Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week
/November 27th, 2017
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!
Grand Buildings Help Keep Macy’s Afloat"What Macy’s does have going for it is real estate — a vast network of more than 600 stores across the country. Macy’s real estate, with an estimated value of $16 billion, is worth more than the company’s market value of $6.4 billion, according to an analysis by Cowen, the investment management and banking firm. Many of its oldest stores are a developer’s dream — soaring spaces with ornate exteriors in the heart of major American cities." www.nytimes.com
Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting."...a growing body of evidence shows that over all, college students learn less when they use computers or tablets during lectures. They also tend to earn worse grades. The research is unequivocal: Laptops distract from learning, both for users and for those around them. It’s not much of a leap to expect that electronics also undermine learning in high school classrooms or that they hurt productivity in meetings in all kinds of workplaces." www.nytimes.com
[tweet_box design="box_09" float="none"]"Laptops hurt productivity in meetings in all kinds of workplaces."[/tweet_box]
Amazon's Landlord: How The E-Commerce Boom Is Propelling Warehouse King Prologis To New Heights"Because if you believe in e-commerce, you believe in Prologis. While internet shopping has devastated demand for traditional retail spaces, it has had the opposite effect on industrial real estate. Amazon is Prologis' largest tenant, occupying 16 million square feet. (Prologis is also Amazon's largest landlord, accounting for 13% of the warehouse space it operates.) Why? Getting a book to you in less than 48 hours (Amazon Prime's promise) means already having it--and several thousand other items--nearby when you order." www.forbes.com
Why Do We Still Commute?"It's true that, since the rise of the Internet, we report working from home more than we did before. But computers and smartphones didn't replace the office—they've just kept us tethered to it when we're not there. The vast majority of us still travel to work most days: only about 2.8 percent of the total workforce says they work from home "at least half the time." It's a reality reflected in commuting data: Since 1980, when the U.S. Census Bureau started collecting data on this issue, the average daily commute of Americans has increased roughly 20 percent, with the typical worker now commuting over 26 minutes each way." www.citylab.com
The Future Of Retail In The Age Of Amazon“But here’s the thing about the Mall of America: It’s fighting back. “I hear all this doom and gloom in the industry,” says the mall’s SVP of business development, Jill Renslow, with an upbeat, Midwestern delivery. “I’m like, ‘Folks! Keep your chin up! There’s so much opportunity!’ ” The mall completed a $325 million expansion in 2015, says Renslow, who started working there as an intern in the mid-1990s and has seen it endure recessions and upheaval before. A new 342-room JW Marriott has opened upstairs, and retailers like Zara and Anthropologie are being lured to the space. The mall is experimenting with new leasing models to attract pop-ups and younger players like Untuckit and Toms Shoes." www.fastcompany.com
Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!Ken
