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Is AI Saving Commercial Real Estate? | Ep 29
Powered by HqO - Learn more and join the Quantum City Initiative here: https://www.hqo.com/the-future-of-cities-begins-now/
Back in February, the AI panic ripped through CRE stocks and everybody bled. CBRE, JLL, BXP, Newmark — absolutely hammered. The bear case was simple: AI was gonna “destroy” office demand, gut the brokerage business, and that was that. Q1 2026 earnings just came in. It wasn't even close.
Owen Thomas got on the BXP earnings call and said the exact opposite. AI and tech leasing in San Francisco went from 50% of demand to nearly 80% in a single year. SL Green posted a record quarter. CBRE printed $10.5 billion against a $9.5 billion expectation. Their data center business alone did $950 million in Q1, a number that was literally zero five years ago. The bull case for commercial real estate isn't a thesis anymore. It's paying the rent.
We break down why AI isn't a vertical, it's a horizontal, why innovation always clusters in cities, and why the next wave of business process automation has barely started. The CapEx flowing into compute and energy is showing up directly on brokerage income statements and the Q1 numbers suggest the runway is longer than most people think.
In this episode:
Drop a comment if you have a city for the Quantum City Index scorecard or a guest we should have on the show.
Sponsored by HqO - the leading tenant experience platform for commercial real estate.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro: F29 And April Numbers Up And To The Right
01:33 Owen Thomas And BXP On AI Driving Leasing Activity
02:49 Why Innovation Still Clusters In Cities
08:03 Are We Still Early On AI Adoption
11:03 Is The CapEx Ahead Of Real Demand
14:27 Q1 Earnings: BXP, SL Green And The AI Tenant Surge
20:13 CBRE And JLL Smash Estimates: $950M In Data Centers Alone
23:44 Big Tech CapEx And Where The Money Is Going
24:56 Jamie Hodari, Industrious And The $800M Move
28:16 BOE: CBRE Unifies Operations And Experience
31:15 What's Happening With Yardi And WeWork
32:13 Power Is Still The Bottleneck. Follow The Permitting Map
34:05 The Politics Of AI Growth
36:34 Why Citizens Push Back On Data Centers
40:43 The Fed Holds And Powell Refuses To Leave
42:53 Fidelity Goes Back Five Days A Week
45:01 Equity Residential And AvalonBay In Merger Talks
46:19 Career Advice: How To Use AI To Win In Brokerage
49:45 The Wall Street Story That Went Viral
52:16 Wrap: AI Is Paying The Rent
View all episodes
By HqO
Powered by HqO - Learn more and join the Quantum City Initiative here: https://www.hqo.com/the-future-of-cities-begins-now/
Back in February, the AI panic ripped through CRE stocks and everybody bled. CBRE, JLL, BXP, Newmark — absolutely hammered. The bear case was simple: AI was gonna “destroy” office demand, gut the brokerage business, and that was that. Q1 2026 earnings just came in. It wasn't even close.
Owen Thomas got on the BXP earnings call and said the exact opposite. AI and tech leasing in San Francisco went from 50% of demand to nearly 80% in a single year. SL Green posted a record quarter. CBRE printed $10.5 billion against a $9.5 billion expectation. Their data center business alone did $950 million in Q1, a number that was literally zero five years ago. The bull case for commercial real estate isn't a thesis anymore. It's paying the rent.
We break down why AI isn't a vertical, it's a horizontal, why innovation always clusters in cities, and why the next wave of business process automation has barely started. The CapEx flowing into compute and energy is showing up directly on brokerage income statements and the Q1 numbers suggest the runway is longer than most people think.
In this episode:
Drop a comment if you have a city for the Quantum City Index scorecard or a guest we should have on the show.
Sponsored by HqO - the leading tenant experience platform for commercial real estate.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro: F29 And April Numbers Up And To The Right
01:33 Owen Thomas And BXP On AI Driving Leasing Activity
02:49 Why Innovation Still Clusters In Cities
08:03 Are We Still Early On AI Adoption
11:03 Is The CapEx Ahead Of Real Demand
14:27 Q1 Earnings: BXP, SL Green And The AI Tenant Surge
20:13 CBRE And JLL Smash Estimates: $950M In Data Centers Alone
23:44 Big Tech CapEx And Where The Money Is Going
24:56 Jamie Hodari, Industrious And The $800M Move
28:16 BOE: CBRE Unifies Operations And Experience
31:15 What's Happening With Yardi And WeWork
32:13 Power Is Still The Bottleneck. Follow The Permitting Map
34:05 The Politics Of AI Growth
36:34 Why Citizens Push Back On Data Centers
40:43 The Fed Holds And Powell Refuses To Leave
42:53 Fidelity Goes Back Five Days A Week
45:01 Equity Residential And AvalonBay In Merger Talks
46:19 Career Advice: How To Use AI To Win In Brokerage
49:45 The Wall Street Story That Went Viral
52:16 Wrap: AI Is Paying The Rent