CPE Podcasts

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in. For this episode, my guest is CRE Finance Council Managing Director Saraih Burki, head of regulatory affairs and sustainability for the organization.

Burki and I discuss how CREFC's Sustainability Initiative is helping members make sense of expanding imperatives and opportunities through education, advocacy and transparency.

"As a reputational issue, you want to be seen as as sort of a forward-thinking green type of institution, and honestly a lot of it is very practical," Burki said. "CRE lenders, investors have been focused on sustainability even before ESG." 

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

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More than a decade ago, CPE profiled Mesa West Capital, then an up-and-coming alternative commercial real estate lender, and its co-founders, Jeff Friedman and Mark Zytko. In the years since, the firm has continued to build its platform as an institutional capital source.

As Mesa West marks its 20th anniversary, this episode of Investment Matters catches up with the firm's current leadership. Ronnie Gul is co-CEO in Los Angeles, where the firm was founded. Raphael Fishbach opened Mesa West's New York City office in 2010 and now serves as co-CEO.

In this episode, you’ll hear their expectations on what’s next for the real estate capital markets and investment in the second half.

Episode highlights:

Investor and occupier sentiment across the globe is still recovering, with no major changes from the first quarter of the year. This is the main trend stemming from the most recent Global Commercial Property Monitor survey released by the Royal Institution of Royal Surveyors in London. A growing number of CRE players sense that the market has reached the bottom of this cycle or is very close to reaching that level.

In this podcast episode of our RICS Monitor quarterly series, Senior Economist Tarrant Parsons told Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Calugar that the mood that stems from the organization’s latest survey is that the worst is now behind us.

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live. For this episode, I am chatting with Jessica Long, NAREIT's senior vice president of Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability, following the release of the sixth annual REIT Industry Sustainability Report.

The report tracks ESG progress for the 100 largest REITs by market capitalization in five areas: transparency and reporting, leadership & governance, resources & resilience, workforce & culture and community and business connections.

Here are some highlights of the topics we discussed:

EV charging has become a must-have amenity for apartment dwellers as well as commercial tenants. But the planning and placing of EV chargers is no small task for property managers.

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in. My guest for this episode is FirstService Residential's George Barriere, general manager of the Marina Palms Yacht Club & Residences, a 470-unit condominium complex in North Miami Beach, Fla.

When EV usage began increasing at Barriere's luxury property, he installed the ADS-TEC Energy Charge Box, which consists of a battery-booster box and two fast-charging dispensers. Tune into hear how and why he chose this system to meet his residents' current and future charging needs. As Barriere puts it, if residents have the charging capability they require, they will buy more EVs. If they buy more EVs, buildings will need more chargers.

Here a sample of the topics we discussed:

Rising demand for charging (3:13)

Multifamily pain points (4:59)

A million different business models (6:53)

A solution for the future (8:42)

The value proposition (15:48)

Who bears the cost? (20:23)

Wendy Mann came into the workforce in the late '80s, and until the early 2000s, roughly 98 percent of the CEOs she worked for were men. As they began retiring, an increasing number of women took their places. Additionally, more women have now become leaders of the organizations that represent the real estate industry.

Why did that happen? Women are great multitaskers, great problem-solvers and great collaborators and these skills became more required for success as time passed, according to CREW Network’s CEO.

Man spoke to Laura Calugar, senior editor with Commercial Property Executive, in a new podcast episode of our quarterly CREW Up series with CREW Network leaders and, among other things, she had a message for all real estate CEOs. Tune in now!

The commercial real estate retail market has been quite a roller-coaster over the past decades. And Annie Malo, a specialized attorney at Holland & Knight, has witnessed all the disruptions the industry has had to adapt to.

With an extensive retail leasing and development practice, Malo has been representing national retailers and developers for years. Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Calugar asked her to share what she’s seeing and hearing when it comes to the retail market.

When you’re developing a high-profile, high-stakes project, how do you balance all the complex priorities? That’s the challenge that MCB Real Estate is taking on with Baltimore’s Harborplace, one of the nation’s most prominent current redevelopments of an urban waterfront.

In this episode of "Investment Matters," you’ll meet MCB’s president, Gina Baker Chambers. She takes us inside the company’s mission to create projects that are economically sound, environmentally sustainable and serve the community's needs.  

Yet fulfilling this mission calls for a special level of commitment. As Baker Chambers puts it, “You have to have faith, you have to be creative, you have to have a certain amount of tolerance for pain, and really good lawyers.”

Baker Chambers is no stranger to major challenges. Fifteen years ago, she was one of the original team members at Artemis Real Estate Partners, where she played a key role in raising the firm’s first fund during the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis. The insights she gained still resonate in today’s climate. Take a listen.

The total value of offices that were in danger of defaults, foreclosures or other forms of distress rose to more than $38 billion at the end of the first quarter of the year, according to data from MSCI Real Estate. In this context, no wonder many office landlords are considering handing back the keys of their properties to the lenders. But is that the best approach? What are the implications from a tax standpoint? Are there alternatives to capitulation?

In the second episode of FTI Experts’ Hub, our quarterly podcast series with FTI Consulting specialists, Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Calugar talks to Managing Director Scott Drago, who advises clients on a broad range of real estate and transactional tax matters.

In today's energy-driven economy, microgrids play an increasingly critical role. These local self-contained electrical systems supplement the power supply from the main grid while providing resiliency and the opportunity to incorporate alternative sources of energy.

Why CRE needs microgrids? (1:58)

Microgrids and data centers (4:34)

The microgrid value proposition (12:37)

Sharing risks and costs (14:26)

Adaptability and flexibility (17:15)

Microgrids and AI (19:46)