The One About CREtech NYC – What major challenges are facing the industry and what can we do to overcome them‪?‬ The Propcast

Coming on the heels of CRETech’s return to live events with an 1,800 person turnout in NYC on Oct 13 and 14th, Louisa sat down with three of the leaders who headlined the event. She spoke with Brad Greiwe, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Fifth Wall, Raj Singh, Managing Partner, JLL Spark and Sharad Rastogi, President of Revenue at JLL Technologies. 
They talked about their recent investments, the global movement towards sustainability in buildings and who the responsibility lies with to make changes towards net zero, and how buildings will be computers in need of operating systems in the future.
 
Companies Mentioned:
CRETech New York Conference  CRETech New York Website Fifth Wall Icon Sealed Juno CRETech Climate Tech Copenhagen Equity Residential   Hudson Pacific Properties Ivanhoe Cambridge Kimco Turn Tide  
Shout Outs:
Michael Beckerman Scottie Lee  Aloft  Swift Connect Building Engines  
Key Insights From This Episode: 
 
We invest in companies where we think that we can be a customer or we can be a channel to our clients, and sell their products through that channel. - Raj

Technology was definitely impacting and influencing, from a disruptive or an enabling perspective. - Raj

But at the same time the challenges around, climate tech specifically around decarbonizing the built world was also proven to be extremely challenging as well. The muscle groups that these corporates need in order to engage technology, and decarbonization, require different approach. - Brad
 
 
And I think what makes this sort of green wave a lot different than the ones we've seen in the past is that in addition to sort of this government mandated demand, there is a real impetus and a real interest from corporates to be a part of the solution. - Brad

I think the two things that stuck out for me firstly, was the number of attendees from the regular real estate world, as opposed to the technology PropTech world. So, there were a huge number of people there who were genuinely curious to understand how technology could have an impact on their business. - Raj

I think change is driven by people, The whole world is waking up, why we need to be more carbon neutral, how we need to sort of control increase in temperature. What can we do as individuals to make the world a better place. And I think that's driving the investors, the occupiers to make different decisions. - Sharad

I think buildings are will become computers eventually, and computers need an operating system. - Sharad

I think for a lot of corporates who expecting the world to just go back to normal, post pandemic, it's just not going to happen. And having a very comprehensive digital strategy is likely going to be your best way to navigate the path forward. - Brad
Keywords: funding, innovation, sustainability, collaboration, acquisition, smart buildings, COP26

About Our Guests:
Brad Greiwe, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Fifth Wall
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-greiwe-96022a38/ 
Brad Greiwe is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Fifth Wall, where he guides the firm’s strategic vision.
Prior to starting Fifth Wall, Brad co-founded Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH), a multi-billion dollar owner and operator of single-family rental properties originally backed by The Blackstone Group. As CTO, he positioned Invitation Homes as the dominant technology-forward brand in the single-family rental category, developing a proprietary technology stack to support the valuation, acquisition, rehabilitation, leasing, and professional management of over 80,000 homes in 17 major markets, serving 120,000 residents across the U.S.
Brad started his career in investment banking at UBS in the real estate, lodging, and leisure group, where he tallied over $33 billion of M&A advisory work and $1 billion of debt and equity financing, including the sale of Hilton Hotels to The Blackstone Group for $26 billion—the largest hotel privatization in histo