Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

January 28th, 2019

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners:" corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. I welcome your comments on these articles.

Amazon Pushing Hard Into Ocean Shipping, Making it Easier for Chinese Goods to Get to You

"Quietly and below the radar, Amazon has been ramping up its ocean shipping service, sending close to 4.7 million cartons of consumers goods from China to the United States over the past year, records show.

This marks a significant move into what many believe is the company’s overall strategy of eventually controlling much of its transportation network, from trucks to airplanes and now to ships." www.usatoday.com

(Photo: Getty Images)[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Quietly and below the radar, Amazon has been ramping up its ocean shipping service, sending close to 4.7 million cartons of consumers goods from China to the United States over the past year[/tweet_box]

Future and Growth of Transportation Market by 2020

Image credit: Shutterstock

"The business world is facing a complete overturn, and so does every industry vertical. The spending on IoT (Internet of Things) in the digital age is going to increase multifold with a net worth crossing $581 billion by 2020, as per McKinsey. Transportation and logistics are the backbones of the economy and an integral part of almost every business are also going to spend over $40 billion on IoT platforms, systems, and services by 2020, as per Statista. These facts clearly signify the new opportunities that the Transportation market is expecting in near future." www.entrepreneur.com 

The Next Frontier in Office Space? The Outdoors

The 512W22 office building in Manhattan has 16,920 square feet of terraces and a common roof, all planted with native grasses and trees. CreditCreditCookFox Architects

"For years, office architects and designers have been bringing nature into the workplace, incorporating materials like wood and stone and strategically deploying plants and botanical artwork.

Now, companies are inviting employees to step outside for a taste of the real thing.

Employers with suburban campuses have long turned swaths of blank lawn into furnished outdoor areas where workers can meet with colleagues, work alone or simply take a break from their computer screens.

Now, developers and owners of urban office buildings are adding terraces and transforming once-barren rooftops into parklike settings, where workers can plant vegetables, unfurl yoga mats or swing in a hammock." www.nytimes.com

[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Now, developers and owners of urban office buildings are adding terraces and transforming once-barren rooftops into parklike settings, where workers can plant vegetables, unfurl yoga mats or swing in a hammock[/tweet_box]

Biggest Multistory Warehouse In The U.S. Planned For Brooklyn

“This will be a groundbreaking project for the U.S. industrial market, not only because of the building’s unprecedented design — essentially, four separate, stacked distribution centers — but also because of the enormous benefit it will have from a ‘last mile’ standpoint,” Bridge Northeast Region partner Jeff Milanaik said in a press release. " www.bisnow.com

Upward Momentum: Charting a Year of Skyscraper Construction

Ever since the first towering spires broke through the clouds in New York and Chicago, skyscrapers have remained a potent symbol of economic might.The tallest buildings require vast amounts of materials, expertise, and capital to make them a reality, but the cities that add these landmarks to their skylines gain prestige and send a powerful message to competing economic centers. www.visualcapitalist.com

 Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

July 9th, 2018

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners:" corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. I welcome your comments on these articles.

5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is Unacceptable

An old but certainly a goody! "I have a magic pill to sell you. It will help you make more money, be happier, look thinner, and have better relationships. It’s a revolutionary new pharmaceutical product called Late-No-More. Just one dose every day will allow you to show up on time, greatly enhancing your life and the lives of those around you.All joking aside, being late is unacceptable. While that sounds harsh, it’s the truth and something that should be said more often. I don’t care if you’re attending a dinner party, a conference call, or a coffee meeting - your punctuality says a lot about you." www.forbes.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]your punctuality says a lot about you[/tweet_box]

The Secret to Disconnecting? Bring Back the ‘Away’ Message - (WSJ Paywall)

"When you head out on vacation this summer, you will want to properly get away. No checking in with the office, no sneaking a peek at your inbox and no occasional Twitter browsing just in case Beyoncé drops another surprise album. With the help of an out-of-office email responder and a little bit of willpower, you might even pull it off." www.wsj.com

Can Silicon Valley Disrupt How We Build?

"The construction industry is ripe for digital disruption,” said co-founder and chairman Michael Marks in a press release. (Marks is the former CEO of electronics manufacturer Flextronics, now Flex.) “This new round of funding will enable us to further invest in R&D and continue to scale the business.” www.citylab.com

4 Keys to Staying Healthy in Open Office Layouts“You can have the best system in the world, but if your facility manager isn’t cleaning the screens or the filters, the air quality is definitely not going to be great,” said Lessard, noting that routine upkeep is critical, as well..” www.amny.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]You can have the best system in the world, but if your facility manager isn’t cleaning the screens or the filters, the air quality is definitely not going to be great,[/tweet_box]

Duke Long’s Updated 2018 Top 150 Commercial Real Estate People You Must Connect With On LinkedIn.

Honored to be on Duke's list!  www.dukelong.com

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!

Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

May 21st, 2018

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners:" corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. I welcome your comments on these articles and the submissions of others (with credit to you if I post them). I wish you a terrific week! 

The End Of Parking Lots As We Know Them: Designing For A Driverless Future"Over time, vehicles in autonomous ride-service fleets are expected to be electric, and as their numbers grow, the need for gasoline stations in city centers will drop. When that happens, it opens up a big source of real estate for redevelopment, as does the potential to create new uses for land dedicated to street-level parking.

“Think about all the real estate frontage of all our streets, if we take that back for people space, for green space, for amenity space, restaurants or cafes, right there on our city streets,” Cohen said. "This is our big opportunity as architects, designers and urban planners to take our city streets back."  www.forbes.com [tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Over time, vehicles in autonomous ride-service fleets are expected to be electric, and as their numbers grow, the need for gasoline stations in city centers will drop. When that happens, it opens up real estate for redevelopment, (and) creates new uses for land dedicated to street-level parking." #cre

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Rise of the Super Commuters"Nationwide, 91.4 percent of commuters who travel under 90 minutes commute via private vehicle, compared to 69.7 percent of super commuters. While part of this gap is due to the fact that a larger share of super commuters are in metros such as New York and San Francisco with more robust public transportation, the trend holds true within metros as well. Compared to those with shorter commutes, a larger share of super commuters travel to work without a private vehicle in 49 of the 50 largest U.S. metros." www.apartmentlist.com

Millennials and Commercial Real Estate“Millennials have been the focus of companies’ young talent recruitment efforts for 15+ years, and now they are an increasingly large portion of leaders in those organizations as the oldest of them are entering their late 30s. Organizations are no longer just planning around millennials, they are being led by millennials. What do we know about how millennials are different from (and the same as) previous generations? And, what does all of that mean for commercial real estate?” www.blog.cushwake.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]Organizations are no longer just planning around millennials, they are being led by millennials.[/tweet_box]

How the World’s Biggest Companies Are Fine-Tuning the Robot Revolution"The big question surrounding automation has long been whether robots would compete with workers or help them. Initially, workers feared robots would destroy jobs across the economy. Scholarly research and real-life experience have eased that concern, although some types of workers and industries are ending up on the losing side.

Today, the question is more precise: In which industries does automation help both employer and employee?” www.wsj.com[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]"There is robust demand for space by companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries. Expansions are as common as millennials noshing on avocado toast." #cre [/tweet_box]How Retail Stores Can Thrive in the Age of Amazon“In other words, with the old models for retail broken, or at least a good deal less sturdy, and rents finally in decline, risks are being taken. That willingness to experiment means that certain seemingly threatened — but perhaps more resilient than imagined — retailers such as bookstores are returning in new forms. Shakespeare & Co. is opening four stores, but they’re much smaller than the old ones, only 2,000-to-3,000 square feet, because new technology allows books to be printed and bound while you wait, minimizing the need for shelf space" www.thecut.comYour success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!

Blurred Lines

Robots and artificial intelligence in the workplace. GenX wants and needs. CoWorking. What impact will self driving cars have on office buildings? Is my industrial conversion office space "authentic" and true to my company's brand? Oh, and I want privacy on demand.Those are just some of the topics discussed at the annual confab of all things corporate real estate which is hosted by the trade organization CoreNet Global. The meeting was held in Seattle, Washington which is fitting given that we were collectively at the feet of the mighty Amazon. As the entire world knows, AMZN is in the market with one of the largest space needs in modern corporate real estate history known as #hq2. I was looking around for Alexa everywhere....Real estate executives said the "lines" created by office walls and geographic boundaries are starting to come down - or become blurred lines. With the softening comes even more challenges to CRE's (corporate real estate executives): information and security risk, highly empowered workers with big demands and the need for space to adapt very quickly. The modern workplace must be flexible as to location and then inside the physical space flexible as to different types of work.Here are the things I heard on some of the very hottest topics:Robots and AI

• Robots and facility automation will continue to rapidly evolve and relieve humans of low payback activities
• Estimates are $90,000 per year to operate a robot who can operate 24/7 and replace a human security guard.
• We will continue to see the evolution of the building as much more than sticks and bricks. Will seen the emergence of the space as a service provider. In fact, the building itself becomes a machine - automatically changing around furniture, lighting, provide comfort and productivity of every kind and deal with weather.
• Artificial intelligence (AI), which is really code to support machines will become smarter and smarter and specific to corporate real estate. Think of a corporate version of Alexa or Siri.
• High tech drives the need for high touch as people. Rise of the robots means people need to spend more time together
• Robots in the future will be digital "sherpas" so that we don't have to carry digital tools like laptops
• Digital twins in 5 years that are far smarter that Siri will talk to other digital twins for meeting coordination and low level task production
• Some wondered with all this automation, and the simultaneous happening of the gig economy how does corporate America inculcate culture and values?

Gen Z: Influencing the Real Estate Footprint

Some observations from a panel of Gen X'ers:

• Industrial spaces converted to office is a solution, but what you are really talking about is an input into the process. Its less about the generation and more about where people are in their life's journey. Millenials are just younger baby boomers. As people get older, there are consistencies with what they want. For example, young children are a great equalizer in terms of what people want.
• More face to face interaction helps Gen X with knowledge transfer.
• What do people DO when they are at work? That tells me as a Gen Z a lot about the company?As a Gen X, culture is a lot more important to me than the physical layout.
• Culture is driven by the people in the space, not the design of the space
• People are most happy when they go to work (as in a place) every day if they have a friend at work.
• What has not worked? - You can try too hard. If being hip and cool is not consistent with your corporate culture then it won't ring true. When someone comes into our offices do they get a sense of how they work from the people and the space? If so, that is
• Watch cutting vs. bleeding edge. Make sure your risk tolerance  is consistent with technological risk.
• Brand is more than paint on the wall, carpet and color - its the actually embodiment of the mission. Failure: "I saw this really cool thing somewhere else, but didn't stress test in their own organization" before we installed in our office.
• How are you signaling to your people that (1) the work you do is important and (2) we care about you.
• We are talking less about efficiencies now and more about experience. More expensive to have brain drain than savings from densification. Leading a move discussion about efficiencies only is likely to fail. I don't care if my company is saving a dollar on my back. I want to work someplace warm and front. Space needs to serve people through the entire arc of the day.
• We are catering way to much to then new generation (GenZ). We (as corporate America) should be planning for people that are already there. Keep hearing that Gen Z wants what baby boomers want...pengilum will swing. Most important thing is to be in the workplace listen to senior folks on the phone. If I could sit there for 2 hours a day and listen it would be great.

Automation in Cars

• Using fleet car services will fundamentally change the arrival and departure experience in office building. Currently, 90% of arrivals enter through a garage. The new experience feels much more like a hotel motor court.
• Will the Roof become the new lobby with flying cars?
• We heard that developers are starting to plan building with higher garage clear heights so they can be adaptively reused when personal cars are no longer a "thing."

 CoWorking

• Why do we in corporate America care if employees like coworking? War for talent - 73% of organizational leaders are concerned about the availability of skilled labor
• Coworker is not just the struggling entrepreneur - average age is 38
• First place is the office, second place is the home, third place is Starbucks, place 3.5 is the car in the Starbucks parking lot for conference calls, and fourth place is coworking.

• Targets by coworking providers are no longer as much individuals - chasing corporate America
• New term: a "Jelly" - organic group or people who glom on to each other and hang out - like in a Starbucks or other quick service restaurants.
• Todays employees want choice, community and flexibility
• 77% of facilities are in an urban location and 62% looking to expand and move to larger locations.
• Several years ago, question was is this a fad? with 62% of centers looking to expand, this is not a fad. Will disrupt the industry
• Average number of member is 75 members
• Seeing the emergence of the "big box" retailer - A solution that is focused on targeting corporations to provide space.
• WeWork is the largest tenant in New York City and one of the largest consumers or real estate in the world.

Privacy and Productivity

• One of the biggest complaints in open workplaces is privacy and the ability to have quiet and private phone calls.
• Young people stated the need for "real time privacy."
• Ripping out all private spaces and forcing collaborations totally ignores introverts. Millennials complain amongst themselves about being in a open environment.
• Open Plan, Friend or Foe? An open plan can be really bad. So can an office. All not created equal. Like saying all automobiles are the same.
• A new trend is "activity based" planning. Developing new ways to connect in open plan design based on what you are doing. Design is in a progression and is progressing.
• Wellness is fundamental to productivity. A sick workforce is no workforce.

In sum, the energy is high and the feeling is optimistic. Most directors of corporate real estate have a pep in their step, but are drowning in emails and assignments to expand.I surmise from the conference that most everyone is growing quickly and thinking about how to keep the workforce engaged, happy and healthy. Improving the quality of work-life balance and overall work experience are what sought after employees are seeking in companies - current and future.All is well with the CRE world in 2017. The good times will continue in 2018 as well and beyond.Whistle while you work - wherever that might be. And step right over those blurry lines!