"Worth Repeating"

Sound bites from NAIOP’s CRE.Converge, held October 14-17, 2019, in Los Angeles:

“I don’t like to look at 5G and IoT as the key to understanding things — it’s understanding what people need. … Elon Musk built an electric car that is going to change the world. Electric cars have been around for decades, but what was the difference? [Musk] designed something he wanted, he needed. If you are the market, and there are others like you, you win.” — Steve Wozniak, co-founder, Apple Computer, Inc.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, a pioneer in the development of personal computers, was the keynote speaker at CRE.Converge.

“But are we headed into a recession? My answer to that would be maybe, maybe not. We are so fixated on that one question. Trying to time a recession is not feasible, but diversification is far more effective than waiting on the sidelines.” — Hessam Nadji, President and CEO, Marcus & Millichap

“The U.S. competing with China is a very popular bipartisan issue. China is being cast as the adversary. I call this a ‘manic moment’ for the U.S. We are waking up to this competition with China. Regardless if the Democrats or the Republicans are in the White House in 2020, the tech war is here to stay, so I don’t see much of a shift when it comes to the fundamental issue of where geopolitical risk is coming from.”— Reva Goujon, Vice President of Global Analysis, Stratfor

“Customers see ‘workplace as service’ as a more permanent real estate solution, which in some ways creates a competitive dynamic between landlords and coworking providers. We’ve now moved to a partnership where we can be on the same side as our landlord partners.” — Katharine Lau, Senior Director of Real Estate, Industrious

“The T.J. Maxxes, the Marshalls, the Michaels, the Rosses, those guys are on fire right now. … We will make a concession to get the right tenant in to increase traffic at the [retail] center. We are willing to make a bigger investment than in the past.” — Larry Casey, President and COO, Donahue Schriber Realty Group

“Developers, you should feel confident today to push the regional distribution model to sell overnight products. Smaller warehouses are important as there is a new layer of predictive analytics where products come into the ports and are quickly delivered to customers. Amazon and Walmart are working to enhance this type of technology.” — Micah Mallace, Director Regional Sales, South Carolina Ports Authority

“There’s a huge dollar value people will pay in order to have convenience in their life. More than 60% of tasks on Taskrabbit are for Ikea assembly. That could be a natural partnership — brick and mortar meeting an app service.” — Karen Strack, Senior Vice President, Tenant Coordination & Lease Documentation, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

“When Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2016, 15% of people in the U.S. said they were comfortable ordering their groceries online. Now that number has climbed to 40%. While not all of them are shopping this way, they’re increasingly comfortable with it.” — David Egan, Senior Director, Global Head of Research, CBRE

“The unique thing about autonomous vehicles is the destination for the occupant and vehicle are different. The premium for parking is effectively going away. … Reduction in parking opens up flexibility for development. It lets the market decide what the ratio for parking should be.” — John Cadenhead, Director of Design, Powers Brown Architecture

“I believe we’re in the early stages of demand, and the market (for data centers) will continue to move for this asset class. With AI, blockchain and so much data in the medical field and beyond … there is so much more information out there that we’re still in the early stages of storing and using.” — George Rogers, Principal, Skyline Capital Advisors, LLC

“The youth (ages K-12) aren’t necessarily aware of what opportunities are available in commercial real estate, and we need to do a better job of conveying that. At the college level as well – many folks are undecided as they start in school and can be educated on what’s out there and what training they need to do to get there.” — Joe’Mar Hooper, Wisconsin Market Leader, CommonBond Communities

“Wellness is now moving into well-being in the workplace. When you do that, you have happy employees who engage more and collaborate more, and that improves productivity. Tenant improvements are expensive, but people are more expensive than that.” — Deanne Erpelding, Principal, NELSON