External Affairs

[Mr. Donald Guarino, Jr., CRE]

Consolidation in the healthcare space and its impact on demand for traditional hospitals, small box drug stores and ambulatory care.

Shifting demographics and its impact on demand for traditional office and retail platforms.

[Ms. Marilyn Hett, CRE]

On March 30, I  included in my email of suggested top topics: Globalization impact on 2nd Tier US cities; reflected in Amazon site location competition, Brookings recent reports.  Great article in NYT in December 17.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/upshot/the-great-disconnect-megacities-go-global-but-lose-local-links.html

The NYT article I wanted to share on that topic did not come up that day in my NYT archival search. The specific article that I wanted to share was on page one of the Sunday Business Section, Dec. 24, 2017, “The Megacity, Untethered,” if there is interest in background documentation.  It may be of interest to our international members as well.

[Ms. Judith Amoils, CRE]

I am wondering about adding a topic on an emerging focus for major employers: “The “employee workplace experience” – is it impacting office markets and landlord views?”. Employees are often the largest cost to a business, and leading employers are focused on developing workplace strategies that focus on attracting and retaining the right talent. This impacts not only the design of workplaces and office interiors, but also the provision of supporting technology, office services and amenities provided to employees within the office environment. Often there is also an emphasis on employee wellness and well-being. These trends are well documented in the world of corporate real estate, office interior design and workplace strategy – to what extent is this being noticed by landlords and office developers? Is this differentiating office markets and product? What are the impacts? For example:

• Rise of co-working spaces – originally intended for use by small business and self-employed entrepreneurs, but now being used by major occupiers for select teams
• The office building as a utility – including high-speed technology and wifi infrastructure
• Place-making, unique architectural and urban design features and their impact on the “employee experience”
• Are traditional landlord base building services being broadened out to include a greater reach into concierge and tenant provided office services?
• What amenities and services are important? Landlord, tenant provided or shared?
• The use of the WELL building standard.

[Mr. Joseph McGauley, CRE]

Adverse Zoning Conditions-Dealing with arbitrary voting members of a planning & zoning group.  Often this is the pre-cursor to litigation.

[Mr. John Meltzer, CRE]

As a follow up to Hugh’s recent article, I believe this is a year to readdress Black Swan events. Growth in geopolitical unrest nationally and internationally, leaped environmental deterioration, increased terrorism attacks, aging infrastructure, record breaking economic growth, etc. To quote Hugh’s article, “how can we put The Black Swan to work for us?”

[Ms. Jacqueline Buhn, CRE]

In the discussion of the Top Ten today at the Chicago conference, additional topics including excessive incarceration, workforce availability and wealth inequity were mentioned.  These clearly impact real estate.  Education and healthcare are included under “infrastructure” in the draft Top Ten list, these topics should form a separate and critical issue:  social infrastructure.  This is related to demographics and is a key driver of real estate.

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