Can Suburban Office Parks Improve Their Security?

The shooting last week at YouTube’s headquarters, in San Bruno, Calif., 12 miles south of San Francisco, underscored the unique challenges suburban office parks—which are increasingly becoming a focus of investor interest—may have to secure their premises.

“Those types of environments are very difficult to control because they were designed for ease of access,” says Sean Ahrens, a security consultant and market group leader with Affiliated Engineers Inc., a multi-discipline technical consulting firm.

Nasim Najafi Agham, a 38-year-old YouTuber, walked onto YouTube’s campus through a parking garage and opened fire at a nearby outdoor patio. She injured three people with gunfire before fatally shooting herself. In the wake of the shooting, there has been talk about how the laid-back nature of technology firms may make their offices...