Curated daily by our industry experts. Stay informed on how tech is shaping the real estate industry with these important headlines.
BISNOW
Modular construction — a type of pre-fabricated building that happens mainly off-site and is then pieced together — is still considered a new and risky concept. But in an environment of sky-high building costs and a widening affordability gap in New York City, some builders believe the potential gains are worth the leap of faith.
WSJ
Michael McNamara knew Target Corp. had challenges when he was hired as chief information officer in 2015. The retailer, knocked around by public failures including a December 2013 data breach, was “lacking confidence” and “down on its heels,” he recalled. While rival Amazon.com Inc. was amassing e-commerce market share, Target’s information-technology staffers—mostly outsourced—were focused on traditional IT tasks such as managing hardware and software vendors. Technology staff spent a lot of ti…
CRETECH
CREtech (cretech.com), the leading global conference and research company devoted to innovation in the Built World, will be showcasing the leading-edge commercial estate development companies at its first event in 2020. CREtech has announced that Dean Hopkins, COO of Oxford Properties Group, will take the stage in Austin, Texas on April 22nd and 23rd. In a session titled “The Need for Standardization in CRETech”, Dean will shed light on Oxford’s innovation strategies and share his views on futur…
BUSINESSINSIDER
A developer is proposing a housing project to the city of San Francisco that’s a bit outside of the box. The Kansas-based developer Chris Elsey of Elsey Partners, who runs the company with his twin brother, has plans to build two apartment buildings in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, which will include 88 50-square-foot underground “sleeping pods” that are essentially bunk beds. The plans need to be approved by the San Francisco Planning Department before the developers can move forward to…
WSJ
Real-estate startups are retreating from a growth-at-all-costs model, casting aside an approach that has worked for many internet companies but has sputtered in the concrete world of office buildings and lodging properties. Startup companies often prioritize growth to establish dominance in an industry before competitors can get a foothold. But in industries like co-working and hospitality, the costs of leasing or renovating space can make pursuing rapid growth expensive and inefficient.
GLOBEST
In July of last year, Procore, a construction technology software company, acquired Honest Buildings, a project management software start-up. Now, the two companies are fully integrated and are poised for growth in 2020.
BISNOW
Careers in federal government are known for job security and generous pensions, but also for layers of bureaucracy and cold, gray, impersonal buildings. The bureaucracy is unlikely to change, but soon, government workers around the country could be organizing hurricane relief, investigating regulatory infractions or rubber-stamping Social Security payments while natural light flows around them and kombucha pours freely from tapped kegs.
THEREALDEAL
WeWork’s valuation has collapsed, and now the company is selling off acquisitions. Knotel is grappling with nearly 1 million square feet of vacancies. WeWork and other co-working companies are slashing their workforces. With headlines like that, you might think the whole sector is in trouble. But flexible office space isn’t going anywhere — and will likely continue expanding.
NYPOST
Boards packed with bros don’t get IPOs. That’s the new policy at Goldman Sachs, whose chief executive David Solomon said the Wall Street giant won’t take any company public unless it has at least one “diverse” board member. In a Thursday interview with CNBC, Solomon said the new initiative will particularly focus on getting more women on corporate boards. The requirement will ratchet up to two diverse board members in 2021, he added. “I look back at IPOs over the last four years and the performa…
CRETECH
CREtech (cretech.com), the leading global conference and research company devoted to innovation in the Built World, will be showcasing a panel of the most active companies in the real estate tech M&A space at its first event in 2020. To be held in Austin, Texas on April 22nd and 23rd, the panel will feature Keith Tice, VP of Corporate Development at Accruent, one of the leaders in the sector. Keith Tice is the Vice President of Corporate Development at Accruent, the world’s leading provider …
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