I could not start the year without acknowledging the tools that are currently available at Open AI. I’ve recently created a new FAQ page with the use of ChatGPT and Dall-E 2. It must have been under the wire before Google Search created new defenses against text bots. I received one solid lead from a company looking for 30,000 square feet because of the AI-generated explanation of my services.
Green Zones are an entirely different way to look at zoning. It is an outgrowth of the Environmental Justice Movement that had its local origins addressing diesel exhaust at the Port Complex in San Pedro Bay. Properties are analyzed and graded based on their contribution to health disparities using the Environmental Justice Screening Method (EJSM). The EJSM is a new tool and strategy that is designed to correct unhealthy conditions by establishing new mitigation mechanisms. The County will use the EJSM for ongoing monitoring and annual reporting to the parcel level.
Depending on the EJSM score, Regional Planning offers four (4) different routes to approval. The simplest is Site Plan Review (SPR) and it is approved administratively in what we use to call, “over the counter”. The other three routes are discretionary and require formal application and Public Hearing at different levels of planning authority. Generally, the greater the health impact, the longer the approvals.
We’ll be meeting in Phoenix for SIOR next week. They are bi-annual conferences, and this will be my 60th in attendance. There are three main reasons I attend. I learn from the best brokers and owner/developers in the industry. There are deals to make and I will see longtime friends. The 4th reason this year is to show how blockchain finds more industrial building deals.
Industrial building rents are surging. Largest and fastest increases I’ve ever seen. We are almost at the point where rents and sale prices have doubled since the start of Covid. If rents were quoted daily, there would be the same large spikes you see in oil or wheat markets. Because industrial building market data is opaque, only those buyers (and brokers) most in tune with the industrial market read it accurately. Tenants are paying premium prices to obtain space under constrained conditions.
Continue reading “Industrial Space Market Premium”
Through my attendance at MIT’s World Real Estate Forum, I was introduced to new research that is collected in the book entitled, Toward Urban Economic Vibrancy, Patterns and Practice in Asia’s New Cities, Edited by Siqi Zheng and Zhengzhen Tan. The several papers that make up the book include sections on finance, structure, Public Private Partnership, design, success measurements, industrial policy, location, and case studies.
Continue reading “New Asian Cities”
This year’s Forum was held virtually with presenters and participants from Asia, Europe, and the United States. There were a wide range of future-focused topics that came at the right time. The Forum opened many new doors for exploration and research. My favorite sessions addressed ESG, Wellness, New Cities, Pricing Metrics, and Virtual Worlds.
Continue reading “What I Learned From Attending MIT’s World Real Estate Forum 2020”
Most of us have experience with basic spreadsheet packages, databases, and CRMs like Excel, Access, or Salesforce. These are common examples of machine learning. More complicated are the advanced expressions that computer scientists write for high finance trading. All rely on search, update, replace, and other basic commands. By setting up procedures and calculations that process your property information, you too can start gaining valuable machine knowledge to make more deals. We’ll be discussing more about this in person during the TransACT 360 Tech Committee’s Program, “Collaborative Innovation”, on April 30 in Indian Wells, Calif.
We’ve come to end a long period of consolidation in the warehouse and distribution sector. Particularly over the past ten years, a handful of national owners have rolled-up a vast network of separately owned warehouses into an industrial building behemoth across the best locations. It’s a feat worthy of acknowledgement but consolidation marks a turning point. The buccaneering ethos of deal-making has been permanently replaced by a staid, institutional mindset. There is a final hurrah for Private Investors and that is Creative Industrial.
Continue reading “Creative Industrial: The Next Wave of Building Investment”
One of the longest running trends in industrial real estate is the shift of ownership from private hands to institutions. Traditionally, insurance companies, pension funds, and real estate investment trusts (REITs) would purchase new developments and industrial parks after they had been leased and stabilized. It served as both a guaranteed exit for entrepreneurial developers as well as the way investors would acquire property to match long term obligations.
Continue reading “Industrial Buildings: From Private Hands to Institutional Buyers”
