The Weekly Take from CBRE CBRE

Kimco Realty’s (NYSE: KIM) President and Chief Investment Officer Ross Cooper says that retail and mixed-use property owners and tenants have become partners. In a wide ranging discussion he talks about the challenges facing real estate investors today, the evolution of the shopping experience and the possibilities for mixed-use properties.

SOME KEY INSIGHTS:
1. Taking on equity partners through joint ventures can offset high capital costs and support diversification efforts.
2. For e-commerce companies, a physical retail presence can often complement digital platforms.
3. Now is the time to explore investment opportunities outside conventional real estate, such as infrastructure projects or green bonds targeted at energy-efficient construction.
 

Marc Lore helped to revolutionize how consumers purchase goods—everything from diapers to office supplies. Now he wants to revolutionize the restaurant and food delivery business with his newest venture, a company called Wonder. Lore discusses his vision for Wonder, which combines ecommerce with traditional restaurant and real estate strategies.

1. The food delivery market has boomed to about $100 billion today just in the U.S., according to Marc Lore, but kitchens look much the same as they did 100 years ago.
 
2. Wonder is a unique restaurant brand with a founder who sees tremendous growth opportunity in combining brick-and-mortar dining and delivery.
 
3. The ability to deliver a tremendous variety of “fine-fast” food quickly is a differentiator for Wonder.

Rob Lilwall was a high school teacher who, in need of a new direction, decided to walk across Siberia. This was the start of an avocation that he parlayed into a profession. Rob’s story is about conquering fears, overcoming setbacks, building inner resilience and reaching for higher goals, whether it’s climbing mountain or closing real estate deals.

“One of the great things about an expedition, which just simplifies life so much, is you have one very, very clear goal.” 

ABOUT THIS WEEK'S GUEST
Rob Lilwall, Adventurer
Rob started his career as a high school geography teacher in England, but has transitioned into a career of adventuring and motivational speaking. His expeditions include a three-year expedition cycling from Siberia to London, a solo walk across the Taklamakan Desert and cycling across the U.S. Across his adventures, he has learned that our abilities are not fixed, and that we can grow in many ways, including to become more positive, courageous and resilient, especially when put in positions outside of our respective comfort zones.

One’s an office occupier—Orrick’s Laura Saklad—and the other’s an office investor—CBRE Investment Management’s Julie Ingersoll. From opposite sides of the table, they discuss how property investors and occupiers can work together to facilitate return-to-office strategies and make the workplace a magnet for talent attraction and retention.

Insights to Share:
·      Successful office occupancy strategies are about balancing employee flexibility with collaboration and professional development opportunities.
·      The surrounding neighborhood is an important amenity for office space.
·      The pandemic has brought landlords and tenants closer together, changing the relationship from adversarial to a partnership.

Laura Saklad
Chief Operations Officer
Orrick
Laura is responsible for leading and directing all operational functions of Orrick, a law firm with more than 25 global offices. She works closely with the Orrick’s Board and Management Committee to execute the firm’s strategy. 

Julie Ingersoll
Chief Investment Officer
Americas Direct Real Estate Strategies
CBRE Investment Management
Julie joined the firm in October 2021 from CPP Investments, an approximately $500 billion Canadian Pension Plan, where she was Managing Director overseeing portfolio strategy design and execution for 50 million square feet of U.S. residential and retail investments. At CPP, Julie focused on core-plus, value-add and development risk profiles, leading efforts across the investment lifecycle from identifying new strategies, originating and structuring joint ventures, acquisitions, asset management and dispositions.

The rapid growth of digital infrastructure like AI, edge computing, virtual reality and private clouds is making data centers—once an underappareciated niche—into an increasingly important commercial real estate sector. DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi and CBRE’s Pat Lynch share insights on this burgeoning market.

ABOUT THIS WEEK'S GUESTS:

Marc Ganzi
CEO
DigitalBridge
Marc C. Ganzi is the Chief Executive Officer at DigitalBridge and has been an investor and operator in the digital infrastructure sector for more than 25 years. Marc has led DigitalBridge’s transformation to become a leading global manager of digital infrastructure, managing over $70 billion in assets under management across the digital ecosystem, including cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells and edge infrastructure.   
 
Pat Lynch
Global Head of CBRE Data Center Solutions
Pat Lynch, Executive Managing Director for CBRE’s Data Center Solutions, acts as an advisor, advocate and partner in navigating the dynamic technology needs for his clients. Pat and his team of professionals develop custom mission-critical strategies that address specific industry challenges and help meet business objectives. Through creative problem solving and transaction structuring, clients experience improved reliability and expense management, and operational efficiencies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Digital infrastructure is an estimated $13 trillion market, according to DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi; leasing and licensing agreements for fiber space resemble real estate leases.Demand for data centers is significantly outstripping supply, creating opportunities for expansion in emerging domestic and international markets.The industry is grappling with sustainability issues, particularly the effects of heavy power and water usage. This is driving a focus on renewable resources.Ganzi notes the next big trend in digital infrastructure could be network virtualization, moving toward software-defined infrastructure. One manifestation of this is the growth of private clouds, where organizations have better security and control than in the public cloud.

The leaders of two of America’s key seaports—Gene Seroka of the Port of Los Angeles and Barbara Melvin of South Carolina Ports—discuss lessons learned from the pandemic and what resurgent trade activity augurs for supply chains and industrial & logistics real estate investors and occupiers.


ABOUT THIS WEEK'S GUESTS

GENE SEROKA is the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in North America. Confirmed by Los Angeles City Council in June 2014, the Port has experienced a series of historic, record-breaking performances since his appointment. Since the pandemic-induced buying surge generated by American consumers in the second half of 2020, the Port of Los Angeles has eclipsed multiple monthly cargo records and recorded eight out of 10 highest-performing quarters in its 115-year history. The Port set two new milestones for the Western Hemisphere in June 2021 as the first port to process 10 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in a 12-month period and in May 2021 the first port to process 1 million TEUs in a single month. Seroka received the esteemed Stanley T. Olafson Award from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce in 2023, recognizing his work in the world trade industry and leadership of the nation’s busiest container port.

BARBARA MELVIN is the sixth leader in the history of the port and the first woman to lead a top 10 U.S. operating container port. During her more than 20 years with SC Ports, Melvin has held several senior leadership positions, including senior vice president of operations and terminals; senior vice president of external affairs; and vice president of government relations. In addition to overseeing numerous infrastructure projects, Melvin served as the lead staff person on the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project, which is on track to being the deepest harbor on the East Coast at 52 feet this year.

Commercial Real Estate insights at https://www.cbre.com/TheWeeklyTake