Bisnow’s National Industrial & Logistics Midwest Summit

What do summer in Chicago and industrial commercial real estate have in common? Both are hot, hot, hot! In 2017, we saw a shift in the industrial commercial real estate sector as demand drastically increased with the astronomical rise of e-commerce, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. (You can thank millennials for that one). According to JLL, in Q1 2018, the industrial vacancy dropped 20 basis point to 4.8%. This is in response to an increased leasing demand of smaller to mid…

Guest Blog – 3 Unexpected Benefits of Piloting New Technologies

By Connell McGill, CEO and Co-founder of Enertiv Over the past two years, the commercial real estate industry’s engagement with early-stage technology companies has seen a significantly uptick. Despite the growing excitement, we are still in the early stage of the adoption curve. Most real estate professionals do their job in more or less the same way that they have for decades. While innovators and early adopters aggressively incorporate data, analytics and automation into every level…

WeWork China raises $500M to triple the number of cities it covers

WeWork’s China business is getting a fresh injection of capital after it raised $500 million. The company entered China two years ago and today it covers Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu with nearly 40 locations. It claims 20,000 members, and it is also active in Hong Kong, which technically falls under ‘Greater China.’ The new capital comes from Trustbridge Partners, Singapore’s Temasek, SoftBank, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Hony Capital. WeWork said it’ll be used for expansion into six new …

OK, computer: Why hotels are employing digital concierges

“Alexa, where can I get good sushi around here?” Digital concierges have arrived, bringing hotel guests unprecedented levels of personalization and control. As the technology driving AI and recommendation engines continues to evolve, hotels are starting to embrace the power of digital concierges to provide a customized and on-demand service. In June 2018, Amazon announced Alexa for Hospitality, an in-room version of its voice-activated virtual assistant designed especially for the hotel in…

The world’s first “high-tech eco village” will reinvent suburbs

A half-hour commute from Amsterdam, a piece of farmland is slated to become a new kind of neighborhood. Vertical farms, along with traditional fields and orchards surrounding homes, will supply food to people living there. Food waste will turn into fish feed for on-site aquaculture. Houses will filter rainwater, but won’t have driveways. A “village OS” tech platform will use AI to simultaneously manage systems for renewable energy, food production, water supply, and waste. The 50-ac…

The Wing expands Manhattan footprint, The women-only co-working firm is taking an additional 15K sf in Soho and the Flatiron District

The Wing, a women-only co-working firm, has signed lease expansions at its first two locations. The company is taking an additional 15,000 square feet at Abner Properties’ 45 East 20th Street in the Flatiron District and Nathan Baden’s 52 Mercer Street in Soho. At its original location in Flatiron, the Wing is tacking on 5,000 square feet on the 11th floor, bringing its total square footage in the building to 14,000. Meanwhile, the company is taking over the fourth floor in the Soho buildi…

Expedia’s Bet on Home Rentals Is Finally Starting to Pay Off

Expedia Group Inc.’s 2015 purchase of HomeAway, meant to help it compete with online home-rental upstart Airbnb Inc., is finally starting to pay off. After years of updating the company’s aging technology, introducing a guest booking fee and persuading reluctant hosts to handle transactions online, HomeAway’s profit doubled in the second quarter from the same period a year ago. The performance of the unit helped push Expedia’s earnings, excluding some items, to $1.38 a share, the Bellevue, Wa…

Q&A: ‘Rise of the Robots’ Author on AI’s Talent Crunch and the Future of Work

Martin Ford says office workers shouldn’t assume their jobs are safe.

It may take some major technological breakthroughs before robots are able to think creatively or handle complex human interactions.

WeWork Competitor Knotel Pushes For Blockchain With 42Floors Acquisition

WeWork competitor Knotel announced Monday its acquisition of commercial real estate search engine 42Floors. Knotel, a flexible office provider for larger, more established companies, was founded in 2016 but has snapped up more than one million square feet of office space to build into more than 60 locations since. The acquisition will give Knotel access to data on 10 billion square feet of office space, according to a Knotel press release, and will further the firm’s plans for a blockchain plat…

CoStar Group Expands Its Strength in Multifamily Listings

CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP) reported second-quarter results on July 24. The provider of commercial real estate information services and online marketplaces delivered strong revenue and profit growth, prompting it to boost its financial forecast for the second time this year. What happened with CoStar Group this quarter? CoStar is using acquisitions to widen its economic moat in its online apartment-listings business. Its integration of recent purchase ForRent is progressing ahead of schedu…