing director for the Rockefeller Group. "The way we thought about CBDs in the past is no longer what it will look like in the future and not what it can look like. We can't have a bunch of tall office buildings that may be vibrant Tuesday through Thursday but empty from Friday to Monday. There will be a bunch of things that need to happen and a lot of wood to chop before we can get there."

Most important, though, is finding a way to create an around-the-clock environment that includes all aspects of a live, work and play lifestyle, Brod said. While there are plenty of hurdles in deciding what that could look like — regulatory, economic and physical, among others — there is one component that will be crucial to the future downtowns of America: affordability.

"It should be a requirement because, for the whole ecosystem to work, you need all sorts of people," she said of implementing various affordability mandates. "We need all incomes to help stimulate and make the neighborhoods richer. That is fundamentally the fabric of New York and other major cities."