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Customer Satisfaction Survey Results in Win-Win For Tenants/GSA

Bike Rack

It’s not often GSA staff can quickly translate tenant satisfaction survey responses into actionable projects that result in happy tenants and building improvements at the same time.

But when tenant satisfaction survey results came back from the occupants of the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, GSA staff acted fast to address the need.

Portland is very much a biking community, with thousands cycling to and from work each day to the downtown core. Tenants of the Hatfield Courthouse, many of whom travel to work by bike, were running out of places to put their bikes upon arrival.

Satisfaction surveys showed that more and more tenants asked for additional bike parking closer to the garage entrance. Then, one day, GSA staff at the courthouse considered transitioning some existing space used for storage into more usable space for the tenants.

“It was being used as a maintenance shop and storage for our elevator contract, but when we looked at it closer we realized it had perfect potential for use to store bikes,” said Virginia Matthews, Northwest/Arctic Region Office Manager for the Hatfield Courthouse.

Matthews and her colleagues cleaned out the space, painted the walls and floors, hung racks, and even painted bike-themed murals on the walls to dress up the space. Additionally, they added a bike repair station, complete with pump and attached tools to fix flats.

Costs were minimal to complete the project, because they used existing supplies and equipment. In fact, Matthews hand painted the murals. The only significant costs were the racks and repair station.

The additional racks meant more tenants could bike into work and have a place to safely store them for the day.

“We received a lot of awesome feedback from tenants. People stop us all the time to say thanks,” Matthews added.

The improved tenant satisfaction scores and conversion of little-used space into joint-use space showed how a little ingenuity could go a long way in saving taxpayer dollars and create satisfied tenants.

“It was a win-win for GSA, taxpayers, and the tenants,” Matthews said.

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Last updated: Mar 2, 2023
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